Claire Lavery Aesthetics

Claire Lavery Aesthetics Aesthetic Nurse Prescriber & Obagi Skincare Ambassador. Natural results specialist, Leeds

29/08/2026

To be honest, you lost me at “lady”

Your consultation matters just as much as your treatment.This patient came to me with significant volume loss and skin l...
28/08/2026

Your consultation matters just as much as your treatment.

This patient came to me with significant volume loss and skin laxity.

I knew I could help her, but I also knew I needed to be realistic about what could be achieved and how we were going to achieve it.

We discussed from the beginning that this wasn’t going to be a case of coming in, having one treatment and walking out with the finished result.

We made a plan and I treated her in stages.

These photographs were taken one month apart.

She still has lines.
She still has skin laxity.
I haven’t attempted to replace every bit of volume she has lost.

That wasn’t the aim.

The aim was to make a noticeable difference for her.

There seems to be an increasingly short journey in aesthetics from being trained to becoming the trainer.I think we shou...
27/08/2026

There seems to be an increasingly short journey in aesthetics from being trained to becoming the trainer.

I think we should be asking more questions about that.

Because knowing how to perform a treatment and having enough experience to teach someone else how to practise safely are two very different things.

Experience isn’t simply time served.

It’s the accumulation of clinical experience and the clinical decision making that develops with it.

It’s assessing different faces, over and over again and recognising that what worked beautifully for one patient may be completely inappropriate for the next.

It’s knowing when not to treat.

It’s seeing your own results months and years later.

It’s managing the result that didn’t go to plan.

It’s recognising a complication including the ones that don’t present exactly like the textbook said they would and knowing what to do next.

Your responsibility doesn’t end when your delegate leaves with a certificate.

At some point, one of your delegates may be standing in a clinic with a frightened patient and something they’ve never seen before.

They may call you.

Can you recognise what’s happening?

Can you help them make sense of it?

Can you guide them towards the appropriate action?

Can you support them from experience rather than simply repeat what was written in your own training manual?

Particularly in an industry where routes into practice and training remain inconsistent and regulation has not kept pace with its growth.

Practicing for a long time doesn’t automatically make somebody a good educator.

But neither should we pretend that meaningful clinical experience is optional.

Training can be lucrative.

There is nothing inherently wrong with making money from sharing genuine expertise.

But expertise has to come first.

So perhaps before opening the academy, there is a more important question to answer:

Are you teaching because you have accumulated something worth teaching?

Or because you’ve discovered that teaching it pays well?

I watched a video of a woman performing recently.Then I read the comments.Which, as it turns out, had remarkably little ...
26/08/2026

I watched a video of a woman performing recently.

Then I read the comments.

Which, as it turns out, had remarkably little to do with her singing.

Her outfit was assessed.

Then her weight.

Then her body.

Then her face.

And eventually, because apparently we were conducting a full appraisal, her menopause.

You’re allowed to think somebody’s outfit is awful.

You can think they’ve gained weight.

You can dislike their hair.

You can think they’ve had too much aesthetic treatment, not enough aesthetic treatment or that they looked better before.

Having an opinion isn’t the problem.

What I find increasingly strange is the idea that every opinion needs to be delivered to the person it’s about.

Particularly when that person hasn’t asked.

There seems to be something about seeing another person through a screen that removes the tiny social filter most of us would have if they were standing in front of us.

Because I genuinely wonder how many people who will type, “Looks like she’s put a bit of timber on” underneath a video would walk up to a woman at a party and say:

“Hi. I’ve noticed you’ve gained weight.”

I suspect considerably fewer.

“I’m just being honest” doesn’t really explain it either.

Nobody requested the honesty.

You don’t have to like how somebody looks.

You don’t have to approve of what they’re wearing.

You don’t even have to think nice things.

But a thought appearing in your head doesn’t create an obligation to type it underneath somebody’s photograph or video.

Some thoughts can simply remain thoughts.

These are my patients’ natural lashes after using Obagi Nu-Cil® Lash Serum.No falsies. No extensions.Nu-Cil is clinicall...
26/08/2026

These are my patients’ natural lashes after using Obagi Nu-Cil® Lash Serum.

No falsies. No extensions.

Nu-Cil is clinically proven to promote thicker, fuller looking lashes, with results seen in as little as 8 weeks.

In a 16 week clinical study:

93% saw visible improvement
89% said their lashes looked thicker
89% said their lashes looked more densely packed

Apply once each evening to the upper lash line.

Available from the clinic.

Eight weeks.No laser. No IPL. No device treatments.This result was achieved with an Obagi skincare programme selected sp...
25/08/2026

Eight weeks.

No laser.
No IPL.
No device treatments.

This result was achieved with an Obagi skincare programme selected specifically for this patient and her pigmentation.

When I recommend skincare, I’m not looking at an ingredient in isolation.
The formulation matters.
The strength matters.
The delivery system matters.
The evidence for the product matters.

This is why I’ve used Obagi in my clinic for six years.

Collagen gets a lot of attention in skincare.And rightly so.But it isn’t the only thing that changes as our skin ages.El...
25/08/2026

Collagen gets a lot of attention in skincare.

And rightly so.

But it isn’t the only thing that changes as our skin ages.

Elastin matters too.

It forms part of the elastic fibre network that allows our skin to stretch, move and return towards its original shape.
Just like collagen, that network changes with age and cumulative UV exposure.

Which is why, when I’m choosing skincare for ageing skin, I’m interested in more than whether something has “collagen” written somewhere in the marketing.

I want to know what it’s actually designed to target.

ELASTIderm® Facial Serum contains Obagi’s patented Bi-Mineral Contour Complex™, designed to support the create, convert and organise stages involved in healthy elastin.

And that’s why I recommend it.

Not because I think one serum is going to stop your face ageing. It isn’t.

Not because collagen suddenly doesn’t matter. It very much does.

But because ageing skin is more complicated than collagen alone.

And if we’re going to talk about supporting the structure and function of our skin as it ages, elastin deserves to be part of the conversation too.

I like evidence.I like people asking questions about evidence too.If a company makes a scientific claim, it should be ab...
24/08/2026

I like evidence.

I like people asking questions about evidence too.

If a company makes a scientific claim, it should be able to substantiate it. If the research doesn’t support the claim being made, question it.
Challenge it.
Ask for the data.

All perfectly reasonable.

What I find slightly less reasonable is when that scrutiny suddenly turns into assumptions about the people recommending the product.

They’re only saying that because they’re paid.

They don’t really believe in it.

They don’t care as long as they’re making money.

They’re unethical.

Those aren’t evidence.
They’re claims about somebody’s motives and professional integrity.

And a commercial relationship doesn’t prove any of them.

Of course financial relationships should be declared. Of course they’re relevant when you’re considering somebody’s recommendation. You’re entitled to take them into account.

But being paid by a company and genuinely believing in its products are not mutually exclusive.

I work with brands whose products I use, recommend and believe in. I’m also perfectly capable of disagreeing with them, questioning a claim or deciding that a particular product isn’t right for one of my patients.

That’s rather the point of having professional judgement.

So by all means, ask for the evidence.

Just remember that accusing somebody of dishonesty requires some too.

This comes up surprisingly often in consultations.Someone has watched a practitioner online, followed them for a while a...
23/08/2026

This comes up surprisingly often in consultations.

Someone has watched a practitioner online, followed them for a while and understandably started to trust what they say.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

There are some brilliant doctors, nurses and other practitioners sharing information on Instagram. I follow plenty of them myself.

Where I become slightly less interested is when the number of people following them is offered as evidence that their opinion must be the right one.

“She has 300,000 followers.”

Okay.

She might also be absolutely brilliant.

But the 300,000 isn’t the bit that proves it.

More importantly, whatever she’s said most likely wasn’t said after examining you, taking your medical history, looking at your face, seeing how it moves, finding out what you’ve already had done and asking what you’re actually trying to achieve.

I can do all of those things when you’re sitting in front of me.

So please bring things you’ve seen online to your consultation.
Ask me about them.
Tell me somebody you respect has a different opinion.
I’m quite happy to discuss it, and occasionally you might introduce me to something worth looking into.

But I’m not going to agree with something I don’t think is right for you simply because the person saying it has a very large audience.

They have the followers.

I have the fairly considerable advantage of having you in the room.

That’s the bit I’m interested in.

There are certain looks that become fashionable in aesthetics.A particular lip shape. A particular cheek. A very smooth ...
23/08/2026

There are certain looks that become fashionable in aesthetics.

A particular lip shape.
A particular cheek.
A very smooth forehead.
A jawline that seems to turn up on people who didn’t previously have one.

And before long, you start seeing very different people looking oddly similar.

I’ve never wanted that for my patients.

When somebody comes in to see me, I’m not mentally comparing their face to one I treated last week. I’m looking at who is in front of me.

Their age matters.
Their facial structure matters.
How their face moves matters.
What bothers them matters.

I’m also looking at what already looks really good and what makes them who they are.

Not every line needs treating.
Not every bit of volume loss needs replacing. And something being possible to change doesn’t automatically make changing it a good idea.

The women in these photographs span decades. They’ve had different treatments, for different reasons and I think you can still see the character in every one of their faces.

That’s important to me.

I don’t want someone to look at one of my patients and immediately know they’ve been treated by me.

I’d much rather they just thought she looked great.

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Leeds
LS154JQ

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