With the continuing increase in popularity- cosmetic procedures have now moved from taboo to glamourised social media content. Today we interview facial cosmetic doctor, Dr Uche, to understand a bit more about this growing industry and get a sneak peek in to his day to day.
Who is Dr Uche?
My name is Uche Aniagwu but, I go by Dr Uche and I’m a medical doctor who practices non-surgical facial cosmetic procedures. I’m also a South London boy, who outside of cosmetic medicine has a love for audiobooks, animals and all forms of physical sport/exercise!
Can you tell us about your medical background?
In summary, I spent way too long at university. I completed degrees at King’s College, Oxford and Barts and the London Medical School before starting my NHS job as a hospital doctor just over two years ago. Along the way I’ve won regional awards as a junior doctor, trained in facial cosmetics at Harley Street and gained many esteemed qualifications in the world of cosmetics. Finally, last year I decided to turn my passion in to my day to day and I opened a cosmetic clinic- I haven’t looked back since.
And to clarify, you’re a cosmetic doctor, but non-surgical?
Yes. Particularly focused on the face for both men and women. The majority of my work focuses on enhancing an individual’s natural structures and beauty through the use of dermal fillers and/or botox. A smaller part of my offering is around skincare and advice.
How does that differ from traditional surgical cosmetics?
On a basic level, surgical cosmetics provides a permanent result but, does involve knife to skin and can carry a few more risks. If you think of breast augmentation, Brazilian butt lifts etc. these are very invasive procedures which involve slicing you open in order to perform the planned intervention. Non-surgical cosmetics, like fillers, does not involve cutting anybody open and uses minimally invasive techniques to implement change. It means less down time, fewer risks and still good results. However, results are not permanent and often there are limitations as to how effective these can be. It comes down to a balance of wants vs risks for patients.
Okay, and what’s your typical working day like?
Work starts for me at 7am after my morning workout. I have a read of the most current developments within non-surgical cosmetics and work on some of my health and beauty blog pieces. Once patients start coming in the fun really starts. I split them in to two groups. New and follow ups. The follow up patients are normally on a journey through their bespoke cosmetic plan, so it’s a little less discussion and more action.
The new patients will go through the consultation process with me and this is the most important part of the entire journey. It’s at this stage you differentiate between experts who will guide you on a journey to deciding what’s best and the vending machine services where you slot in your money, ask for some new lips and new lips come out. I do a range of procedures from jawline defining to under the eye restoration, improving hollows/bags. For some people my consultation revolves around skin advice; I get a real varied bunch.
Dr Uche at work in his clinic
On your site you emphasise your physics background and a subsequent appreciation of ratios of the face. What does this all mean?
So, on a patient’s initial visit to me I will take a variety of photos at different angles and walk them through the geometry of their face. Patient’s love this because it helps them understand the reason why they don’t look “as contoured as they want” or “as masculine as they want”; for example. These ratios are founded in what is known as the Golden Ratio. It’s a beauty ratio seen frequently in aesthetically pleasing structures throughout nature. It’s a beautiful thing because it doesn’t allow for a practitioner’s biased perception of beauty to influence planning. Combining the geometry and art enables me to work with that individual’s features. I personally hate advertising celebrity packages but, they give patients a starting point in describing what they’d like to achieve.
So, if I were coming for a consultation with you what things could I expect?
I assume most of your clients are female, do you have men come as well?
I do indeed. The demographic of people that walk through my doors was possibly the most surprising and most refreshing thing about this job. Yes, it’s true women certainly make up the majority of patients but, you can forget all stereotypes. This service is for everyone and I see every type of person! I definitely think there’s still some work to be done for normalising cosmetic work for men. There’s still a level of discomfort around the discussion but, people need to get with the times.
Traditionally, women of colour wouldn’t be expected to enhance their lips etc, but you’ve found different?
Like I said earlier, forget all stereotypes and toss away your assumptions. A solid proportion of my clients are black men and women and they have the same procedures done as their white counterparts. There might be slight differences for example; black females may be more concerned with lip shape rather than volume however, what was once Hollywood is more accessible to everyone and all people are duly tapping in to that.
Do you worry that we are becoming too concerned with looking like our Snapchat filters and this could have a negative impact on the younger generation?
I’m glad you asked that because, even though I wouldn’t change my job for the world I can still see some of society’s ills with regard to image. There is definitely an argument that as a global community we can do more to value other things similar to how we value appearance. I think the skewed value system is even more skewed when judging women. It’s important to say however, there’s no shame in being conscious of your image; it’s the first thing we acknowledge of each other and doesn’t make you insecure in doing so. However, a continued dissatisfaction of one’s image or measuring self-worth against it is a separate issue that should be addressed. In my opinion, it’s not filters that are the problem but, instead the fact we still place a disproportionate amount of emphasis on looks.
Where can we find you?
Visit my website www.doctoruche.me for some interesting blogs or for details required to book a consultation. Alternatively, you can check out my Insta page @cosmeticeyeclinic and reach me through there.
Any leaving dimes for our readers?
This industry still has not got the best regulation and as such people are at a higher risk of falling in to the wrong hands. Be sure to choose your practitioner wisely- it will make all the difference.
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