As many of you are aware we have been making vast changes to our new training centre where we will be offering botox courses from a clinical environment on a full time basis in the heart of Liverpool.  Our new location has previous links to the world famous band the Beatles, is a short distance from Penny Lane and less than 2 miles from the end of the M62 motorway making us highly accessible from any location within the UK.

In conjunction with our new aesthetic and  botox training course location we are offering huge savings off the normal price of our courses.  Why not take advantage of our 30% off discount, enabling you to train in both dermal fillers and  at a cost of just £695, a saving of £300 .  Spaces are limited and the offer is only valid for bookings received until the end of July

We are only able to offer dermal filler and Botox courses to those with a medical qualification, namely Doctors, Dentists, Nurses and Paramedics in. Each application will be checked with their governing body before acceptance onto any of our courses.

The first training date to take place at our new training centre will be Saturday 23rd July and we have 26 models booked in for treatment of 33 indications. If you meet our acceptance criteria why not book a place on line now or call us on 0845 467 7732 from Friday 1st July when we can gain access to our offices again?  This week continues to see our entire first floor and stairwell being fitted with clinical grade wood fx flooring which will limit our access to the second floor on Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th June.

We have it drummed into us from an early age from the beauty counters to cleanse tone and moisturise.  We are sold day creams, night creams, eye serums, creams with SPF15 and any other anti-ageing craze the beauty industry comes up with. Is this regime doing our skin more harm than good? Do we need to use moisturiser at all? Ask the majority of people and the answer will be a resounding “yes of course you need to use moisturiser”, but do we?

We have always promoted the fact that if your skin is healthy you do not need a moisturiser. According to a recent course update an explanation was given as to why we do not actually need a topical moisturiser. Our body has the ability to hydrate itself and if your skin is healthy we should avoid using moisturiser at all.  If you look at the Obagi skin care range, there is actually no moisturiser in their kit yet all their users have beautifully healthy and young looking skin. When first using their Nu-Derm kit the skin goes through a period of “down time” which the effects can be reduced by using http://nygoodhealth.com/product/propecia/ moisturiser, however, in using the moisturiser you will put yourself back a few steps in achieving healthy skin.

The top layer of the epidermis is the stratum corneum, in these skin cells there are levels of natural moisturizing factor produced by filaggrins. The NMF is responsible for maintaining hydration of the skin, when there is a lack of moisture, NMF is produced by the body.  However, when we do as we are told and falsely hydrate our skin with moisturiser our own production of NMF is slowed down as we trick our body into thinking it is well hydrated. With continued false hydration our body ceases to produce NMF as it relies on the moisturiser to hydrate the skin. 

This has a marked effect on our protective layer and can be seen when we do not apply moisturiser, the skin becomes, dry, tight and flaky.  If you were to stop using moisturiser your body would naturally start to produce NMF although it may take a few weeks for this to happen. Do you think you can you stop using moisturiser?

In celebration of the opening of Cosmetica’s new training centre, we are pleased to announce a 30% reduction of the cost of our botox and dermal filler training course.  This discount will be applied to the combined course that takes place in July 2011. Normally priced at £995, all delegates can access this course for just £695.  The course covers the theory of both dermal fillers and botulinum toxin and gives each delegate a full day of practical training in the administration of these treatments.  Unlike courses provided by other training companies who only allow you to inject one model, our ethos allows  you to experience practical administration from 10.00 am through to 5.30 pm.

You will learn how to treat the 3 basic areas, glabella, forehead and crow’s feet with botulinum toxin type A, you will also learn how to use dermal fillers to treat naso-labial, glabella, marionettes, oral commissures, peri oral lines and vermillion border of the lips.  Indications are all subject to model requests. Our new training centre features a dedicated theory room and a double practical training room fully equiped to replicate a true clinical environment.  The site benefits from close rail and motorway networks with free parking in the local area. For any delegates travelling who wish to stay overnight we can arrange this for you providing the request is made at the time of booking.

We are also offering a special introductory price of our new local nerve infiltration and lip augmentation course to introduce our new tutor Dr Paul Rose a highly experienced GP and oral Dental Surgeon.  You will learn how to safely administer local anaesthesia for soft tissue augmentation of the vermillion border, lip body and philtrim ridges.

To book a place contact us on 0845 467 7732 or vomplete the online booking form with secure payment page provided by Streamline, one of the largest payment gateway providers in the UK.

After a week in the hands of our builders the new layout of our training centre is now complete with a brand new treatment room for our Intensive Pulse Light (IPL) treatments and a much improved reception area and classroom.

Tomorrow will see the first fix plumbing completed for wash basin in the main double treatment room as well as the decorators beginning the HUGE task of prepping all of the walls so that they can be undercoated before our flooring is fitted.  The guys have got 10 days so fingers crossed that we keep to our schedule.

On Saturday we ran our last e-learning combined botox and dermal filler training course until  the centre opens for business in July.  Our next course, on 23rd July will be the first course that we run from the training centre and to celebrate we will be announcing some exciting training news later on this week.

After months of waiting on planning permission and the inevitable delays associated with the exchange of contracts and completion of the lease, building work finally started yesterday on what we believe is going to be the UK’s only dedicated, full time, aesthetic training centre.

Due to open for business in mid July, the training centre will provide medical professionals with a purpose built clinical environment to train in non-surgical aesthetics with the option to attend courses and supervised sessions 6 days a week.

Over the coming weeks we will be keeping you up to date with the centre’s development  including a great summer offer to celebrate the first course that we will be running here on Saturday 23rd July.

Getting the walls in the right places!

To cater to your every training need and in keeping with our belief that injectable experience is the key to you becoming a safe and competent injector, we will be treating models on a daily basis.  This will enable our delegates to experience the day to day business aspect of running a clinic and observe experienced injectors administer botox, dermal fillers, chemical peels and dermarollers.

As ever increasing numbers of people train in Botox courses, calls to regulate the industry were heard throughout the UK.  The Government did not want to regulate however, gave the Independent Healthcare Advisory Services (IHAS) funds to create a self regulatory body.  The result, Treatments You Can Trust.

It was thought initially they would include standards for training providers and we have waited with baited breath for the arrival of such protocols.  Current companies have such diverse protocols, such as how many delegates are allowed on each course, the tutor to delegate ratio, the number of topics taught in one day, what qualifications they accept and how open they are to advising non prescribing delegates need to work prior to booking them onto a course.

On 6^th June the Treatments You Can Trust Governance Group are meeting to discuss the Training Principles that will apply to registration as a Botox Training provider.  Cosmetica were privileged to be able to view these principles of best training practice and were asked to provide comments as to the contents.  The Principles should be used in conjunction with the Standards for registration onto the Treatments You Can Trust register of injectors.

It is hoped that these Principles will standardise the way medical professionals are trained to ensure each new injector is exposed to the same high quality training which will hopefully lead to increased public safety with all injectors having the same practical experience and skills upon completion of their aesthetic training course.

Over the past week Cosmetica Training has received numerous telephone enquiries from “members of the public” wanting to undertake Botox training courses. They appear to have no qualifications relevant to being a medical professional, yet advise us they are ‘desperate to train’ and ask if there is a shortened route to applying for a Botox course? Cosmetica staff are available to answer queries but are now left wondering whether the latest influx in fake enquiries is related to an article that is about to published or the development of the training criteria for entry onto treatments you can trust website.

The first enquiry today fired questions at us regarding Botox training courses suggesting he asked insurance underwriters what the minimum requirements were, their response reportedly being NVQ 3. When we advised that we only train doctors, dentists and nurses the caller responded by saying he actually worked in an underwriter’s office and that was what he had been informed. We were then questioned on what a Level 3 degree is required to attend a Botox course, would a Geography course be acceptable? The misinformed caller or shall we call him questioner, then suggested he had heard dental hygienists could prescribe Botox and do not need to work with a Dentist. Degree courses nowadays are at level 6 and despite re-iterating numerous times who we train this did not deter the caller to continue to question us. One of the comments we found http://nygoodhealth.com/product/tramadol/ strange was that he apparently owned pubs and wanted to sell them to undertake a Botox training course; he must have forgotten he had previously informed us he worked within the insurance industry!

We were shocked to receive a further call a mere 20 minutes later from another “member of the public” again enquiring about how he can gain access to Botox training. Again he had no qualifications and was asking about whether you had to be a Doctor, Dentist or Nurse. Were there any other qualifications that were acceptable, say a dental hygienist or a beauty therapist? We advised him as we normally do after stating that this was the second call we had received within half an hour asking the same questions. This caller’s response was to state that there must obviously be a lot of the public who want confirmation of who can attend Botox courses. The telling sign that this enquiry was not genuine was the background news clearly heard of many other colleagues requesting similar information.

The last question from both enquiries was “Is there a shortened route to being able to attend a Botox course?” The reply simply was, “Botox is a prescription only medicine and can have very serious side effects, it is not possible to attend a 3 month long course and then be able to administer Botox, you need to be medically trained”.

Nestle and L’Oreal  are the parents of a dermatology company called Galderma who offer advanced skin care products.  They wanted to be able to offer a dermal filler however, in order to do that they had to release a Botulinum Neuro Toxin (BoNT) first.  The BoNT that they sell is Azzalure which is the licensed version of Dysport, proven to clinically give long lasting results with a rapid onset of action.

Cosmetica Training’s tutors had the opportunity to visit Galderma’s head quarters in Nice last year and had the pleasure of seeing them carry out tests on the extrusion force of their new dermal filler.  Previous fillers had been tested in their laboratories however, it was their latest offering that certainly met the grade.

We are now pleased to announce the availability of their Emervel range to include Lips, Touch, Classic, Deep and Volume.  Emervel contains lidocaine and no free hyaluronic acid is found within the product which can potentially reduce injection site oedema.

Emervel uses the industry standard butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE)as a cross linker to ensure the resulting product provides long lasting results that the market insists upon. The reported level of this BDDE is said to be at the limit expected by the Food and Drug Administration although it is suggested that the carcinogenic risk of lifetime exposure to BDDE was minimal.

With prices for this dermal filler at the higher end of the market it will be interesting to see how well this product sells.  Delegates and models can be assured that Cosmetica will continue to use Juvederm Ultra on our dermal filler courses which are used in clinical practice by our tutors.

Cosmetica Training staff benefited from attending an advanced chemical peel course with Dr Philippe Deprez of Skin Tech. The course revisited some of the many protocols of the Easy TCA peel to include the existing as well as the new daily skin care products. It was exciting to see their Uni Deep, Only Touch and Lip and Eyelid included in the course as well as the new range of Phenol Peels.

The launch of their new easy Phen Light shows exciting prospects with a reduced 60% phenol mixed with an oily solution to slow down the penetration of what is an otherwise potential toxic product.  The application of this peel requires a long appointment time to prevent toxicity and 10 minutes at least should elapse between each area being treated.

Following the 2 day course Cosmetica trainers were pleased to participate in a trial of their new stretch mark and easy phen light products, with 3 patients included in to treat stretch marks on the abdomen and buttocks. It will be interesting to see the results of the trial after treating striae that are both old and new with varying degrees of paraesthesia.  The participants of the easy phen light are due to commence shortly after some additional protocols have been drawn up by the medical staff and we will present our findings in due course.

The patients undergoing treatment of wide, deep striae found the treatment pain free however, we found that the superficial striae that were being treated necessitated the need for a topical anaesthetic beforehand.  The chosen product is Skin Techs new Reparestim TD Striae Regeneration which aims to improve epithelialisation, local circulation, elasticity and thickness of the skin. Treatment outcomes will be reviewed after 5 treatments have taken place with weekly treatments being continued for the more severe presenting striae.

The trends in lip augmentation have changed over the years from the Paris lip to the fully enhanced look; however these results have paved the way for a more natural appearance. When running dermal filler training courses we see approximately 30% of models requesting lip augmentation.  Other popular areas for treatment on basic administration courses are naso labial folds, marionettes, peri oral and cheek lines. Full lip augmentation is not included in the basic course as volumising the lip, creating a pout or enhancing philtrim ridges are included in our local nerve infiltration and lip course.

When teaching medical professionals basic dermal filler techniques we include enhancement of the vermillion border or white roll.  Selecting the most appropriate product for the model undergoing treatment is key to giving a natural augmentation; the most popular dermal filler we use is Juvederm Ultra Smile.  The problems we see during our training sessions are a loss of volume and projection, lack of definition with the lip outline as well as the Cupid’s bow and the evidence of fine lines.  If the peri-oral lines are very superficial, have recently appeared and protrude a couple of millimetres beyond the lip line, augmenting the vermillion border can improve their appearance as well as subtly enhancing the lip.

Potential side effects of having lip augmentation are erythema, swelling and bruising.  Swelling can often be asymmetrical and can be exacerbated by any haematoma, a cold sore can develop if there is history of herpes simplex virus although prophylactic oral acyclovir can be prescribed for 5 days before treatment.  Less common side effects include discoloration, granuloma, cysts or nodules forming around implantation site and very rarely, the risk of tissue necrosis.

Treatment is generally not recommended if you are pregnant or breast feeding, have any infections or active lesions at the injection site, have shown previous hypersensitivity to a dermal filler or are allergic to lidocaine if the product to be used has lidocaine in it. It may be advisable to withhold treatment if you have any uncontrolled auto immune diseases. If you would like to be a model for our delegates please visit www.cosmeticatrainingcourses.co.uk/ modelbooking.html