TREATMENT FINDER
It's the question we're asked more than any other, and it's a fair one - 'What treatment is right for me?' There are more injectable and skin treatments available now than at any point in the history of aesthetic medicine, nearly all of them are marketed as the answer to everything, and very few clinics will tell you when something isn't right for you.
The honest answer is that the right treatment depends far less on what you want done and far more on what's actually causing the concern. Two people with identical-looking under eyes can need completely different treatments — one a filler, one a collagen stimulator, one no injectable at all. The same is true of lines, pigmentation, acne scarring and skin laxity.
So rather than list everything we offer and leave you to guess, answer a few questions below. You'll get a named treatment, an explanation of why it suits your particular presentation, and what it's usually combined with. Where the honest answer is a different treatment from the one you came looking for, it will tell you that. And where the honest answer is no treatment at all, it will tell you that too.
Botox or filler — which do I need?
The simplest way to tell is to look in a mirror with your face completely still. If the line disappears when you stop moving, it's made by muscle, and anti-wrinkle injections are the treatment — botulinum toxin softens the movement creating the crease. Frown lines, forehead lines and crow's feet almost always fall into this group.
If the line or hollow is still there when your face is at rest, it's structural, and relaxing a muscle won't touch it. That's where dermal filler comes in — hyaluronic acid restoring volume that's been lost. Deep nasolabial folds, flat cheeks, a softening jawline.
The complication is that established frown and forehead lines are often both. Years of repeated movement etch a crease that stays visible at rest. Botulinum toxin is still the right treatment there, and for a reason people often miss: it stops the line deepening, and because the movement is reduced, static lines frequently soften over successive treatments.Microneedling and polynucleotides are then used alongside to rebuild the skin the crease sits in.
Filler or polynucleotides?
They do genuinely different jobs, and this is the comparison most often got wrong.
Filler occupies space. It restores volume where volume has been lost, and it works immediately. Polynucleotides don't add volume at all — they're purified DNA fragments that activate fibroblasts and drive genuine collagen and elastin synthesis, improving the thickness, strength and quality of the skin itself over a course of treatments.
So the question is whether your problem is a missing volume or poor tissue quality. A clear hollow with good skin over it wants filler. Thin, crepey, finely lined or translucent skin wants polynucleotides — filler placed under poor-quality skin often makes the area look worse, not better, and can show through it.
Many people do best with polynucleotides first, then a reassessment to see whether any filler is needed at all. Frequently it isn't.
Tear trough filler or polynucleotides for under eyes?
The same principle, in the least forgiving area of the face.
Tear trough filler suits a true hollow with good skin quality over it. We use only Teosyal Redensity I or Restylane Eyelight here — both low-cohesivity, low water-binding products developed for thin-skinned areas. A standard cheek or lip filler placed under the eye swells, holds fluid and can give a bluish cast through the skin.
Polynucleotides suit thin, crepey skin and dark circles caused by translucency rather than pigment. Lumi Eyes for younger skin with early changes; the stronger formulations where the concern is established.
Worth knowing before you decide: in our clinical opinion only around two in ten people who ask us for tear trough filler are genuinely good candidates for it. Herniated fat pads, existing puffiness, a history of malar oedema and very lax lower lid skin are all reasons we decline. If that's you, we'll say so and offer what actually works instead.
Profhilo or Sculptra?
Both stimulate your own collagen, but they're aimed at different problems.
Profhilo is ultra-pure, highly concentrated hyaluronic acid that spreads through the tissue after placement, hydrating at dermal level while stimulating collagen and elastin. The result is bounce, glow and firmness in skin that has become dull or dehydrated. It doesn't restore structure.
Sculptra is poly-L-lactic acid, and it rebuilds structure across the whole face over three to six months. It's the answer to generalised facial thinning — particularly after weight loss — where chasing volume region by region with filler gets expensive and tends to look done.
Skin quality: Profhilo. Lost structure: Sculptra. Both, often together.
Juvelook or dermal filler?
Juvelook is a PDLLA collagen stimulator carried in hyaluronic acid. Rather than filling a space, it rebuilds structure and thickness through the skin itself, gradually, over a course.
Choose filler when you want visible correction now and the skin over the area is in good condition. Choose Juvelook when the skin itself has lost support — thin, crepey, finely lined — because filling beneath poor-quality skin doesn't fix the skin. It's increasingly our preference under the eyes for exactly that reason, and it's also the better answer where there's puffiness or fat pad protrusion, since adding hyaluronic acid there usually makes the area look heavier rather than fresher.
Bio filler or hyaluronic acid filler?
Bio filler is made from your own plasma, prepared into a soft gel on the day of treatment. No synthetic product at all. It gives gentler structural support than hyaluronic acid, and it keeps working after the gel resorbs because of the growth factors it releases.
Hyaluronic acid gives more definition, more predictable projection and lasts longer. Bio filler suits people who want structure restored without a synthetic implant, and it pairs well with polynucleotides where skin quality is part of the picture.
The best treatment for eye bags and under eye hollows
Start by working out which you actually have, because they need opposite approaches and they're difficult to tell apart in a mirror. A hollow deepens under overhead light and improves when you lie down. Herniated fat protrudes regardless.
Hollow, good skin → tear trough filler
Hollow, thin or crepey skin → Juvelook
Puffiness or fat pad protrusion → Juvelook; filler makes this worse
Dark circles under 30 → Lumi Eyes
Dark circles over 40 → polynucleotides
Brown pigmentation → peels and prescription skincare
True herniation → surgical referral. No injectable substitutes for a lower lid blepharoplasty, and we'll tell you that plainly.
The best treatment for jowls and a softening jawline
Early jowls are a structural change, but at that stage they don't want volume adding — which is what makes hyperdiluted Sculptra so useful. Diluted well beyond conventional volumising concentration and placed broadly, it lays a fine even collagen scaffold across the area, tightening and firming rather than filling.
Where there's genuine volume loss along the jaw, dermal filler restores definition directly. And where the platysma is pulling the jawline downward, botulinum toxin into the neck bands releases that pull and lets the jawline sit higher.
The best treatment for a crepey neck
The neck ages faster than the face and is almost always undertreated — thin skin, constant movement, decades of sun, very little structural support.
Horizontal "tech neck" creases → SKINVIVE, which received FDA approval in June 2026 specifically for neck lines, or hyperdiluted Radiesse
Loose, sagging, crepey skin → Profhilo with polynucleotides
Vertical bands that pull down when you tense → botulinum toxin into the platysma
Overall elasticity and texture → Sunekos, with microneedling alongside
Honest limit: significant skin excess is a surgical matter and no injectable substitutes for it. We'll say so.
The best treatment for acne scarring
The order matters more than the treatment, and it's what most people get wrong.
Deep, tethered scars have a band of fibrous tissue underneath anchoring them down. Nothing applied from above releases that — subcision does, passing a fine blunt instrument beneath the scar to cut the tethers. The released space then needs Profhilo or Sculptra placed into it, or the tissue re-adheres and the scar returns.
Only once those are lifting do we work across the shallower scarring with medical microneedling, infused with PRP or exosomes. Microneedling a tethered scar achieves very little while the tether is still holding it down.
Not performed during an active flare — we settle the acne first.
What if no treatment is right for me?
Then we tell you, and we don't treat you.
Declining is a legitimate clinical outcome and it happens here regularly. Sometimes the honest answer is a different treatment from the one you came in asking for. Sometimes it's a surgical referral. Sometimes it's that what's bothering you won't meaningfully improve with anything we offer, and you'd be spending money for disappointment.
A treatment declined costs us a booking. A treatment that shouldn't have been done costs you considerably more than that.
How do I know which treatment I need?
By identifying the cause rather than the symptom, which is the part that's genuinely difficult from a mirror. Hollow under eyes and herniated fat look similar and need opposite approaches; a line caused by muscle movement and a line caused by thin skin need entirely different treatments. The finder above narrows it by cause, and we confirm it in person.
Do I need a consultation first?
It depends. For most treatments we assess at the start of your appointment.
Two exceptions: prescription-only treatments — anti-wrinkle injections, B12 and biotin injections, filler dissolving, weight loss medication — require a face-to-face consultation at least 48 hours beforehand.
And moles or possible solar keratoses need written confirmation of assessment from a GP, dermatologist or mole-checking service before we can treat them.
Does dermal filler need a 48-hour consultation?
No. The 48-hour face-to-face requirement applies to prescription-only medicines. Hyaluronic acid filler isn't a prescription medicine, so it doesn't fall under that rule — though dissolving filler does, because hyaluronidase is prescription-only.
Can treatments be combined?
Frequently, and it's often the better plan. Most concerns have both a structural and a skin-quality component, so combining a collagen stimulator with a regenerative treatment usually outperforms either alone. Sequencing matters too.
Who performs the treatments?
All injectable treatments and prescription products are provided by NMC or GMC-registered medical professionals.
Do you see patients from outside Cardiff?
Yes. We're at 39 Charles Street, Cardiff, and treat patients from across South Wales including Newport, Penarth, Barry, the Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Pontypridd, Merthyr Tydfil, Cwmbran, Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire.