Profhilo at Bodyvie in Richmond, for tightening and rejuvenating skin

What are your thoughts on injectable 'tweakments' - botox and fillers?  It is not something I have even considered, up until now that is, seeing young girls with lip fillers and famous older women with stretched skin and unnatural expressions just didn't do it for me and having always looked pretty young for my actual age it hadn't even hit my radar.  Then I was invited to go along to the Bodyvie Clinic in Richmond to meet their Lead Doctor and Medical Director, have a chat about their 'meno-tweak' offerings, try out a treatment and chat about all things menopause.  I talked about this more in my post here - An introduction to advanced medical aesthetics with Bodyvie in Richmond.

​Bodyvie is a beautiful modern clinic, easy to find and access in Richmond and they made me feel very welcome.  They have over 20 years of experience in medical aesthetics and are now offering private HRT consultations, and at a very competitive price point too.

Having chatted about the condition of my skin, what bothers me, what doesn't and how I feel about fillers etc, as well as a long chat abut HRT and how much it had helped me, Dr Weber suggested I could try out a fairly new injectable treatment called Profhilo. 

Profhilo is designed to hydrate skin and increase laxity, improving fine lines and give a subtle glowing effect with no downtime.

Now full disclosure here, I do have fairly regular facials, I have reviewed non-invasive anti-ageing treatments on the blog in the past and I do eat well and include extra supplements in my diet.  However, I am rubbish at drinking enough water and my skin is damaged from some minor acne scarring - plus I am 53 and I am ageing, albeit fairly slowly!

I am pretty happy with how I look, I am quite comfortable in my own skin but I am rarely seen without make-up and I still favour a natural look.

Profhilo I hoped would give my skin a boost in a natural and subtle way.  

Dr Weber explained that Profhilo is a gentle skin-boosting treatment that hydrates the skin with hyaluronic acid, after it is injected it disperses under the skin to restore skin quality, treat skin laxity and reduce fine lines.  It boosts the production of your own collagen and elastic as it hydrates the skin.  It does not add volume or shape and so it creates a natural appearance of tighter and glowing skin.

It is a gradual process that requires 2-3 treatments approx 1 month apart and you are unlikely to see an instant change.  Over a period of days and weeks your skin will slowly improve and then you will see further improvement after the second treatment.  Neither is it permanent, so if you like the results then you would need to have further treatments at appropriate intervals - twice a year is recommended.

As we age the skins ability to produce its own collagen decreases and so Profhilo is administered at five specific locations on the face (or neck and décolletage) where it will then spread out and encourage the skin to produce more collagen.

Dr Weber cleaned my skin and then injected the Profhilo in the five locations - either side closer to my ears, then my laughter lines, chin and below my eyes, above my cheeks.  It does hurt a bit, like a stinging sensation - but it is very quick and let's face it, anything that works isn't going to be easy.  I had no visible signs of the injections after the treatment although Dr Weber explained I might get some mild swelling at the injection site, like a small spot, I didn't.

After these photos were taken I had had a total of two treatments and I will be having a third in a few months.  

I have seen a significant improvement in radiance and my lines are less deep.  I also feel there is more glow to my skin quality.  I have swapped to a lighter foundation as a result.

​Bodyvie (info here) offer a really extensive range of beauty treatments - facials, body treatments, injectables, peels, micro-needling and many many more.  They also offer private HRT consultations and from my discussions with Dr Weber he supports the latest understanding and approaches to menopause and HRT.  

Update on me lately .... I am slowly getting over the period of severe low mood that hit me around Christmas, I have had to accept some help again in the form of anti-depressants but having seen my HRT consultant earlier this week, I am hopeful that I won't need them forever, we have a plan!  I am so grateful to my family and friends that have reached out and supported me, understanding that this happens from time to time and not abandoning me, thank you as well to all the wonderfully supportive comments on my blog and on instagram, it means so much.

Love from
Michelle xx


Disclaimer:  Bodyvie kindly gifted me the two treatments I have received so far, I was under no obligation to write about them though and my review is personal and honest.

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