Your skin is the foundation for all the aesthetic treatments we do here at Smileworks. Flawless skin is the best way to make you look and feel great and that’s why it’s so heartbreaking for us to see many of you not protecting your skin or caring for it in the right way. Let’s face it, you don’t know what’s in your skin cream, and you don’t know how it affects your skin. Here at Smileworks we’ll teach you about effective and clinically proven skincare and change your attitude to looking after your skin.
Our experts practitioners will encourage you to take a pragmatic approach to caring for your skin based on real research and thousands of hours of medical training and professional development. You’ll be in the capable hands of Dr MJ Rowland-Warmann BSc BDS MSc Aes.Med. PGDip Endod. MJDF RCS (Eng) GDC: 178642 who is unmatched in her passion for making you feel supremely confident every time you catch your reflection in the mirror or are getting ready for a night out on the town… Semi-permanent makeup at Smileworks by Hannah Taafe then follow the link here: Eyebrow Tattoo Liverpool
Patients interested in Obagi also typically benefit from Aerolase treatments to improve skin quality. Smileworks are leaders in the field of laser treatment and you will not find the Aerolase system anywhere else outside of London. Follow the link for more information: Aerolase Lasers in Liverpool.Â
Here at Smileworks we offer a number of chemical peels. These are basically weak acids that remove the top layers of skin leaving beautiful blemish free skin beneath. Skin peels can reduce pore size, create a wonderful glowing complexion and make you feel a million dollars. The skin is like the canvass that we work from when doing other facial aesthetic treatments like Plexr, Cheek Fillers, and semi permanent makeup.   You’re probably thinking back to that episode in Sex And The City where Samantha looked like a bacon frazzle and bits of her face were falling off all over the show. This is not the reality of skin peels and some of them are so gentle that you’ll barely notice any flaking at all. Mechanical abrasion such as using scrubbing brushes to remove dead skin is not recommended and is more likely to cause you to break out in acne or damage the skin. So peels are the way forward in 2024.   The chemical peels of ten years ago have largely gone out of fashion.  The purpose of a peel is to refresh your skin and take away sun damage and imperfections.  The use of uber-strength peels that give you chemical burns and leave you physically (and mentally) scarred has been superseded by peels that are compatible with daily life. We want you to look good without having to take a week off work or walk around with a paper bag on your head!   This is where glycolic peels and salicylic acids are often the best choices.  Both are used in superficial peels that take away the upper 2-3 layers of epidermis (these are dead anyway) and allow the skin to breathe, shed and get rid of imperfections such as acne and sun spots (FYI, freckles are not “angel kisses”, they are very real sun damage!).
Check out Hannah’s glycolic peel profile if you’re looking for all types of peels as she’s our resident expert. Check out her latest review here: Â
The Obagi Blue Peel Radiance is an amazing salicylic acid based peel.  Great for acne, scarring and sun damage, this peel will leave skin feeling fresher, tighter and brighter.  The effects are visible immediately as a tightening of the skin and evening of the skin tone and long term effects show decrease in pigmentation.  Because it contains salicylic acid it is also great for acne and will reduce blemishes.  Here’s our very own Dr MJ Rowland-Warmann BSc BDS MSc Aes.Med. PGDip Endod. MJDF RCS (Eng)  having a Blue Peel Radiance treatment.    The frosty appearance means that it’s working it’s magic – the skin has been dealt a superficial chemical burn (nothing ouchy, don’t worry) and the top layers of dead skin are reacting to this.  The treatment is a little tingly, but not uncomfortable. And below is the result immediately after the peel has been neutralised and removed.     My skin feels wonderfully clean, soft and refreshed.  I don’t look like a bacon frazzle afterwards and my face hasn’t fallen off. You need to understand that there is little or no downtime with these treatments and you won;t need time off from work or to take a holiday to recover!   I expect to see some light skin shedding in about 3 days’ time which is easily manageable and I wear Obagi SPF50 every day anyway so my skin is protected against the elements and the sunshine. People love sunshine but you need to remember it’s actually a very large thermonuclear reactor and spits out some very dangerous radiation that over time causes a great deal of damage to the outer and underlying layers of the skin.   I love this treatment and it is one of the reasons why my skin is flawless.  I combine Obagi BPR with the Nu Derm system which I use daily.  I would consider this treatment a MUST for anyone who loves their skin. Here’s the finished result. I get lots of compliments on my skin and it’s not because I’m lucky – it’s because I spend an enormous amount of time looking after it.  Â
    Our beautician and Obagi Practitioner is Hannah Taaffe and you can read more about her and book an appointment by following the link here: Beauty Therapist Hannah Taaffe.
At Smileworks we diagnose, plan and treat your problems in a scientific, medically appropriate and accurate way. We then deploy a regime that will lead to healthy and beautiful skin, based on research using scientifically proven and effective ingredients and doses. So if you have acne, dry skin, sun damage or any other concern, you can be assured that dramatic improvements can be made with the right care.
Ok it sounds a bit strange but it’s the secret that celebrities have been using for years to maintain their perfect complexions. I take most anti-aging products with a pinch of salt.  I’ve tried most of them, spent thousands upon thousands, and up until fairly recently would probably rub most things into my face if I thought they were going to be the ticket to eternal youth. Most of what you see and hear on the TV is rubbish and the ingredients in face creams – no matter how expensive – are usually inert or ineffective in actually improving the health of your skin.   Let’s be honest, beautiful skin is just… beautiful.  There is nothing quite like it.  You can look buff and you can look pretty and have all your features in the right places but if your skin is covered in blemishes then that affects your confidence and makes you feel bad.    Obagi Nu Derm is the only skincare system that will actually do what it promises to do and turn your skin into something wonderful.  Nu Derm = New Skin.  They had a team of scientists working round the clock to come up with that name and the team at Smileworks work round the clock to put their great research into practice. Our resident beauty therapist is Hannah Taaffe and she works under the prescription of Dr Rowland-Warmann BSc BDS MSc Aes.Med. PGDip Endod. MJDF RCS (Eng)  to administer our prescription-strength skincare products.
Obagi is all about things that happen at a cellular level in the skin. Non-medical cosmetic companies have hijacked this sentiment and say their products ‘work at a cellular level but they don’t. And these companies are not regulated like us medical people so can say pretty much whatever they want. We cannot.  The active ingredients in the NuDerm products penetrate below the surface of the skin to transform the functions of the skin cells.  They correct damage and reveal healthy, young-looking skin.  That’s code for turning back time and making you look about 10 years younger.   Aging is dreadful.  You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. But It’s also absolutely natural.  Yet every time someone tells me about growing old gracefully I want to walk into the Mersey.  Life takes its toll on facial features.  Daily sun exposure can mean that by the time you’re 40, you look 85.  The slowing of the turnover of cells in the skin (and general slowing of metabolic processes) means that more damaged cells sit around on your epidermis instead of your skin being the lean, mean organ it should be.   Moisturiser doesn’t help.  Moisturiser makes your skin reliant on external sources of comfort, instead of being its own boss.  For a long time I thought that spending £85 a pot on crushed up animal fat was a good idea.  Then along came Obagi Nu Derm.
Nu Derm gets rid of age spots, fine lines and wrinkles, rough skin, skin laxity (saggy skin tissues), erythema (redness), sallowness (yellowish complexion), hyperpigmentation (discoloured skin) and acne (sound the bells!).  It’s an all-in-one bumper deal for your skin.   The active ingredients are Hydroquinone and Tretinoin (also called trans-retanoic acid or ATRA for short).  Hydroquinone stops melanocytes in the skin from producing any more pigment, thus acting as a skin-lightening agent.  Tretinoin is a Vitamin A based ingredient which combats acne and takes out any excess pigmentation already in the skin as well as acting to rejuvenate the skin.  These are used in conduction with exfoliating agents to lift off the top layer of the skin to reveal fresh layers underneath.
This is pretty simple. These are medical treatments that cost millions to develop making them not cheap and not affordable for everyone (hence the celebrities being big into Obagi) also you need to be highly committed to the treatment regimen – and many people are just not that organised.   You might think that spending £400 in one go on your skin is a lot for a NuDerm kit but really, it’s not.  Think about all those little pots at home in the bathroom gathering dust.  Then think about all the makeup you buy to cover all of your blemishes that you get from putting on moisturiser that doesn’t work.  Are we up to £400 yet?  Probably in as little as a couple of months! It is – and take my word for this as someone with flawless skin – false economy.   The reason I stress commitment is that commitment to Nu Derm is an entirely different thing.  Those of you who are committed to your skin will read this and know.  You are the ones who have tried EVERYTHING in your quest for the perfect skin.  You want to change your life. Nu Derm commitment is tough love.  Great skin is not a walk in the park.  It’s not a duck-shoot and it’s not plain sailing.  Nu Derm is a road paved with a strict skincare regime and looking flaky and sometimes breaking out to get you to where you need to be.
What’s the NuDerm Procedure like?  You think I’m joking about needing to ‘grow a pair’ for Nu Derm.  I started Nu Derm on 20th July 2013.  It was a great day. I put on all the lotions and potions.  I looked gorgeous the next day.  And the day after that.  Then I started to apply Exfoderm, the daily peel.  Still looking good.  Maybe a bit red. Then I started to apply Tretinoin at night.   I Woke up looking like the evil lovechild of a lizard and a leprosy patient.  I have never actively considered myself to be hideous, but when you can peel your face  off in strips there comes a point when you consider staying in on a Friday night.  There was peeling.  Mainly around the mouth.  I’d wake up in the morning and apply and think I’d got over the peeling stage.  Then I’d take a bite out of my sandwich at lunch and my face would crack and peel.     This may sound grim, but actually it’s not that bad.  There is peeling, yes.  There is itching.  But no pain.  After all, your skin is trying to shed like a happy Salamander and is trying its hardest to reveal good, new skin underneath.  It’s a process that lasts around 6 weeks and I wouldn’t say it is ever bad enough to limit your life.  You’re not on your own in this journey and your Obagi Prescriber (me) will see you all the way through this phase and tell you exactly why things are happening the way they are and what can be done to help. Nu Derm is not about suffering.  But to resurface a road you gotta take off the top layer.
The first stage of Nu Derm is purposefully called “Out with the Old”.  This means your skin gets a bit of a shock to the system as the ingredients penetrate the deepest layers of your skin.  Dead cells are replaced and reactions such as itching, dryness, redness and peeling occur.  This means it is working.   Each skin cycle is 6 weeks long and by the time you get to the second, most of the peeling will subside.  You’ll look less red, less peel-y and your skin underneath will be shining through like a glorious gleaming beacon of loveliness.    The second stage is called “In with the New”.  This is when your skin starts producing healthy new cells and the cell turnover of your skin is faster.  The melanin producing cells in your skin are producing it more evenly (no more blotchy pigments) and the collagen and elastin in your skin is stimulated.  Your skin will look good after this phase.   The third stage is “Healthy Glow” six weeks later.  Your skin has a better blood flow due to better cell turnover and it is smooth, naturally hydrated (no more moisturiser) and more resilient.  It looks and acts younger and healthier and you will get ID’d buying a bottle of Lambrini at Sainsbury’s. After approximately 18-24 weeks of religiously applying Nu Derm, you come out of the other end and wonder what all the fuss over routines and peeling was about.  It’s a great feeling.  I don’t go through a single day without someone commenting on how great my skin looks.     I no longer wear moisturiser.  Or makeup.  Don’t need to.  It’s exhilarating and liberating.  The law tells me I must wear clothes, so that’s a concession I’m willing to make. And if you don’t believe me, try it.  It’s life changing.     I’ve done it.  The First Officer does it.  Everyone around me is either doing Nu Derm, ordering Nu Derm or saving up for Nu Derm.  Nicole Kidman does it.  Jen-An does it.  Those ladies don’t look half bad either.   Dr MJ Rowland-Warmann is one of the few registered Obagi Prescribers in Liverpool and at Smileworks the Nu Derm Starter Kit costs £400. Order your Nu Derm kit now and begin your journey.  Call us on 0151 236 5166 for a free consultation. Â
Anti-oxidants are the latest buzzword in skincare. Â It’s not just a buzzword, it’s the real deal. Â Antioxidants are nutrients and enzymes (minerals, vitamins and proteins) that can prevent or repair damage to the body from harmful external factors like pollution, radiation, sunshine and all sorts of other things.
Antioxidants work against these evil little blobs of ouchie called free radicals. Â Sound like a bad punk band, right? Â Well, Mr Free Radical and his merry friends cause cell oxidation, which is where cells break down and start doing things they shouldn’t. Â This contributes to getting old and wrinkly and parts of your body not working as well as you advance in age. Â Antioxidants are the knights in shining armour, Â the off-switch for the amplifier, the razor to the mohawk: they stop cells being damaged by oxidation – they take one for the team and end up getting oxidised themselves. Â Troopers.
They do an awful lot of things around the body but the major functions that we are concerned about for a more youthful looking skin are… Â Reduce lines and wrinkles: Jackpot in any anti-aging skincare system! Â Antioxidants are said to plump up the skin by increasing collagen synthesis, Â and this is especially true of Vitamins A, C and E. Â They also help skin repair and encourage cell and tissue growth. Along similar lines, some antioxidants have skin firming properties, such as Coenzyme Q10
At Smileworks we only stock the finest products, so that you can be safe in the knowledge that they will do exactly what we say they will.  Obagi have a great serum called Pro-C, which comes in various concentrations depending on how dry, oily, sensitive or in need your skin is.  We advise you on which concentration of serum you need so that you are not left to randomly buy some product.  Most of the Obagi range is prescription only, so instead of supplying your lovely outer shell with lard, you’re supplying it with medicine that has scientific backing. Pro-C does all the things that antioxidants are really good at, and if you are a geek and want to read up, there are studies that shows it does all of the following:  1. Increases collagen synthesis in the skin 2. Calms inflammation 3. Brightens skin 4. Retains moisture in the skin 5. Enhances any UV protection you put on top 6. Stabilises Vitamin E in the skin It’s beauty in a bottle.
If you are even a bit worried about the signs of skin ageing, come in for a consultation on how Pro-C can change the way your skin looks and feels.
Pro-C Serums are available for only £70 at Smileworks.