Cosmetic Medicine:

Where Science Meets Art

Tonight, what we are going to do is, I’m going to introduce

myself, give you an idea of who I am and it will give you an

idea of what some of us are like here at VCI. I will talk about

some of the legalities around cosmetic medicine. So, trying to

help you guys to find a good clinic; of course, we are one of

those. But the things you should be considering are what

differentiates cosmetic clinics, how you can decide who will be

a good injector for you. We will talk a little bit about the aging

process and then I will go into some details about anti-wrinkle

injections, what they are, how they work, dermal fillers. Then

I’m going to get you guys to do a little facial exercise because

one of the key questions we are asked is how much do I

need, what do I need and where? So what I’m hoping to do is

empower you so that you can start to detect the signs of aging

occurring on your face which will equip you to find an

experienced enough injector who can help you match your

goals.

Beautification, which is a term we use a lot here at VCI, is not

just rejuvenating your face and helping you look and feel

younger and fresher but also how to enhance your beauty.

That’s not for everyone. Some people just say I want to look

exactly the way I am but I just want to look like a fresher

version of myself. Other people will say my chin has always

bugged me or my nose has always bugged me, how can we

enhance my beauty? So we’ll talk about that. At the end, if

you are still around to watch, we are going to do a little filler

demonstration and a little Botox demonstration in case you

have not seen anything done before.

What I’m not going to talk about tonight, I’m not going to

mention brand names of products. It’s not really about that.

We use a number of different brands at VCI and they all have

their own merits. I am not here to convert the disinterested, so

if you guys are here it’s because you’re interested in

enhancing your appearance. If you are not interested and you

are happy with the way you are, that’s absolutely fine and

then you’ll come to us when you’re ready. I am not going to

tell you what I think you need. Hopefully, by the end of the

night you are going to be able to tell me what you think you

will need.

So, a little bit about myself. I’m a middle child, a wife, a

daughter, a sister, a very proud auntie, a good friend and a

mother to be. So, I’m twenty weeks pregnant. My patients

always ask me, have you had work done? The answer is not

for about two years because I decided I’ll do a big detox

before I tried for a family. But absolutely yes before this, I

have, of course tried most things we have to offer here at VCI;

I’m big advocate of it.

In terms of my professional background, I started off as a

scientist, so I have a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and I

studied at University of Melbourne. I did my Bachelor of

Medicine and Surgery at the University of Melbourne which

which made me a doctor. Then I did my general practice

training and my cosmetics training on top of that. I have got a

few other little certificates, things like skin cancer medicine

and Diploma of Pediatrics but this is where my passion is.

This is the fun stuff.

I never thought that I was going to work with needles when I

left the hospital system. As a junior intern, I had a patient who

I had to put a cannula in the back of his hand. He was quite

old and he had lots of needles done before. I got the page to

put it in and I was a nervous junior doctor and I tried to get his

drip in and I missed and I missed and I missed. He said to

me, love, you’re the worst doctor here who ever tried to put

my drip in. I felt awful and I had to call for help and eventually

got his drip in.

Anyway, the next week, I was on call again. My pager went

off, same room. I went back in and I stuck my head in the door

and I thought this patient’s going to kill me. Fortunately, I had

not realized it before, he had dementia. So he saw me and

said, hello love, come in. I thought thank you, I got a second

opportunity. So, I remembered how the doctor did it before me

and I went straight in and I got it first time. After that he said to

me, that was the best anyone has ever got my drip in since I

have been here in the hospital, so I managed to redeem

myself. Initially, I was very nervous, obviously, doing

procedures but I have a real passion for it now and a very

steady hand. So, I managed to get my skills up quite quickly.

In terms of going down the cosmetic medicine path , it’s not

something that I ever really thought about when I was doing

my medical training. I thought I was going to be a pediatrician

and I got a great job at the Royal Children’s Hospital and then

I realized I was just clucky. I liked to be around healthy

children. The sick ones were very, very sad and very, very

challenging. So I left pediatrics and then I didn’t know what I

was going to do with myself. I did my general practice training

which I enjoyed but I felt that something was missing from my

career.

I think I read Power Of Now, I don’t know, one of those self-

help books and I came across a phrase and it said go back to,

look what you were doing when you were young and came

naturally to you, the things that you enjoyed. So, as I was

cleaning out the shed at Mum’s house, I found my old school

works and there were colours and drawings and things

everywhere. I thought, I used to love art. Right through

school, I loved art and I won art awards in Year eleven and I

gave it all up to pursue a career in medicine.

So when I came across cosmetic medicine that allowed me to

combine my two passions. You will find many cosmetic

doctors have an aesthetic eye, most them have an artistic

background somewhere. That is something that really

does separate the really successful cosmetic doctors from

someone who is just wanting to do a procedure. They cannot

see what looks good and it is very hard to train those doctors

just to improve their skills in some respects. They can’t see a

face properly and what needs to be done to improve its

beauty. So that’s a little bit about me and how I came to be

here.

If you need more information about

cosmetic medicine, stop by our website

and check out the services we offer.