Paula, now 40, has absolutely radiant, glowing, blemish-free skin, but this hasn’t always been the case. She spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk about the lifestyle changes and face treatments that took her skin from “dull” to drop-dead gorgeous.
Paula had had trouble with acne as a teenager but unluckily this followed her to adulthood – “it was like a forever thing”.
While she didn’t experience lots of scarring and pigmentation as a result of this, she revealed she never had that “glowing look”, and felt self-conscious when she would go out with her “beautiful” friends.
Paula visited several professionals who offered her Botox and fillers without really listening to how she felt.
She didn’t want to look “completely different” and wanted to maintain her natural appearance.
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Finding the right professional is essential when getting any cosmetic treatment and aged 35 Paula found that her perfect match was her dentist Dr Kam, who is also trained in administering facial treatments.
After comprehensive consultations, Dr Kam started by encouraging Paula to make some lifestyle changes before turning to procedures.
Paula gave up her smoking habit, upped her water intake, changed her diet and started dolloping on the suncream in a bid to improve her complexion.
She said: “I started drinking a lot more water. I used to be terrible, I probably used to drink next to nothing, so that was actually as difficult as stopping smoking.”
She was also given skincare products from the range ZO which she used religiously. Paula noticed a huge change in her skin and in turn her self-confidence after just a few months of implementing these changes.
She told Express.co.uk: “Everything was improving. I noticed my skin started to become clearer, as well as more toned and tightened.
“I used to never, ever leave the house without makeup and I found that I didn’t have to wear it all the time – and when I did wear it, it had a better result.”
So when Paula did come to booking in her appointments for filler and Botox, the improvements she had been making meant she “didn’t need nearly as much as [she] thought [she] would”.
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After three sessions of micro-needling, Paula received treatment of labial smile lines and Marionette lines using Dermal Fillers, and also a little Botox to soften out lines in the forehead.
Paula also had a touch of filler in her lips to plump them up a little bit for a more youthful look. For around seven to 10 days after her treatments Paula made sure to be gentle with her skin, and around a week post-filler and Botox she started to see a difference in her face.
Between then and now Paula has received some more facial treatments from the same clinic but not as much at once.
Five years on she’s “looking after herself better” and has found that the effects of her treatments have lasted a long time – “I still look better now than I did prior to the first lot of treatments”.
In addition to the extraordinary physical transformation, Paula told Express.co.uk that she has become “more confident” and “less obsessed” with her face.
She revealed that she gets lots of compliments now whereas before she “never did”, although she still looks like herself which is what she wanted.
As for Paula’s advice to women who want to go down a similar route, she urged women to “find the right person” and “not just go with someone who just wants to fill your face with fillers and Botox”.
The emphasis Dr Kam put on Paula revamping her skincare, changing her diet and quitting smoking reassured her that he had her best interests at heart.
“I didn’t want just a quick fix, I needed this to be a something that was maintainable. You can go and have filler and Botox but then when that’s gone you’re still left with your awful skin that you’ve not sorted.”
