Tweakments – the anti-ageing treatments no one will ever guess you’ve had

The latest anti-ageing treatments everyone is talking about are tweakments – subtle enhancements that give your skin a glow without looking done. Beauty expert Alice-Hart Davis explains

If you think you’ve been hearing more about tweakments in the news lately, you’d be right. They’re sort of cosmetic medical procedures that have results more far-reaching than a facial, but stop a long way short of cosmetic surgery.

Tweakments mean treatments such as Botox, fillers, skin-peels, intense pulsed light, laser, thread lifts and more.

Non-invasive or minimally invasive, most of them offer clear, but temporary, results. And they’re usually quite subtle, so won’t create dramatic change or have you looking ‘done’ – as long as you chose your doctor wisely.

Why is everyone talking about tweakments?

If you ask me, I’d say it’s because I’ve written a book about them – it’s called The Tweakments Guide: Fresher Face.

I’ve also launched a website, www.thetweakmentsguide.com to help explain what these procedures are, how they work, and how to work out if they might be right for you – along with a register of the best tweakment practitioners around the country.

So I have been talking about tweakments at every opportunity, not least because I know that many people are confused by what tweakments are and which ones do what.

I think the more the subject is discussed openly and honestly, the more people will understand what these procedures are and what they can do.

I’m a beauty journalist, and when I first started writing about these cosmetic procedures, some 20 years ago, they were all very hush-hush.

People thought tweakments were rather shocking – I mean, who would seriously want to go and have poison injected into their faces just to look a bit younger?

But attitudes have changed with time and the stigma around having treatments like Botox and filler has faded.

Here’s an example of how effective yet subtle filler and Botox can be:

There are now more tweakments than ever to choose from

Over the years, the number of available procedures has multiplied.

Twenty years ago, the space between facials and facelifts used to be occupied just by collagen injections and Botox.

Now there is a whole slew of offerings from laser facials is to ultrasound skin tightening, microneedling and even injectable moisturiser gels that last for six months and bring about genuine cellular regeneration in the skin.

43 per cent of people questioned said they would be interested in trying a non-surgical cosmetic procedure

Hand in hand with this, there is the indisputable fact that more people are curious about tweakments than ever before.

A Mintel report last year found that 43 per cent of people questioned said they would be interested in trying a non-surgical cosmetic procedure. 43 per cent!

Tweakments aren’t just about anti-ageing

In the early days of tweakments, they were all viewed as anti-ageing measures – Botox could reduce frown lines, fillers could fill up nose-to-mouth lines – and were aimed at an older audience.

But now, fillers are increasingly being used for enhancing faces of any age – to boost lip shape and cheek definition for young women, or creating a more balanced jawline for men and women of all ages.

Other treatments such as Profhilo can be used to boost hydration in the skin while ultrasound therapy can provide a non-surgical facelift with incurable yet subtle results.

In this video, beauty ‘tweakments’ expert Alice Hart Davis discusses Profhilo with Dr Dondos:

What tweakments to have for what face problem –  the recipe for a fresher face

If there is a standard list, or recipe for how to freshen an ageing face, it goes something like this:

• Soften deep frown lines and crow’s feet with drinkie-relaxing toxins (such as Botox)
• Replace lost volume in cheeks, lips and temples and adjust facial asymmetry with fillers
• Make the skin’s texture smoother with medical needling, or lasers, or radio frequency devices and moisturising injections
• Reduce pigmentation marks with laser or light treatments , or with chemical peels.
• Clear thread veins, improve the look of large pores, and reduce skin blemishes with lasers or peels
• Improve skin firmness with radiofrequency devices, lasers, or needling, all of which can stimulate collagen growth
• Tighten slack skin with radio frequency devices that ‘shrink wrap’ the skin’s collagen or with focused ultrasound  that tightens the muscular layer within the skin, or lighten the skin directly with a thread lift, which passes barbed threads through the skin and lifts ir upwards into a more youthful position.
• And don’t forget to use effective skincare everyday and protect your skin year-round with high SPF protection, broad spectrum sunscreen.

Dare to share

Younger patients don’t seem to have the hesitation to talk about these things that their mothers might have. They are happy to show off their results, particularly on Facebook and Instagram.

There are more practitioners

Then there’s the fact that there are more practitioners offering tweakments than ever – all over the country.

That sounds like a good thing – except for the fact that there is perilously little regulation in the tweakments space. This means there are many people offering tweakments who have very little training and experience.

If you are looking for a great practitioner, start with the ones who are registered on my website. They’re all people I am happy to be treated by.

Alice Hart Davis is a British journalist who writes about beauty and cosmetic procedures. Her new book, The Tweakments Guide: Fresher Face (2019), is about non-surgical aesthetic procedures, and her new website – thetweakmentsguide.com – offers a heap of independent advice about tweakments, along with an interactive tool for finding treatment options, and a practitioner finder which will point people towards brilliant aesthetic practitioners around the UK.

More Content By Alice You May Like

10 new anti-ageing treatments and exactly what their results look like

The new Baby Botox – this is exactly what happens to your face

The dark circles treatment that transformed my tired eyes

‘I had too much Botox – this new anti-ageing treatment fixed it’

Other Content You May Like

Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.