Meet Dr Toni and discover her top 5 anti-ageing tips

We were absolutely delighted to welcome Dr Toni Burke to the Waterhouse Young team earlier this year. We’ve enjoyed getting to know her and, in the run up to her webinar this Monday, we thought you’d like to hear more about her too. 

Dr Toni believes in having a healthy approach to ageing. She says: “With the exponential rise in social media, we can have a disillusioned view on how we should look at any age. Being healthy, and having a healthy approach to how we age is key, remembering to embrace our uniqueness and learning to be less self-critical.”

Dr Toni was born in Carlow, Ireland and although she’s lived in the UK since she was a child, she retains a lovely soft accent. As you can see from her photo, she has pale Irish skin, which she tells us is prone to dryness and fine lines. She has two young children, both boys, and lives in London. 

Having completed her medical training at University College London Medical School, she entered a surgical rotation until finally specialising in Medical Aesthetics in 2008.

For almost a decade, Dr Burke has worked as a Harley Street practitioner, treating her own patients and training other aesthetic medical professionals. For her, working as part of a team is the key to giving the best quality of care. This is evident in her new role at Waterhouse Young, where she says her favourite thing is: “working with such a diverse, caring and knowledgeable team, as I know that every patient will be looked after throughout their journey with us, and not just for the period of time they are present with me.”

One of the interesting aspects of Dr Toni’s professional life is how she’s developed her skills as a visual communicator. After offering to take on social media for a previous clinic, she threw herself into the challenge. She quickly realised that the easiest way to explain the benefits and potential complications of aesthetic procedures was visually, and began to create video, images and diagrams for Instagram and Facebook.

Such was her passion for her new accidental role, Dr Toni went on to create two hugely popular Instagram filters on anatomy, which superimposed arteries and muscles onto the face of the user.

Dr Toni is a full member of the British College of Aesthetic Medicine and forms part of the CMAC Specialist Advisory Board, where her role is to educate other doctors on the management of complications in medical aesthetics, via the medium of anatomical visuals.

Earlier this year, Dr Burke provided illustrations for a highly-regarded book on injection depth and facial anatomy, the latest by Lee Walker. Dr Toni says: “I’m extremely creative and love anatomy, so spend much of my free time working on illustrations, videos and 3D animations.”

It’s clear that Dr Toni is a creative and artistic doctor, and so is perhaps no surprise that in her school years, she wanted to do art A level, but couldn’t fit it into her busy and academic schedule of sciences. However, she tries to indulge her creative side with her ceramics hobby, and has her own wheel and kiln (although sadly, less time to spend on it now lockdown is over).

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We couldn’t let Dr Toni go without asking her for her top 5 anti-ageing tips.

1. Simplify skincare

Dr Toni recommends beginning a skincare regime of 3 to 4 products. For your morning routine, your focus should be on protection from the sun and free radicals. She suggests the following products, which are available in-clinic:

• Daily Power Defence from ZO Skin Health
• 10% Vitamin C Self-Activating from ZO Skin Health
• Advanced Sunscreen Gel SPF50 from Heliocare

In the evening, your routine should incorporate some form of Vitamin A such as Retinol. This helps to increase production of collagen and elastin, whilst also creating a more even skin tone. It takes 3 to 6 months to start seeing results and some people tend to give up when their skin is initially dry, flaky and sensitive. In clinic, we often recommend starting on lower strengths and gradually building up frequency of use. Dr Toni suggests Retinol Skin Brightener from ZO Skin Health , which is available in varying strengths of 0.25%, 0.5% and 1%.

2. Focus on your skin

Dr Toni believes we shouldn’t underestimate the transformative powers of non-injectable facial procedures. She recommends treatments which improve skin tone and texture such as microneedling, and is a fan of regular HydraFacials. 

3. Consider Profhilo

Dr Toni regularly uses Profhilo as she loves the plump, healthy appearance it gives her skin. Profhilo is an injectable moisturiser which she says improves hydration and overall radiance. It is made from thermally stabilised hyaluronic acid with no added chemicals, which makes it extremely safe and unreactive. The treatment works by engaging the body’s receptors to induce the stimulation of collagen which is the protein that strengthens our skin and gives it structure. Unlike dermal fillers, Profhilo does not change the facial structure.

4. Microtox is marvellous

Dr Toni says: “I personally only every use hyperdilute microtox, as facial movement and expression are very important to me.” Microtox uses very low doses of Botox to retain movement but soften expression lines. It has the benefit of preventing deep wrinkles or creases forming.

5. Use fillers judiciously

The first signs of ageing are often dark circles under the eyes and prominent smile lines (nasolabial folds). Both can indicate a loss of fat (which happens to everybody) from our cheeks. For this reason, the first filler treatment Dr Toni often recommends is cheek filler to add midface volume. The aim is to replenish fat that has been lost and give more support to the under-eye area.

Of course, there are many other uses for fillers, and Dr Toni will discuss some of these in her upcoming webinar on Monday 27^th September at 11am. The subject is ‘Defining the jaw line and contouring the lower face’ and Dr Toni will cover common concerns, the ageing process and how it affects facial anatomy, including:

• Targeting the early signs of jowling
• Creating more definition on the lower face
• How to achieve the appearance of a slimmer face
• The anatomy of how our face ages
• What a consultation involves
• How fillers work

If you’d like to join us for the webinar, please call the Waterhouse Young team on 0207 486 3849.

If you’d like to book a consultation or treatment with Dr Toni, please email info@waterhouseyoung.com call the clinic to discuss or book an appointment.