Skin Consultation & Analysis

A consultation is the starting point of your aesthetic treatment journey. It allows a member of our team to assess your skin, gather medical history, consider lifestyle factors, and discuss treatment goals with you. You will receive a clear diagnosis of your current skin health and any concerns, such as pigmentation, vascular issues, acne, or ageing markers like sun damage and wrinkles. From there, a tailored treatment plan is built.

A consultation is designed to ensure safety, suitability and to discuss the likely results. Some skin consultations also include an initial treatment specific to your concerns, but otherwise, there is no pressure to decide. You can go away and think about the treatment recommendations before booking and redeeming the cost of the consultation against a treatment package.

Because advanced aesthetic treatments are not one-size-fits-all, we must ensure we plan treatments that will work for you and your skin. We do this by first booking a consultation and full skin assessment, plus a patch test, where required. In some cases, you can also have treatment on the same day.

Energy-based devices like Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) carry clinical considerations. A consultation ensures there are no contraindications (things that might make you unsuitable for treatment, including current medication or allergies), sets realistic expectations, and selects the correct protocols for your treatment (including the number of sessions or the specific settings on devices used). By having a consultation ahead of any treatment, we also reduce the risk of complications and poor results.

Consultations are carried out by the most appropriate practitioner for your skin needs.

Skin-focused consultations, including IPL suitability and general skin health assessment, will be conducted by our skin specialist medical aestheticians. If needed, cases can be escalated to our team of doctors and nurses for medical insight.

The Observe Skin Analysis System is a state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging tool that we use during all our Skin Analysis and Acne consultations. You will be asked to place your head just inside the round cubicle so we can run scanned images of all sides of your face. It uses different light modes (including daylight, polarised, and ultraviolet light) to assess underlying skin conditions that are not always visible to the naked eye. Images of your face appear on a screen, and we can discuss the findings; this will show pigmentation, vascular changes including rosacea and redness, texture irregularities, and the early signs of ageing. The Observe Skin Analysis System gives an objective baseline of your current skin health. It is much better than photography. It removes guesswork and allows us to tailor treatment to target the underlying skin concerns to improve treatment accuracy. It also helps to track progress over time; we can compare your skin health again after a course of treatment.

A patch test is a safety requirement and must be undertaken ahead of any booking for Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatment.

IPL uses different wavelengths of light energy that interact with pigment (melanin) in the skin or haemoglobin in the blood in red thread or spider veins, and individual responses can vary. The patch test will check how your skin reacts to specific settings for each treatment type, including the highest, safest energy level suitable for your skin type.

This safety check helps avoid adverse reactions such as burns, blistering, or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. We use the Dynamix IPL device, which has built-in cooling and specialised pulse control settings, making it safe for use on a wide range of skin types.

To ensure accuracy of the results, which must be based on your actual skin type, patch tests cannot be performed if your skin has incurred a natural or artificial tan (from the sun or sunbeds) within 4 weeks of your appointment.

Similarly, we are unable to patch test or treat very dark skin tones (Fitzpatrick types V-VI) with IPL.

The consultation booking fee covers the cost of the specific consultation appointment. It will include the clinical assessment by a member of our team, skin analysis using the Observe Skin Analysis System or an IPL patch test, plus personalised treatment planning and skincare recommendations. Only the Advanced Skin Analysis and Acne consultations include an initial taster treatment.

However, for all other consultations, the consultation booking fee can be redeemed against a recommended treatment package if you decide to proceed.