Skin Health: What to do before you have a skin treatment

Like hundreds of other skincare clinics across the country, I am excited and behind the scenes preparing for reopening on 12th April. What will you be booking in for? Maybe a relaxing facial or something more advanced after reading the story of Judy Murray’s skin treatments. In my previous post, I unveiled the concept of the treatment she had and similar treatments that can be done to achieve similar results. But the truth of it is the result of any advanced skin treatment you have will be completely dependant on your skin’s health and functioning.

The Anatomy of the skin

Firstly, let’s look at the basic anatomy of the skin.

It has 3 layers; the upper layer we see and feel on the surface, no thicker than a sheet of paper, is the epidermis. This is mainly made up of keratinocytes (our cells that divide, move up through the layers and shed off), melanocytes (the cells that produce melanin) and Langerhan cells (our clean up housekeeper type cell). This joins by little rete pegs onto the dermis.

The dermis is where you will find your collagen and elastin, glycosaminoglycans (your natural filler) and your king of cells, the fibroblast cell! This essential cell is responsible for the production of our precious collagen, elastin and GAGs. Remember, glycation brought on from too much sugar will kill our fibroblast cells. Hair follicles, sweat glands, nerve endings, peripheral blood supply, and more can be found in the dermis, but for this topic, we are mainly looking at the elements that affect our skin through the ageing process.

The 3rd layer below the dermis is the subcutaneous tissue. This mainly consists of fat cells and it is our fat that gives us volume. When the fibrous tissue starts to break down as we age the fat cells start to slide down with gravity and this is what gives us the nasal labial folds and jowls. 

Top tip: Constant massage in upward motions helps to prevent this slide of gravity.

The Age Management treatments:

Microneedling, Skin Peels, Resurfacing, Radio Frequency, HIFU are all very different procedures but all work towards the same goal: to instigate the wound healing and tissue remodelling response in the skin. These treatments all create inflammation and trauma to the skin to kickstart the processes of stimulating and generating new tissue production.


  • What if you have glycated or photodamaged skin and fewer fibroblast cells, they won’t be there to be able to produce lots of new collagen and elastin.
  • What if your free water levels are too low and the cytokines (signalling messengers) don’t have the fluid to be able to move to cells to deliver the message.
  • What if your lymphatic system is sluggish and there is toxicity build up in your extracellular matrix and the growth factors can’t perform their jobs properly.
  • What if you are EFA deficient and your cell receptors are poor, or you have a poor blood supply to the skin so the growth factors to the area are greatly reduced…..

Answer: unhealthy skin will not be able to thrive after an age management treatment. 

How to improve the health of your skin to get the best out of your age management treatments.

Skin Health: What to do before you have a skin treatment
  1. EFA supplement internally and externally. EFAs (essential fatty acids) can only come from our diet. They make up the cell membrane and support each cell’s receptors so they can better receive messages and communicate with each other. They provide a protective film over the skin to help retain water levels and thicken up the extracellular matrix. I recommend taking 2-4 good quality omegas daily. Good quality omegas are expensive to manufacture, so they probably aren’t of excellent quality if they are cheap to buy. I recommend either Advanced Nutrition Programme Omegas or DMK EFA’s. Topically I recommend DMK Seba-E oil, its fractionated blend of oils mimic the skin biochemistry making them transdermal and able to attach directly onto the cells.

2. Beta Glucan: this ingredient strengthens the Langerhan cells responsible for skin clean up duty, sending everything unnecessary or intrusive into the lymphatic system to be carried away. Langerhan cells are chicken cells; at the sight of injury, they will run from the area. By using beta-glucan, you are strengthening these cells to perform their job better. My top recommendation is DMK Beta Gel because it’s the purest form of beta-glucan you can find. Beta Glucan has also been found to stimulate fibroblast proliferation, essential for environmentally damaged or glycated skin.

3. Drink plenty of water: the skin needs plenty of free water levels for communication and enzymatic activity.

4. LED Light Therapy: A completely non-invasive treatment with so many benefits to healthier, more productive skin. Medically approved LED treatments absorb into the cell membrane and increase cellular activity, allowing them to migrate and proliferate when an injury occurs. It improves cell to cell communication and organisation so that once an injury has occurred, it will multiply and remodel beautifully and quickly, so massively reduces downtime after more invasive treatments. I recommend 2 treatments a week, 2-4 weeks before any advanced procedures and 2 weeks after. Make sure it is a medically certified device. Some are too weak and aren’t able to penetrate the cell. I use Celluma in the clinic and hire one out, but I also approve of Dermalux if you don’t have a Celluma provider near you.

Skin Health: What to do before you have a skin treatment

5. DMK Enzyme Therapy: look for a DMK Skin provider. There is no other treatment on the planet that can do what DMK enzyme therapy can do. This is the most beneficial thing you can do for the health of your skin. It uses various transfer messenger enzymes to orchestrate all the natural processes that should be happening within the skin. It opens the peripheral capillaries to draw oxygen to the cells; without oxygen to the cells, they will die, and oxygen can only be given to the cell via the blood supply. It cannot be applied topically. The process of reverse osmosis (the pulsating you feel while the mask is on) clears away debris and toxicity surrounding the cell leaving a clean extracellular matrix. It will remove excess keratinisation, so the skin is smoother and brighter. You can go onto the DMK UK website to find your nearest practitioner. I would recommend a minimum of 3 enzymes before having any advanced procedures. 

If you want to discuss this topic for more advice or any other skincare issues with Jade Shelden, Medical Facialist at Norfolk Skin Atelier Email: Tel: 07947103355 She would be happy to chat to you.

For more skincare for 50 plus women articles by Jade Shelden, click HERE