Facial Ageing Treatments Explained

Walk into any conversation about aesthetic treatments and you'll hear a lot of names thrown around — injectables, skin boosters, bio-remodelling. Here's a plain-English overview of the main categories, and what each one is actually designed to do.

Muscle-relaxing injections

This category works by temporarily relaxing the small facial muscles responsible for expression lines — most commonly around the forehead, brows and eyes. Softening the muscle's movement softens the line it creates, which is why this type of treatment tends to work best on "dynamic" lines — the ones that appear when you frown or raise your eyebrows — rather than lines that are already present at rest. Effects are temporary and build in gradually over one to two weeks. These treatments use a prescription-only medicine, so they're only available following a proper medical consultation.

Dermal fillers

Dermal fillers work completely differently — rather than relaxing muscles, they add volume directly, using hyaluronic acid (a substance your skin already produces). They're used to restore volume that's been lost over time, or to enhance natural contours — commonly the cheeks, lips or jawline. Results are visible immediately.

Skin boosters and bio-remodelling

This is a newer category, designed around a different goal entirely: not adding volume or relaxing muscles, but improving the underlying quality of the skin itself. Treatments like Profhilo work by spreading a highly purified form of hyaluronic acid beneath the skin, hydrating it from within and stimulating your own collagen and elastin production. The result builds gradually — better hydration, tone and firmness, rather than a change in shape.

Dual-action treatments

Some newer injectables combine two mechanisms at once — for example, pairing hyaluronic acid with calcium hydroxylapatite, which provides immediate volume alongside a slower, ongoing stimulation of your own collagen. These sit somewhere between a filler and a skin booster, offering both an immediate and a longer-building result.

So which is right for you?

It genuinely depends on what's bothering you. Expression lines that only show when you move your face point toward one category; lost volume or flatter contours point toward another; overall dullness or skin quality points toward a third. Many people end up combining approaches over time, as their skin and priorities change.

Our approach at Braidburn Health

Rather than starting from a treatment and working backwards, every consultation at Braidburn Health starts with what you'd actually like to change — including being honest when a treatment isn't the right fit. Full details of what we offer are on our Aesthetics page.