The tweakments I’m choosing now I’m 60

Which tweakments work best for the older face? I’ve been writing recently about tweakments for anyone over 60 for the Hello magazine aesthetics guide, and I’ve had a bunch of questions about which procedures I’m personally sticking with, taking up, or giving up. First, the ones I’m defining staying with…

Wrinkle-relaxing toxin, to soften frown lines

There’s a popular myth that you have to stop having toxin treatment at 60, because it ‘looks weird’ on older faces. Like I said, it’s a myth. I still have wrinkle lines – and stringy vertical bands of muscle in my neck, and over-worked jaw-clenching muscles –  that I’d like to have softened. As long as your practitioner knows what they’re doing, and injects the right muscles with the right amount, toxin treatment will help a 60-plus face to look relaxed and more balanced. And, most importantly, not weird.

Filler, for structure and soft volume 

Even though I know there is a good deal of residual filler in my face (if you didn’t read my story about how an MRI treatment revealed just how much filler I had after four years without any dermal fillers, it’s here), age is still quietly removing volume from my face. So, I find a few thoughtful injections of dermal fillers helpful. Where? Along the jawline and in the chin, for better definition.

Also, I’ve tried, and liked, a new hybrid filler called HArmonyCa, a dual effect product that combines hyaluronic acid to restore facial volume loss, with calcium hydroxyapatite which supports the production of collagen. This provides soft volume and stimulates the skin tissues to produce more of their own collagen, so it helps soften the bits of my face that are starting to look gaunt.

Skin resurfacing treatments

I wouldn’t do them the whole time, but the occasional laser, or plasma treatment, or RF needling session to reboot my skin texture and gee up collagen production to tighten the skin, is always helpful.

Skin-conditioning injectable moisturisers

These are the jabs that give your skin back the glow and bounce which, by your 60s, is usually long gone. Profhilo is the best-known; Galderma’s Skinboosters was the first in this field 10 years back; Belotero’s Revive has a pigment-softening claim; and although I haven’t tried Volite or Teoxane Redensity1, they’re all great for helping older skin hydrate, remodel itself, and produce more collagen and elastin. I’ll happily have any amount of them in my face, neck, décolleté and hands.

Pigment-busting treatments

The slow build-up of pigmentation spots or the redness from thread veins is like a background hum that gets louder the older you are, so laser or IPL to reduce this a bit is something I always find useful. One highly recommended option is the Stella M22 device.

The muscle-maintenance ones

If you follow me on Instagram Stories, you’ll know I’ve been trying out a course of EMsella (at Dr Medispa), the innocuous-looking chair that sends thousands of pulses of high-frequency electromagnetic energy into your pelvic floor muscles, to tone and tighten them. Why? To ward off stress incontinence, which I feel creeping up on me with age. I’ll be posting about this soon.

Earlier in the year I did a course of EMsculpt Edge, which uses the same HIFEM technology to work on the oblique musles at the side of your abs. It’s the cheat’s way to strengthen muscles (I hasten to add that I do work out too, but this takes muscle-overload to a new level) and that reminds me, it’s time I went back to Dr Preema for my ‘after’ pictures.

I’ve given up on lip filler, but I still want it…

It’s a couple of years since I had lip filler. I haven’t been keen to have it since being advised (by Dr Steven Harris, no less) that because my philtrum, the bit between my nose and my upper lip, has lengthened with the years, putting filler in my upper lip will simply make it stick forward in a way I won’t like. But to be honest, I’m missing it and without lip liner and gloss, my lips are looking more like dried-out earthworms than ever. So I’m wondering about a lip hydration treatment, and whether injections of a really fluid form of hyaluronic acid might give my lips a little ‘something’ without making me look like a duck. Again, I’ll let you know if I get round to having this done.

What am I keen to try next? Polynucleotides and treatments for dry eyes

There are two new tweakments I’m particularly keen to try. One is some form of polynucleotides, which are fragments of fish DNA purified into a product that is injected into the top layer of the skin, in the same way that you’d have an injectable moisturiser. And like those injectable moisturiser products, polynucleotides encourage the skin to regenerate and produce more collagen and elastin, and improve hydration. Unlike injectable moisturisers, polynucleotides don’t contain any hyaluronic acid. Practitioners tell me they are great for use around the eyes, because they help improve the appearance of dark circles by strengthening the skin, without adding any volume (in the way that tear trough filler would do).

The other is a treatment that uses broadband light (like IPL, but more so) to treat dry eye – the really annoying condition where your eyes produce and inadequate tear film, so in order to make up for this, are constantly watering. It’s really common as you get older and it’s something I suffer with. If I get round to trying this, yes, I’ll absolutely let you know.

Find the right practitioner for any of the tweakments I’ve mentioned via expert practitioner guide.