Would Dr Yasmin Treat These? Four Faces, Four Honest Answers

Would I Treat These? Four Faces, Four Honest Answers

Every consultation at Wellface starts with the same quiet question in my mind. Would I treat this, and if so, how? It sounds simple. It rarely is. A line on the surface is almost never the whole story, and the most flattering result often comes from treating something the patient hadn't even noticed.

In a recent reel, as founder of Wellface, I walked through four cases I see week in, week out. Frown lines between the brows. A patient who wants to look like a particular celebrity. Lips that sit slightly unevenly. And the folds that run from the nose to the corners of the mouth. My answers ranged from an instant yes to a firm and considered no, with two cases landing squarely in "it depends, and here's why".

That range is the point. Good aesthetic medicine isn't about saying yes to everything. It's about knowing what will genuinely improve a face, what won't, and what needs looking at properly before anyone reaches for a needle. Here's how I think through each one.

Frown lines: the classic yes

The first case is one almost everyone recognises. Two vertical lines between the eyebrows, often called the "number 11s", carved in by years of frowning, concentrating, squinting at screens and reacting to bright light. In clinical terms these are glabellar lines, and they're created by a group of muscles that pull the brows together and down every time we furrow.

For me, this is a hundred percent yes. Anti-wrinkle treatment placed into those muscles relaxes their pull, so the skin above them is no longer being repeatedly folded. Over the following days the lines soften, and the face reads as calmer and more rested. People around you stop asking if you're annoyed or tired when you're neither.

There's a bonus effect I'm careful to mention. When the muscles that drag the brows downward are relaxed, the muscles that lift the brow are left to work a little more freely. The result is a subtle, natural lift to the brow, opening up the eye area without anything looking done. It's one of the reasons a well-placed frown line treatment can make such a disproportionate difference to how fresh someone looks.

What the treatment actually involves

The appointment itself is quick, usually well under half an hour including the chat beforehand. A few tiny injections with a very fine needle, a sensation most people describe as a brief scratch, and you're done. There's no downtime worth the name. Most patients head straight back to work or the school run.

The effect isn't instant. It typically starts to show at around day three or four and settles fully by around two weeks, which is why we like to see new patients back for a review. Results generally last three to four months before movement gradually returns, at which point the treatment can be repeated. My aim is always softening rather than freezing. You should still be able to express yourself. You just won't be etching new lines while you do it.

The celebrity face: the honest no

The second case is different in kind. A patient arrives with a beautifully balanced face and asks to be changed into someone else, a celebrity whose features they admire. Would I do it? No, I wouldn't.

This isn't stubbornness, and it isn't a lecture. It comes from how I think about faces. My job, as I put it, is to work with a person's own gorgeousness and bring the face into harmony, not to transplant a stranger's proportions onto it. A celebrity's features suit that celebrity because they belong to the rest of their face, their bone structure, their colouring, the way they move. Borrow one feature and drop it onto a different face and it rarely reads as beautiful. It reads as out of place.

There's a deeper reason too. Chasing someone else's face tends to be a moving target that's never quite reached, and it can pull people towards over-treatment. The far more rewarding path is to notice what's already lovely about a face and support it. Balance the features that are slightly out of step. Restore what time has quietly taken. Enhance, don't replace.

So the conversation in that consultation becomes a better one. Rather than "how do we make you look like X", it becomes "what would make you look like the best, most rested version of yourself". Almost always, that's what the patient actually wanted underneath the request.

Asymmetric lips: it depends on why

The third case is asymmetric lips, and here my answer is a considered probably, with an important condition. It needs a full assessment first, because the same appearance can have two very different causes, and each is treated in a completely different way.

A degree of asymmetry is entirely normal. Almost no face is perfectly even, and a little unevenness is part of what makes a face look human rather than manufactured. The question is always whether it's noticeable enough to bother the patient, and what's driving it.

When it's a volume issue

Sometimes one side of the lip simply has less volume than the other, or the lip border is less defined on one side. This is the more straightforward scenario. A carefully placed lip filler treatment can add volume precisely where it's lacking, evening out the two sides and refining the shape. The emphasis is on precision, not plumping. The goal is symmetry and a natural finish, adding tiny amounts where they count rather than inflating the whole lip.

When it's a movement issue

The more complex scenario is when the asymmetry appears with movement. When someone smiles or talks, one side lifts differently to the other, often because the muscles around the mouth are pulling unevenly. Filler won't fix this, and using it here can make things look worse. This needs proper assessment of how the muscles are working, which ones are overactive, and whether a small, well-judged amount of muscle-relaxing treatment could rebalance the movement.

Sometimes the honest conclusion is that the muscular pattern can be improved. Sometimes it's that it can't be safely changed, and that trying would risk an unnatural result. Either way, the assessment has to come before the treatment plan, not the other way round. That's exactly why I won't commit to a single approach for asymmetric lips without seeing the face move first.

Nasolabial lines: treat the cause, not the crease

The fourth case is the nasolabial lines, the folds that run from either side of the nose down towards the corners of the mouth. Many people call them smile lines and ask to have them filled directly. My approach is more thoughtful, and it's one of the clearest examples of why treating the visible line is often the wrong move.

These folds do need a full assessment, because in most people they aren't really a problem of the fold itself. They're a downstream sign of volume loss higher up in the face. As we age, we lose fat and support in the cheeks and the outer, lateral part of the face. When that support goes, the tissue drifts downward and settles above the fold, deepening it. The line you can see is the shadow of what's happening above it.

That changes everything about how you treat it. If you inject filler straight into the fold, you can end up with a heavy, overfilled look around the mouth that still doesn't address why the fold formed. If instead you restore volume where it was actually lost, in the cheeks and the mid-face, you lift and support the whole area. Very often the nasolabial fold softens on its own, without anyone touching it directly.

I often remind my patients of this exact point. Treat where the volume loss originally happened, and the smile lines usually improve as a consequence. It's a more elegant fix, it uses product where it does the most good, and it keeps the result looking like a naturally supported face rather than a treated one. Occasionally a small amount of product in the fold itself is used to finish, but only after the underlying cause has been addressed, and only if it's still needed.

Common questions about these treatments

Why won't you just do what I ask for?

Because the thing you ask for and the thing you want aren't always the same, and it's my job to bridge that gap safely. If you ask to fill a fold or copy a celebrity feature, I'll listen carefully, then explain what's actually driving your concern and what will genuinely improve it. Sometimes that's precisely what you suggested. Sometimes it's something better. You're always part of that decision.

Is anti-wrinkle treatment for frown lines safe?

Used correctly by a medical professional, it has a long and well-established safety record. It's a prescription treatment, which is why a proper consultation and assessment come first. Side effects are usually minor and temporary, such as a small bruise or mild tenderness at an injection point. Following the simple aftercare advice, like staying upright and avoiding heavy exercise for the rest of the day, keeps things straightforward.

How do I know if my lips need filler or muscle treatment?

You don't need to work this out yourself, and honestly you can't tell from a static photo. That's what the assessment is for. I'll look at your lips at rest and, crucially, in motion, watching how they move when you talk and smile. That tells me whether the unevenness is about volume, movement, or a bit of both, and it shapes the whole plan.

Will treating my cheeks really help my smile lines?

For a lot of people, yes. When nasolabial folds are driven by volume loss in the mid-face, restoring support in the cheeks lifts the tissue and takes the tension off the fold. It's a more natural approach than filling the line directly, and it tends to keep the lower face looking balanced rather than bottom-heavy.

What if you decide not to treat me?

It happens, and it's not a bad outcome. Sometimes the most professional advice is that a particular treatment won't help you, or that what you're seeing is well within normal and doesn't need touching. I'd far rather tell you that than take on something that won't deliver. Where I can't help, I'll explain why clearly.

Book a consultation with me

The thread running through all four of these cases is the same. The right answer starts with a proper look at the whole face, not a quick fix aimed at a single line. That's how I and the doctors at Wellface work, whether the honest answer turns out to be yes, no, or let's assess this properly first.

If you've been wondering whether your frown lines, your lips or your smile lines are worth treating, come and ask the question in person. Our doctor-led clinics in Cobham, Esher and Wimbledon offer unhurried consultations where you'll get a straight, expert opinion on what would actually suit your face. Get in touch to arrange yours, and let's talk about what will make you look like the best version of you.