Dr Rekha Tailor: ‘Over 60? Why it’s never too late to start tweakments’

Is it ever too late to have a tweakment? Can Botox, laser treatments, fillers or radiofrequency make a difference in your 60s and beyond?  If you’ve ever looked in the mirror and hoiked up your cheeks with your fingers, thinking only a facelift would do, Dr Rekha Tailor is here to set you straight – and to offer a helping hand.

“I see people who’ve only ever used soap and water, and think there’s nothing we can do,” says the GP-turned-aesthetic practitioner. “But there is always something — it’s never too late to start.” At her Health and Aesthetics clinic in Surrey, she’s built a reputation as a midlife skin whisperer – at 58 she understands the concerns of that age group from a personal perspective too – via her subtle, natural-looking and holistic approach.

Dr Rekha Tailor consulting a midlife client at Health and Aesthetics clinic in Surrey

Her clients include women from mid-40s well into their 80s. “One client in her mid-80s said she didn’t like her jowls and forehead. She just wanted to look good and age-appropriate. We’ve done fillers and anti-wrinkle injections, and it’s really changed things for her.

“Another lady in her mid-80s has been coming in regularly for the last 10 years to fix her jowls. Since I’ve been treating her, she’s even met a new partner. But she doesn’t want him to know she’s having anything done.”

Many of her clients come in after their children have flown the nest, suddenly noticing that they’ve aged, concerned that they might have left it too late.  Their number one complaint is the lower face – sagging jowls and marionette lines around the nose and mouth, more so than forehead or eye wrinkles, she says.

There’s understandably a degree of tweakment nervousness among this age group, which hasn’t grown up with tweakments in the same way that their daughters or even TikTok-native granddaughters have – embracing everything from viral Botox lip flips in their twenties to facial sculpting fillers.  There’s a fear that having a dab of filler will suddenly change the way they look or that they’ll be judged for having Botox.

“A lot of women won’t tell anyone, though. They want to look good, without their husbands knowing,” she says. “They see celebrities and younger girls with big lips and cheeks, and don’t want that: they’re terrified of looking unusual, fake or blown-up. All they want is to look like themselves but natural”.

The impact of a few subtle changes, starting with medical-grade and prescription skincare and medical facials, can be huge for women’s confidence, she notes. “I’ve noticed people who come in, hunched, trying to hide, who walk out of that door standing tall. People weren’t paying attention because they looked ‘past it’, and socially, they felt ignored. But now these women realise they are amazing, and don’t have to be the doormat anymore.”

Getting skin healthy, robust and glowing is the foundation of any tweakment journey, and medical-grade and prescription skincare (Dr Tailor favours dermatologist brand ZO Skin, which fixed her own midlife acne-rosacea) is key. She uses the Visia Complexion Analysis machine to identify invisible signs of ageing, particularly UV damage in the form of yet-to-surface pigmentation, and help create the right regimen and give the practitioner a full picture of what your skin needs.

Dr Tailor combines a targeted skincare regime with monthly glow-getting Hydrafacials (from £125) to exfoliate, boost lymphatic drainage for a sculpting and depuffing effect. These can be infused with serums that target a spectrum of issues from pigmentation and redness to dehydration and wrinkles to further boost your results. Indeed, many women find that they don’t need anything else, but others go on to try tweaks such as lasers, Botulinum toxin, Julaine, ultrasound or polynucleotides.

Dr Tailor rarely recommends just one treatment, as a combination approach gives the most natural-looking, harmonious results. “If you freeze the forehead but have lines on the lower face, it looks like two different faces,” she explains. Having tried all the treatments she offers herself, she can give an insider’s perspective on common queries such as what it feels like, is there downtime and how long do results last?

Here, she shares her secrets to looking fresher at any age: from how to tighten and lift sagging skin, to adding subtle volume back into your face and getting back your glow…

Dr Rekha Tailor consulting a midlife client’s jawline at her clinic

7 tweakments it’s never too late to have

1. Rediscover your cheeks with gradual filler

Cheeks and temples hollow with age, causing sagging in the cheeks and lower face. To put the volume back in and give the face a lift, hyaluronic acid dermal fillers are highly effective. They replenish volume from fat loss, which occurs steadily in our late 20s but rapidly in menopause.

“Older women are particularly nervous about risking an overdone look with fillers, but they’re still the only way to restore lost facial volume”, says Dr Rekha. The key to natural-looking, subtle results with filler is to use the right amount in the right place: “not everyone will have the treatment in the same way, so I’m guided by what I see in the face”.

She uses Revanesse and Teoxane filler, and builds up gradually over two sessions, two weeks apart. “This is partly due to safety, because if you put too much filler in one go, it can become swollen and increase your risk of infection”, she explains. “But what we do in the upper face also affects what is needed in the lower face, how much and where, so it’s important to let things settle in between”.

She rarely gives lip filler to older ladies, because she finds that you can achieve a more natural lifting effect around the mouth simply by treating other parts of the face.

Treatment takes 30 minutes. The filler contains a mild anaesthetic and discomfort is minimal. Any mild swelling is mitigated by a spell under calming LED red light afterwards.  The results last 12-18 months.

Price: from £500 

Before and after with Dr Rekha Tailor’s client who has had gradual filler (Image: Instagram @health_and_aesthetics)

2. For better bounce and banishing barcode lip lines, try biostimulating inhectables

For crepey skin on the lower face, the neck and ‘barcode’ vertical lines above the upper lip, Dr Rekha has seen a massive surge in popularity of the biostimulating treatment injectable Julaine.

This poly-l-lactic acid (PLA) stimulates the body’s natural healthy collagen regeneration, with a thickening and tightening effect that makes the skin more elastic and improves texture. (Sculptra, is another PLA volumiser — read our review.) Unlike filler, it doesn’t add immediate volume, as you essentially ‘grow your own’ cushioning via the biostimulating boost of collagen and elastin. Because of this, results are gradual and first visible from three months, but improve for six months.

The initial course is three 30-minute treatments, four to six weeks apart. No numbing cream is required, although there can be mild swelling or bruising after. Maintenance is once a year.

Price: £3000 for initial course

3. Endolift for ‘turkey neck’ and blitzing double chins

For loose skin on the neck (‘turkey neck’), or a double chin, Dr Tailor has seen great lifting results for sagging jowls with Endolift, a minimally invasive treatment that passes a small fibre-optic wire with a laser under the skin to tighten and lift saggy skin, improve collagen, or blitz excess fat. Treatment settings can be adjusted to give the desired results.

Your eyes are covered and anaesthesia is used, and you can expect slight redness for a few hours. Sometimes you can see results straight after, but she says it usually takes about three to six months to see a difference, and the results continue developing for up to nine months.

A one-hour treatment is needed every 12-18 months.

Price: from £1500

Before and after of a client who has had Endolift for ‘turkey neck’ with Dr Rekha Tailor (Image: Instagram @health_and_aesthetics)

4. Lift heavy brows and smooth décolletage with Sofwave

For hooded eyes and a heavy brow, Dr Rekha recommends a lifting Sofwave treatment, an ultrasound technology in a focused gun that boosts collagen by heating the tissue, stimulating a healing response. “It penetrates deeper than lasers, into the mid-dermal layer, but you don’t need to insert anything under the skin, and it stimulates the production of collagen to create that lift”, she explains.

Sofwave can also be used to tighten lax skin on the neck, décolletage and upper arms. It involves one 30-minute treatment, using numbing cream; there’s no downtime, and results start to show after three months, then develop for up to six months, with maintenance every 12-18 months.

Price: from £550

 

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5. Smooth crow’s feet and frown lines with anti-wrinkle injections

While a lax lower face is often top priority for older clients, their second most common concern is fine lines around the eyes and between the brows, says Dr  Tailor. “But they don’t want to look frozen.” Here, toxin anti-wrinkle injections (Botox being the most common brand, although she uses Nuceiva in her clinic)  relax the muscles, to target the wrinkles caused by motion, ie when we frown or smile. Even if your expression lines are pronounced, they can still be softened and their progression halted. “I’ve seen impressive results with clients well into their 60s”, she adds.

For those with hooded eyes or a heavy brow, a combination approach is needed so that the heaviness doesn’t look worse. She advocates doing it only after a lifting treatment such as Sofwave (below) and a hybrid laser treatment.

Treatment takes 20 minutes, there is without numbing cream or downtime, and results start to appear after around five days and last for three months.

Price: from £250

Before and after with a client who has had anti-wrinkle injections with Dr Rekha Tailor (Image: Instagram @health_and_aesthetics)

6. Treat sun damage and scarring with a laser treatment

For stubborn acne scarring or sun damage in the form of dark spots, crepiness and hyperpigmentation, Dr Tailor recommends the Alma CO2 Hybrid Laser treatment to resurface, firm and smooth the skin. It works both on the surface to smooth and at a deeper level to stimulate collagen.

This requires a numbing cream and has more downtime — your skin may look scabby, red and swollen for up to a week, she advises. The level of intensity can be varied for comfort. Read our guide to the best other laser treatments for your skin concern.

The initial course of three 30-90 minute treatments at 12-week intervals is followed by maintenance once a year.

Price: £1350 for initial course

Before and after with a client of Dr Rekha Tailor’s, who has had biostimulating injectables. (Image: Instagram @health_and_aesthetics)

7. Soften under-eye crepiness and gain hydrated skin with polynucleotides

A polynucleotide treatment is an injectable that revives and brightens dehydrated, dull skin. It can be used all over the face, neck and décolletage, but the eye area is where it is particularly effective for dark circles and plump crepiness. Highly purified fragments of salmon-trout DNA repair and regenerate our cells, encouraging them to act younger.

The result is rehydration, improved collagen and elasticity, and hence fewer lines or redness. But, she says, “Generally when making collagen, it takes two skin cycles to start to see results — usually 12 weeks, but for older people it’s more like 16. So it can take up to three months after you’ve finished the course to see a difference”.

It is delivered with a needle or cannula just under the skin, in a 30-minute treatment. Both eyes take less than 15-20 minutes to treat. A course of four sessions, two to three weeks apart, is required, then a top-up every eight months. There is no anaesthetic contained in the injection (Dr Tailor points out that because it can denature the DNA), so it can feel stingy. Expect some bumps on the skin or puffiness under the eyes for at least 24 hours.

Price: £1600 for initial course 

Before and after of Dr Rekha Tailor’s client results with polynucleotides. (Image: Instagram @health_and_aesthetics)

Book in with Dr Rekha Tailor via The Gloss Book.