Feb 21st, 2022
Ask a child what they want to be when they grow up and you may hear a range of answers from firefighter or nurse, to school teacher or vet. But as you might have guessed, not many of us grow up to work in the job we once said we would, and I’m no different. Although I dreamt of being many things growing up, I would never have known I would end up in facial aesthetics. But I’m so glad that I did.
From Greece to London, via Italy
I left my beautiful home country of Greece at the age of 18 to go and study dentistry in Italy. I was very lucky to join the faculty of dentistry of one of the most prestigious and oldest universities of Europe, the University of Siena. This is where I completed my dental degree and graduated in 2002. Just two years later I landed in London where I knew the opportunities for professional development would be abundant. I worked in the NHS and after gaining a Msc in Restorative Aesthetic Dentistry I gradually made my way into the private sector. This is where my journey into facial aesthetics began.
In 2007 I participated in a facial aesthetic course (Botox and Dermal Fillers) where I first saw the potential of anti wrinkle injections, the beginning of my love affair for the treatment. From there, I began to treat patients, seeing the magnificent anti-ageing effects first hand, but it wasn’t until 2012 when I joined my first private dental clinic – and half of the patients were facial aesthetics patients – I really fell in love. A brand new world opened right in front of my eyes and I began to truly master the art of Botulinum Toxin (anti-wrinkle) treatments. The reputation I gained just from word of mouth made me feel quite ready to explore new treatments and offer patients more options.
I never stopped doing anti wrinkle injections but over the next three years, after joining that private dental clinic, I had added more treatments into my “tools box”, such as Dermal fillers, Threads, PRP, Mesotherapy and Skincare with Obagi Medical.
In 2015 I decided it was time to start my “solo career” which came with the urge to create a brand. That’s when Nu Face London was born, which later became the Anti Wrinkle Clinic.
A person with a strong sense of duty
After 15 years in the field of facial aesthetics I have realised this was never meant to be a journey just into medicine. There are so many parallel universes, such as human psychology, sociology, art and science, that I have had to explore and study in order to excel in giving my patients the best results.
It’s hard to define my ethos when I welcome patients to my clinic. But what I can say with certainty is that I am not just “an injector”; especially one of those injectors who I hear pack six patients into one hour and are waiting for you behind the door with the needle ready in their hands.
They rush a needle into the face, and it is pretty much the same treatment that they delivered on the previous patient. The unethical practices that take place can bring down the reputation of the aesthetics specialty, but I know I truly sit with those who want to do their best for their patients and treat them all as individuals.
I was blessed to be born and raised by a family where principles such as honesty, kindness, empathy and compassion – for myself and fellow people – shaped my childhood and have been ruling my life ever since. If anything, I know that I am a person with a strong sense of duty. Every single patient is going through a journey of pain before they knock on my door and this doesn’t have to be necessarily physical pain:
“Pain has seven dimensions, or core aspects: physical, sensory, behavioral, sociocultural, cognitive, affective, and spiritual. To perform a comprehensive pain assessment, you must understand what each dimension encompasses and be able to evaluate all dimensions accurately.”
(The seven dimensions of pain)
And this is what I aim to always do for each of my patients, before I even get close to touching a needle.
A beautiful journey
As C.P.Kavafy wrote in his poem “Ithaka” the journey is more important than the destination. This is the principle that drives my ethos when treating patients; to take them into a journey of self-worth and self-love, a journey of discovering how beautiful and unique they are, and should remain, no matter what the trends are. A journey where they feel equal, heard, and appreciated. A journey where I use my 15+ years’ clinical experience combined with my artistic flare and genuine kindness to take care of them rather than just treat them.
It is this journey that has given me the opportunity to meet so many amazing people, has differentiated me from other colleagues based on what my patients say, and has built my reputation and created lifetime bonds with my patients.
