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Our dermal filler courses – what will you learn?

With the industry growing at a rapid pace, there are now a number of training providers in the UK offering dermal filler courses.

All have slightly different approaches and course programmes, and with so much choice, it can be difficult knowing which one most suits your requirements.

To give you an idea of our approach, we thought we’d create a quick summary so you can get a feel for our dermal filler courses at a glance.

Who do we train?

While there are still no legal barriers to anyone learning to inject dermal fillers, at Cosmetic Courses we only train qualified medical professionals. That includes, but is not limited to:

  • Surgeons
  • Trainee Surgeons
  • Doctors
  • Dentists
  • Registered Nurses
  • Dermatologists
  • Ophthalmologists

We feel this is an important safeguard when it comes to injectable treatments. Only medical professionals have the necessary understanding of facial anatomy, as well as the knowledge and skills to recognise and deal with any complications that may arise.

What do our dermal filler courses cover?

All our dermal filler courses are combined with training in Botox. These two treatments are often used in tandem, so learning them together gives you a more nuanced understanding of how best to use them with your patients.

We offer two levels of training, depending on your level of experience.

a) Basic Botox and dermal filler training

If you’re new to the treatments, our Foundation level Botox and Dermal Fillers course gives you a thorough introduction to the products, as well as plenty of theory and practice in the techniques used for basic facial rejuvenation, corrective and enhancement treatments.

You’ll leave the one-day course able to offer:-

> Facial Rejuvenation

Smoothing frown lines and forehead lines; treating crows feet and squint lines (periorbital lines).

> Facial Corrective Treatments

Reducing lines around the mouth (perioral lines and oral commissures); softening lines running from base of the nose to the corner of mouth (nasolabial folds); treating frown and forehead lines; improving facial wrinkles.

> Facial Enhancement

Creating an enhanced natural lip border; producing a pout.

b) Advanced Botox and dermal filler training

If you’ve already completed basic training and are looking to learn more advanced techniques, our Advanced level Botox and Dermal Fillers course has more emphasis on practical hands-on experience.

By the end of this one-day course, you’ll be able to offer:-

> Advanced Dermal Filler Techniques

Combined filling (using different strengths of product to achieve optimum results); cheek augmentation; vermilion border enhancement; advanced peri-oral sculpting; cross hatching techniques; extended linear threading techniques.

> Advanced Botox Techniques

Cheek and jowl lifting; chemical brow lift; mental is treatments; treatment of platysmal bands; upper chest treatments; treatment of hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating).

We offer dermal filler courses at centres in Buckinghamshire, Leeds, Kent and Birmingham. For information about our training, our course tutors or centres, please don’t hesitate to gives a call on 01844 390110 or email [email protected].

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Chinese woman suffers side-effects following unlicensed dermal fillers

A 28-year-old woman from the Gansu Province in China is having to undergo corrective surgery as unlicensed dermal fillers were inserted in to her face 11 years ago.

Xiao Lan, still a teenager at the time, was told by her then-boss that her looks would not be enough to secure her finding a wealthy man as her skin was too thin and papery. As a result Lan chose to have facial fillers to help plump out the appearance of her face, in order to make it what was deemed to be more attractive.

Given that she was not earning a great deal at the time, rather than save up to have the procedure carried out at a reputable clinic, Lan chose to have the procedure done at an unlicensed, cheaper clinic. At the time she was said to be happy and satisfied with the outcome; however, in 2009, changes started to occur.

Her face swelled up and changed slightly in shape, her eyes became droopy and she even suffered from excessive hair loss. At the time doctors attributed this to possible kidney or liver failure, but there was no alternative diagnosis when these were ruled out.

By 2013 things had taken a turn for the worst, when Lan’s face has swollen up and changed beyond all recognition due to the unlicensed dermal fillers. This time doctors were able to pinpoint the problem as the side effect of her earlier fillers, when the substance that was used was uncovered. Although it was banned from the medical cosmetic industry, Lan’s face had been injected with hydrophilic polyacrylamide. Previously this substance had been used in breast implants in China.

Lan is now undergoing corrective surgery to reverse the problem caused by unlicensed dermal fillers. Doctors have warned her that the effects of the illicit substance injected in to her face may be difficult to reverse given that it has been in her skin for such a long time.

Who are Cosmetic Courses?

Cosmetic Courses are the UK’s leading Botox and Dermal Filler training provider for medical professionals, offering over 50 aesthetic courses online and offline. Find out more about our courses here! 

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Ageing Hands – a new use of dermal fillers

More and more women are seeking treatment for ageing hands, in what’s being dubbed the ‘Madonna effect’, so called after the star’s own hand treatment to reverse this tell-tale sign of ageing.

It has often been said that to tell a woman’s age you need look at the neck and the hands, as previously work to reverse the signs of ageing was really only performed on the face. However as skill and technology advances it is now possible to treat ageing hands as well as an ageing face.

Until now it was usually Thermage or laser treatments that would have been used on the hands however fillers are now regularly being requested in clinics up and down the country. Thermage works by strengthening the collagen in the skin which results in it becoming tighter, whilst laser treatment can help to reduce sun spots and pigmentation.

Fillers can go a step further however as they will help to restore volume to the hands, which can often be the main problem. Thinning skin can lead to a crepey, shrunken look which can make the hands look older.

As a result of this it’s important that training for dermal fillers includes treatments for the hands as well as for the face.

Cosmetic Courses are the UK’s leading aesthetic training provider for medical professionals with over 50 courses on and offline within our 6 state of the art training clinics.

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Keogh Review calls for qualifications for non-invasive treatments including Botox and dermal fillers

Initial findings from the Keogh Review, the committee set up to investigate the aesthetic medicine industry and its standards, have been released, the results of which show the need for greater regulation for the industry, particularly where non-invasive procedures are concerned.

Currently there is no law or industry regulation that makes qualifications to administer non-invasive procedures mandatory and this review is set to change that. It was also expected that only medical professionals (doctors, nurses and dentists) would be able to carry out the procedures however that tenet has so far not been decided upon.

In a burgeoning and ever-growing industry it’s important that standards are met and introducing regulation is one way of ensuring this will happen. It also provides the patient with an extra degree of trust and certainty, and offers better protection if things go wrong. On discussing these finding Sir Bruce Keogh said:

“All too often we hear of cases that shine a light on poor practices in the cosmetic surgery industry. I am concerned that some practitioners who are giving non-surgical treatments may not have had any appropriate training whatsoever. This leaves people exposed to unreasonable risks, and possibly permanent damage.

“Our research has shown that the public expect procedures that are so widely available to be safe, whereas they are largely unregulated.

“There is a clear need for better quality, recognised training for the people performing these operations. My review will make a number of recommendations for making sure people who choose to undergo these procedures are in safe hands.”

The review committee has also been examining possible regulation of industry advertising and how treatments and procedures are sold. This includes bulk and time-restricted deals, which encourage the patient (or customer) to buy quickly or more than they need.

BAAPS president Rajiv Grover welcomes these initial findings:

“We agree that specialised training is required and [it should be] certainly more extensive than the many widely-promoted weekend courses currently available, but aesthetic injectibles should only ever be provided by medical professionals.”

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Preparing for the Keogh Review’s outcomes

If you currently offer injectable treatments and other non-invasive cosmetic procedures, either privately or through a clinic, it’s likely you will be impacted at some stage by the Keogh Review – whose research into possible regulations for the aesthetic medical industry may help form government legislature.

Calls have been made from medical professionals and bodies for some time over the need for more regulation within the industry. This includes focusing on who is qualified to perform non-invasive procedures. Currently any clinic can offer injectable treatments; this may change following the release of the review’s findings, which is expected to happen this month.

Many practitioners already undergo training to qualify them to administer treatment, however for any who haven’t it is wise to undertake training as soon as possible, to ensure you will be able to continue to practice.

It’s possible that the review will suggest that only medical professionals (which will include doctors, dentists and nurses) will be able to offer these procedures, however ensuring you are qualified to carry them out may count if you are outside of these professions.

If you are a doctor, nurse or dentist and do currently carry out non-invasive procedures it is important to keep up to date with training as it’s likely that this will be required.

Although the review will make recommendations to government there will be no obligation to make them mandatory. If the proposals are passed through law, this will likely take several months.

Cosmetic Courses offer Botox and other aesthetic training courses from centres in Buckinghamshire and Manchester. For information on any of our courses, call us on 01844 390110 or email [email protected].

 

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Benefits of working for yourself in the aesthetics industry

There are many personal and career orientated benefits to working for yourself within the aesthetics industry. Many delegates express that they feel working for themselves has many benefits and can work hand in hand with the aesthetic industry or even around their current medical career.

One main benefit of being self-employed in the aesthetics industry is that your working hours are more suitable as you can set them yourself while adapting them to fit your lifestyle. It gives you the flexibility to work when it is appropriate for you.

An additional benefit of working for yourself is that you can offer a higher level of care that matches what you feel you should offer to your clients. This allows you time to connect with your clients and a greater focus on meeting their needs. You can also have more involvement with the treatments chosen and control over the amount of time spent writing up notes and administering the procedure.

Time is always critical for our delegates, not only for the time with clients but also for the time spent away from work in their personal lives. Being self-employed in this industry allows the individual to have more control over their personal time and other commitments. Many of our delegates have mentioned that these combined factors have given them a better lifestyle.

Although there are many benefits to working for yourself within the aesthetic industry there are also a few drawbacks. If you are self-employed, there is no guaranteed income per month as it depends on how much work you have. You will also not be entitled to sick or holiday pay, which does need to be taken into consideration.

However some feel that this can be outweighed by benefits of working for yourself in the aesthetic industry. Not only will you have more control over working hours and the conditions you work under but you can also decide how much money you want to make.

If you have great skills, excellent patient care and are driven to succeed then a self-employed career in aesthetics could give you the quality of life you are looking for.

If you are interested in a career in the aesthetics industry, find out more about our aesthetic training courses by contacting us on 0845 230 4110 or emailing [email protected].

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Q&A: Using Hyaluronidase to Dissolve Dermal Filler

Question :

Dear Cosmetic Courses,

I have a patient with the following Dermal Fillers query and wondered whether you could advise? At the beginning of December, she had Juvederm Dermal Filler injected into an area under her cheekbone. Initially the region was tender and sore. After about a week the pain increased and her face became swollen on one side with a round hard solid lump in this area.

She went away on holiday shortly after and, whilst away, phoned her GP who advised her to take antibiotics. She has since been on a seven day course of amoxyllin and a five day course of augmentin 625mg. On returning she visited the same GP who advised her to see a specialist as he was not sure if an abscess had formed or a haematoma .

I have now examined the area, however, and feel that this is not an abscess as it is a hard mass and therefore, could maybe be a haematoma, or the filler with an infection around it?  Her own GP back home seems to agree as he has taken her off the augmentin and put her on a course of cefuroxime 250mg.

Do you think Hyaluronidase might dissolve the filler and how long after the infection has healed can this be done (providing that the lump is the filler! )

Answer :

Unfortunately, it does sound as though your patient has an infection in her cheek area which the GP was right to treat with antibiotics.

When the infection has settled down it may be possible to treat her with Hyalase but this is certainly not recommended whilst infection is still prevailant.

We may be able to provide further advice and information if you send a photograph of her to: [email protected]

Should there be further problems, our expert surgical team at Aurora Clinics would be happy to see her for a free consultation.

Best Wishes,

The Cosmetic Courses Team

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How do Muscles Cause Wrinkles and Frown Lines?

There is a one vertical Procerus muscle and two Corrugator muscles that cause wrinkles and frowning in the area between the eyebrows.

The frotanus muscle runs upwards from the bridge of the nose and inserts into the skin.

Muscle fibres run upwards along the muscle and, when they contract, this produces shortening of the muscle and a cross line transverse (horizontal line at the upper bridge of the nose).

The Corrugate muscles run upwards and sideways from the bone in the frown area to the skin above the inner aspect of the eyebrow.

When these muscles contract they pull the eyebrows inwards, downwards and cause either vertical or slightly slanted lines on either side of the frown areas.

The muscles run in different directions and therefore the contractions cause lines in different orientation. It is important to know which muscle is responsible for which line when treating the frown area with Botox in order to correctly target the right muscle. In future blog posts we’ll talk about variation in muscles between other people and tell-tale signs if someone has had Botox Therapy.

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Pain Relief & Dermal Fillers

Pain relief using local anaesthetic for dermal filler injections

Dermal filler injections are more uncomfortable for the patient than other treatments such as BOTOX® treatment.

This depends on the area treated, with the lips in particular being very uncomfortable because of their denser nerve endings in this area. Many patients are deterred from having dermal filler injections into their lips because of the discomfort of the procedure.

Traditionally, practitioners have used dental blocks blocking the infra-orbital and mental nerves in a similar fashion to that used for the dentist for dental treatment.

While this type of local anaesthetic is very effective at reducing discomfort from the lips during injections, making it almost completely pain free, it has the disadvantage that the local anaesthetic can also affect the muscle tone of the lips.
By reducing the muscle tone they decrease your patient’s ability to contract the muscle and produce the lines which you aim to treat.

At Cosmetic Courses we always advise our trainees to first of all mark the lines they wish to treat prior to inserting the dental blocks so that the landmarks are retained.

Although the marking technique does give indication as to the areas that require volume adjustment, due to a decreased subcutaneous tissue it is not as accurate as seeing the areas for yourself with the muscles contracted which is often not possible with dental blocks.

Whilst EMLA and other topical anaesthetics such as Ametop offer some pain relief this is not complete and, even if these are used, dermal fillers are uncomfortable.

With Juvederm®, the Allergan company introduced a product with local anaesthetic combined with the hyaluronic acid.
This has significant advantages in that, although the first injection is of normal tenderness, the local anaesthetic does permeate through the area and each subsequent injection becomes less painful.

We have found that, if dermal fillers which contain lignocaine are used correctly, the discomfort from dermal filler injections (even in the lips) is significantly reduced and is very tolerable for most of our patients.

Our current preference is to use a dermal filler containing local anaesthetics in the peri-oral area as this has the dual advantage of producing good pain relief for the patient and also preserving the muscle activity allowing you to accurately place the dermal fillers in the correct position.

If you would like to know more about these techniques with dermal fillers to reduce the discomfort for your patients please contact the Cosmetic Courses office on 08452 304 110 or via email at [email protected] to discuss your training needs.

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Cosmetic Courses join the Big Beauty Therapist Botox® Training Debate: Should Beauty Therapists be allowed to Inject?

Back in March, The Consulting Rooms’ Ron Myers reported on the medical aesthetic industry’s “hot” controversy: should Beauty Therapists be allowed to inject Botulinum Toxin and Fillers?

Traditionally, as at Cosmetic Courses National Training Centre, training in botulinum toxin and dermal filler treatments has been the exclusive domain of the medically qualified. Cosmetic Courses lists surgeons, registered nurses, opthamologists, doctors, dermatologists, dentists, dental hygienists, dental therapists and certain paramedics amongst its accepted delegates; no mention of Beauty Therapists, despite the hundreds of calls a year from eager candidates.

The logic behind this is strong. To date, the Independent Healthcare Advisory Services’ (IHAS) Treatments You Can Trust Register has refused to provide quality assurance accreditation to cosmetic injectable providers who do not fall into the above job fields. This is typical, Cosmetic Courses Coordinator Rachael Langford confirms, of industry attitudes generally. Insurance is very difficult to obtain to train non-medical delegates in cosmetic injectables and, in our experience, a Beauty Therapist is likely to have a very tough time finding insurance to set up their business afterwards. As Ron Myers points out, the manufacturers and major suppliers themselves of these products do not support their use by non-medically qualified practitioners, which surely speaks volumes.

Many Beauty Therapists are keen to come on botox® training courses, however, and very vocal about their rights to become Medical Aesthetic Practitioners. In such difficult times of economic recession, practitioners from all backgrounds (Myers acknowledges) ‘want to generate an income from this evolving market segment’. As Dr. Phillip Dobson points out,  technically there is nothing illegal about a Beauty Therapist administering botulinum toxin (if a doctor or dentist has signed the scripts for them) and dermal fillers, so long as they do not mislead their patients into believing that they are medically qualified; it all comes down to patient consent. Many Beauty Therapists who telephone Cosmetic Courses argue that they have a better understanding of the skin than, say, a dentist and a number of them have already attended anaphylaxis or resuscitation training. They claim that there is too much “superiority” and “snotty remarks” in the industry and they may have a fair point; even amongst those who are accepted to inject, some Cosmetic and Plastic Surgeons still frown upon Dentists and Nurses who do so. Now an organisation called the CTIA (Cosmetic Treatments and Injectables Association) has been founded to challenge the exclusion of Beauty Therapists from cosmetic injectables, on the understanding that all practitioners should be inspected regularly for quality.

Yet as Dr Samantha Gammell, President Elect of the British Association of Cosmetic Doctors (BACD) maintains:

“A one day training course does not provide non-medically qualified ‘therapists’ with the depth of knowledge required for these types of treatments nor the understanding or skills to deal with the complications that can occasionally arise from them. The public needs to protect themselves by demanding to be treated in a safe medical environment by a competent, well trained cosmetic doctor or a suitable healthcare professional who makes the patients interests his or her first concern. It may be cosmetic but it is still medicine.”

Whilst Cosmetic Courses sympathise with the frustration of Beauty Therapists, founder Mr Adrian Richards emphasises that we fully support the BACD. “At the end of the day,” says Mr Richards, “dermal fillers and botulinum toxin are injectable substances that can cause harm. We believe they should only be used by trained medical professionals with the appropriate training. This is why we set up Cosmetic Courses, to offer the highest standards of training and make every effort to ensure that the safety of patients is of paramount importance.” The Cosmetic Courses team are looking into possible alternative training options for Beauty Therapists rather than injectables, so that they can still support their enthusiasm for the Medical Aesthetics industry…more on this coming soon!

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