Hello, and welcome to our latest blog.
We have had a number of new subscribers recently and so felt it appropriate to recap and tell people about AR Aesthetics clinic, who we are, the clinic ethos and why we do what we do.
AR Aesthetics clinic was established in 2018 by Antony Ryan. Antony is a senior Nurse Practitioner who has over 32 years of experience working at one of the local hospitals. He has worked in its accident and emergency department for nearly 30 of these years. During his time in A&E, Antony has had a number of senior roles, but one constant has been his love of technical suturing and repair. He has a wealth of experience in facial and skin trauma repair which has equipped him with an exceptional depth of knowledge of facial anatomy. Antony has trained a number of doctors and nurses in this area over the years and his experience has allowed for safe, reliable results.
Antony decided to set up AR Aesthetics Clinic following an increased number of cases he was seeing in A&E where cosmetic procedures had led to complications. This included serious infections following poorly administered dermal filler treatment, skin death due to vascular occlusion (the blockage of blood vessels to the skin due to dermal filler) and the psychological impact of this. Antony was increasingly shocked by the poor aftercare given by some aesthetic practitioners, and he started to look more deeply into this area of the beauty industry.
During this research, Antony was dismayed to find out that the industry is completely unregulated. Anyone can administer dermal fillers as it is a non-prescription drug. Anti-wrinkle treatment, a prescription only medication, can be bought for abroad without a prescription and which doesn’t necessarily meet UK medicines standards.
After reviewing a number of cases and on further discussion with his wife (a local doctor who was also seeing an increasing number of patients with complications), they decided to set up AR Aesthetics clinic to combine Antony’s technical skills with providing clients with the opportunity to undergo non-surgical aesthetic treatments in a safe, clean, relaxed environment. The ethos of the clinic has always been Safety, Privacy, Exclusivity, Results.
As part of making sure the clinic was the best it could be and one which went above and beyond the average aesthetics practice, Antony was accredited as a Save Face practitioner soon after opening the clinic - one of only a handful in the High Peak. Save Face is a national register of accredited practitioners who have been inspected against a robust set of standards (similar to a CQC inspection). (www.saveface.co.uk) Antony wanted to go through this assessment process to confirm he was meeting all the gold standard criteria and providing the best possible care for clients.
Over the past four years, Antony has successfully passed the annual inspection and accreditation process and the clinic continues to receive 5-star reviews.
Antony is also a member of the Aesthetics Complications Expert group, an organisation which provides peer help and advice for practitioners that encounter a complication. As Antony often says – anyone can have a complication, it is how you deal with it that is the important thing.
Over the past (nearly) five years, despite a serious illness and a pandemic, Antony has continued to gain an increasing number of loyal clients, many of which have become friends, and Antony continues to love using his skills and expertise to help clients feel the very best version of themselves.
As Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox once sang, ‘behind every great man, there has to be a great woman’. Whilst Antony is working his magic, behind the scenes is his wife / unpaid PA Jo, who organises his life and tells him where to be and when. Together they make a great team, and they hope to welcome you into the clinic again soon.
Next blog – an in-depth look at Microsclerotherapy