Do you want to give your skin a boost ahead of your big day? We're here to help with our guide to the best experts to book treatments with. Our list is made up of fully accredited doctors and dermatologists (remember that checking a practitioner's credentials first is very important) who can help with everything from acne issues to reducing lines.
Best For A Flawless Wedding Day Face
Mr Golchin, London
Mr Golchin is a smooth operator, with a long list of credentials, being super approachableand will lisen to your endless questions about how Botox works, straight up he will tell you it's the magic cure to 'look fantastic'. A trained ENT surgeon but is rated for his impeccable Botox and filler work. Patients love him for his softly-softly approach - there is no need for anaesthetic cream, we promise.
He doesn't just use Botox to smooth lines, but to shape the face. 'The face is like a cake with many tiers - you've got to address different levels with the right treatments.' He layers Juvederm Voluma and Volift to get just the right effect under the skin. Two weeks later, there are follow-up photos and a chat. And you know what? You're looking a little perkier and a little less tired - but no one has noticed a thing. Not even your partner. And your eyebrows? They still move. Relief.
THE LOWDOWN Mr Golchin at 34 Hans Road, Knightsbridge SW3. Emotional Botox, from £350, www.drritarakus.co.uk
Best For Blemish-Free Skin
Dr Stefanie Williams, London
If you'd really rather not be a blushing bride and would prefer perfect, blemish- and blotch- free skin instead, get to possibly the coolest dermatology clinic in London. A subterranean lair with plant-covered walls, a tea lounge and luxurious treatment rooms stacked with the latest gadgets (such as Visia face-scanning machines), Eudelo is the beauty world's equivalentof the Batcave.
Dr Williams focuses on medical problems such as clearing acne,
rosacea and suspect moles, as well as cosmetic concerns, including
radiance- boosting, dermatology-grade facials that protect skin
from London pollution.
'I'm all about getting you to look like the best version of
yourself, rather than artificially younger,' she says. If you've
overcooked yourself in the sun, ask about MelaOut anti-pigment
peels to undo the damage, and for a lunchtime pick-me-up she offers
pain-free 4D laser facials, which regenerate skin without redness
or downtime.
THE LOWDOWN Dermatology-grade facials, from £190; 4D laser facial, from £445; MelaOut peel, £1,500(020 7118 9500; eudelo.com).
Dr Jean-Louis Sebagh, London
There's an embroidered cushion in Dr Sebagh's office that reads
'Jean-Louis - doctor, sculpture, magician, genie' and, for his army
of fans, he is indeed the man with the Midas touch. As one of the
first doctors to pioneer cosmetic injectable treatments in the UK
back in the early 1990s, he is still at the top of his game
offering bespoke solutions for everything from frown lines to
double chins.
Taking a slightly archeological approach, he assesses the face in
layers - looking first at the skin, then the underlying fat layer
and the muscle beneath, to find weaknesses. 'The rebuild' involves
a combination of treatments, maybe some artfully placed injectables
and brightening peels for surface lines and blotches, followed by a
hit from the Ultralift - a machine that uses radio frequency to put
the ping back into slack jowls.
'With a lot of women getting married later in life, I have more
50-year-old brides than I do 20-year-olds,' he reports. But
whatever your age, this kind of magic takes time: 'Treatments take
from three weeks to a few months to settle down properly, so you
need to give me three months minimum for perfection.'
THE LOWDOWN Botox, from £500; fillers, from £500; the Ultralift, from £700; skin peels, from £200 (020 7637 0548; drsebagh.com/clinic).
Miss Sherina Balaratnam, Buckinghamshire
Miss Balaratnam's super-discreet S-Thetics Clinic is the perfect
place to sneak for a pre-wedding spruce. Based in a 200- year-old
coach house just off Beaconsfield's high street, it's not
signposted, it doesn't look clinic-y and there's free parking
outside for a quick dash-in-dash-out. Indeed, high-profile people
from London who don't want to get spotted on Harley Street make the
easy 35-minute drive to come for high-tech body treatments and skin
programmes. With an extensive background in plastic surgery, Miss
Balaratnam is famed for her seamless Botox and filler work.
A stickler for detail, she wants to know what kind of skincare
you've been using, how much sleep you've had and exactly where and
when you're going to say your 'I do's (be it in a bright garden or
dimly lit church, lighting is apparently a major consideration).
Like your fiancé, she also wants commitment, as best results take
time - she recommends a minimum of four monthly visits for her
signature Collagen Wave Fire & Ice facials, which use iS
Clinical's potent botanical products, combined with skin-tightening
EndyMed radio frequency for knockout results.
THE LOWDOWN Collagen Wave Fire & Ice facial treatment, from £325; fillers, from £350; Botox, from £230 (01494 670990; sthetics.co.uk).
Dr Natalie Blakely, Surrey
As the name suggests, Dr Blakely's Light Touch Clinic in
Weybridge is a place for conservative tweaks. Her Botox and fillers
are carefully curated to make you feel prettier, happier and less
stressed. And, despite a busy waiting room, she never scrimps on
time, so you feel truly looked after. The clinic also has an
in-house nutritionist who can help boost your immune system with
gut-balancing diets, detoxes and probiotic programmes. Dr Blakely
has a special interest in hormones and offers very thorough testing
and rebalancing programmes to tackle issues such as unexpected
weight gain, thinning hair, breakouts and mood swings.
THE LOWDOWN Botox, from £370; hormone consult,
from £300; nutritionist consult, from £250 (01932 849552; lighttouchclinic.co.uk).
Dr Saira Vasdev, London
Picking up slack, tightening wobble and perking up pasty
complexions, Dr Vasdev is a bit like a personal trainer for your
skin. She's one of the first doctors in the UK to offer Profhilo:
new hyaluronic-acid injections that put the peachiness back into
parched skin, which is perfect for those not quite ready for
fillers. Injections are scattered around the face to stimulate
collagen and elastin - softening lines and shadowy areas, and
hydrating far deeper than any moisturiser ever could.
Trained as an anaesthetist, Dr Vasdev used to work in intensive
care, which may explain her eagle-eyed accuracy and delicate touch.
She's one to trust for the trickier tweaks, such as super-precise
tear-trough fillers that work to significantly brighten the
under-eye area and mini lip enhancements, where she uses half
syringes of filler to restore the ideal pout ratio (one third top
lip, two thirds bottom lip).
THE LOWDOWN Profhilo, from £487; fillers, from £300; mini lip enhancement from £300 (020 7486 3849; waterhouseyoung.com).
Dr Alexis Granite, London Based at London's smartest new super-
clinic, Mallucci London, Dr Granite is an American Board-certified
consultant dermatologist who offers comprehensive pre-wedding game
plans. Think acne and eczema therapies, Botox and mole mapping,
plus last-minute tweaks such as SOS cortisone spot injections and
brightening LED light therapy treatments.
She works alongside a crack team of experts, including leading
breast surgeon Patrick Mallucci and hair-transplant specialist Dr
Thomy Kouremada-Zioga, so this is a one-stop shop for top-to-toe
transformations.
THE LOWDOWN Botox, from £295; mole mapping, from £250 (020 7901 8502; mallucci-london.com).
Best For Ageless Skin
Dr Tracy Montford, London and Buckinghamshire
Glossy, glamorous and a great hand holder, Dr Mountford is
everything you want in a cosmetic doctor - and she was a pioneer of
the natural look when others were inflating and over-filling faces.
See her at her new London clinic, where she seemingly airbrushes
skin and balances facial features with carefully placed
injections.
Her trick? She goes light on Botox, leaving large sections of the
face clear - most notably around the eyebrows to prevent 'Spocking'
(as in Dr Spock brows) - but treating others, so you look youthful
and fresh. Younger people come to be 'beautified', with little
injections of filler round the temples and cheekbones to lift and
open up eyes, and microscopic droplets of hyaluronic acid in the
lips to give a dewy look.
For older folks, she places fillers on the temples, the bone in
front of the ears and across the jawline, under-pinning the face to
restore contours to where they once were. She can also sex up your
body with a spot of CoolSculpting - her clinic is the No1 place in
Europe for this fat-freezing treatment and her experienced staff
have completed more than 8,000 treatments. Ask to see Magda in the
London clinic or Ria in Stoke Poges.
THE LOWDOWN Filler, from £450; CoolSculpting,
from £560; Botox, from £320 (01753 646660; cosmeticskinclinic.com).
Dr Joney De Souza, London
If doctors' offices give you the fear, you'll love Dr De Souza's
new Marylebone practice, which - with its Diptyque candles and
cashmere blankets - feels more like a luxury spa than a starchy
clinic. It's also conveniently located a stone's throw from the
profusion of wedding dress shops on Chiltern Street. Having trained
with legendary plastic surgeon Dr Mauricio de Maio in Brazil before
setting up on his own, Dr De Souza now schools other doctors in
advanced injection techniques.
'The Brazilian aesthetic is all about looking healthy,' he says.
Indeed, he has built a solid reputation for his natural-looking lip
fillers, which gently uncurl thin lips. And, for the face, his
signature Brazilian lift brightens and lifts features with a
combination of fillers and Botox, and mesotherapy (tiny injections
of vitamins, minerals and hyaluronic acid) - the results will put a
spring in your step.
THE LOWDOWN Botox, from £230; fillers, from £450; Brazilian lift, £1,200 (020 7043 0748; drjoneydesouza.com).
Dr Julia Sevi, Leeds
'People can be a bit impulsive before a wedding,' says Dr Sevi,
who's on a mission to appease the panickers, reassure the first
timers (Botox is about rebalancing, rather than paralysing muscles)
and gently talk bridezillas down from unrealistic expectations and
demands. Praised by colleagues and patients alike, she's one of the
best injectors in the country and can work out a plan to suit all
budgets.
One of her secret weapons is Carboxy therapy: minute injections of
carbon dioxide gas that are placed under the skin to help
regenerate collagen production, boost circulation and even out skin
texture - to the extent that make-up sits better. Grooms also rave
about Laser Genesis - a laser that reduces redness and broken
veins, and smooths and tightens skin.
THE LOWDOWN Carboxy therapy, from £100; Laser
Genesis, from £240 (0113 269 7274; aesthetichealth.co.uk).
Dr Maurice Day, London
As one of Paris's top dermatologists, Dr Dray is the king of
mesotherapy (quick-fire and fairly painless injections that imbue
tired, grey skin with a golden glow). Head to his new Kensington
clinic for his famous Mesolift Deluxe: tiny injections that contain
a potent mix of vitamins and minerals, plus plasma extracted from
your blood.
It's nicknamed the 'vampire facial' on account of its slightly
gory delivery, but the upside is that clinical data has proved it
does actually keep skin looking dewy for weeks rather than days. If
you're planning on showing your wedding guests a kiss to remember,
sign up for his Lip Refresh, too. A far more subtle take on lip
filler, it's less about plumping, more about hydrating. He mixes a
light hyaluronic acid gel with vitamin E (to moisturise) and
glycerol, which works to open up blood vessels to give lips a
slighter deeper red colour.
THE LOWDOWN Mesotherapy, from £200; Mesolift Deluxe, £600; Lip Refresh £400 (020 7937 1031; drdray.co.uk).
Dr Kuldeep Minocha, London
'Brides are usually super critical of themselves, and so by the time they get to me there's a list of things they don't want to see in photos,' says Dr Minocha, who lists fine lines round the eyes as a top concern, as well as a heavy, square jaw, which can be easily beautified by injecting Botox to shrink the masseter muscles (used for chewing) and create a more heart-shaped face.
'I can also highlight the cheekbones by injecting the "sweet spot"
on the apple of the cheek, which gives a great light reflection for
photos,' he says. An expert on genetic aging, Dr Minocha is in the
third year of a study with Restylane fillers, which have been
tested on four sets of identical twins (treating one but not the
other). 'The beautiful thing is that we can clearly see how
Restylane has pressed the pause button on facial ageing - the
treated twin looks about five years younger than her sister.'
THE LOWDOWN Botox, from £235; Restylane skin boosters, from £350 (020 3757 7172; absoluteaesthetics.co.uk).
Mr Kambiz Golchin, Dublin
At his clinic at the Beacon Face & Dermatology centre in
Dublin, Mr Golchin champions 'emotional Botox'- a technique where
he softens expression lines, instead of ironing them out, so you
can grin during your vows in a pretty, not plastic way. Mr Golchin
also has a large following at Dr Rita Rakus's London clinic, where
he jets in every week to see mothers of the bride for his
Knightsbridge Lift, a combo of Botox, fillers and radio- frequency
skin tightening.
'With facial rejuvenation, I think too much emphasis is often put
on the centre of the face as doctors focus just on filling cheeks
and lips, and everyone comes out looking the same,' says Mr
Golchin. He says the Knightsbridge Lift addresses neglected areas -
like the sides of the face - and places filler at key points, such
as the front of the ear, to gently lift the jawline.
THE LOWDOWN Botox, from £350; Knightsbridge Lift,
from £2,500 (0121 36220; beaconfaceanddermatology.ie).
Dr Nestor Demosthenous, Edinburgh
'I've lost count of the number of brides (and their mums) seeking full cosmetic makeovers the week before the wedding,' says Dr Demosthenous, 'so I've set about educating whole wedding parties on how to get selfie-stick-ready.' If you're based up north, book into his annual 'get wedding ready' event (usually held in June at the Balmoral Hotel). Not only is he on hand to talk skin, but he's also enlisted personal trainers, hairstylists and a full-on wedding-themed fashion show to get you inspired. Back at the clinic, people queue up for his ninja-like needle skills: he can reshape your eyebrows with Botox and is a pro at Silhouette Soft thread lifts. For grooms, his aim is to preserve manly, rugged features with a focus on making things look less harsh - softening scowls and forehead lines rather than ironing them away altogether.
THE LOWDOWN Botox, from £320; fillers, from £350; thread lifting, from £1,900 (07545768390; drnestor.co.uk).
Dr Preema Vig, London
Champagne corks have been popping at Dr Vig's Devonshire Place clinic, as she has been busy planning her own wedding this year - a three-day extravaganza in Thailand. 'I fully appreciate how difficult it is to make time for yourself when you are working and wedding planning,' she says, and she specialises in quick lunchtime treatments with no downtime. Her top recommendation? 'My iS Clinical Fire & Ice facials work so well to keep skin glowing, even when you are run off your feet. And for the body, CoolSculpting is the answer to flatten the tummy and cinch in the waist when you want to feel good in your dress. I often finish it off with Venus Legacy radio frequency to smooth and tighten skin. I have also been experimenting with the Venus machine on my mum and found it excellent for tightening her jawline and lifting cheeks.'
THE LOWDOWN Venus Legacy, from £150; CoolSculpting, from £800; iS Clinical Fire & Ice Facial, £120 (020 7221 0043; drpreema.com).
