Skincare Consultation

Aesthetic and medicinal skincare for improved results

Skincare matched to your skin’s exact needs

Peonia Medical provides medical grade skincare consultations matched to your exact needs. Peonia Medical is a leader in advanced aesthetics and skin treatments in Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham and London. Run by Dr Tracy Xu, an advanced aesthetic doctor and trainer, we offer treatments which combine oriental aesthetic values with UK standards.

Medical grade skincare refers to specific products created to a higher standard than those products you can buy over-the-counter. They are developed specifically to provide benefits that are both aesthetic and medicinal.

Medical grade skincare products, which are known as ‘cosmeceuticals’ – a mix of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals – as their active ingredients have been clinically proven to have a positive effect on skin, should only be provided by a qualified and experienced aesthetic practitioner such as Dr Xu, after a thorough consultation and assessment.

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Medical Grade Skincare

Here are seven things that make medical-grade skincare products unique:

As a highly trained cosmetic dermatologist, Dr Tracy is working in partnership with the premium medical grade skincare brands Obagi, AlumierMD and TebiSkin to allow for a truly bespoke condition-targeting medical grade skincare routine that suits your need and well backed-up by clinical trials.

1. Better quality ingredients.

Medical grade, or pharmaceutical grade products source their ingredients either from their own laboratories, or from higher-end cosmetic supply factories to ensure that their ingredients are 99% pure. Over-the-Counter Skincare Products may have the same labelled ingredients, but they are not held to the same standards. They often contain unnecessary chemicals that do not benefit the skin.

2. More of each ingredient.

We’ve all heard of the important active ingredients recommended for healthier skin: retinoids, vitamin C, antioxidants, and the list goes on and on. Medical grade skin care products have higher concentrations of active ingredients.

However, although being more effective, higher concentration could potential cause more unwanted side effect, before your skin starts to improve. To avoid this hassle, over-the-counter cosmetic companies have lowered the concentration of active ingredients on purpose. As a result, they may not be effective enough, or it may take much longer to get an effect.

3. High research standards, purity and safety regulated by the FDA.

Medical grade skin care products must have clinical research studies to back up any claims about their benefits. On the other hand, over the counter skin care products do not need to have clinical studies or research behind their claims.

Medical grade skin care products have FDA oversight. And the FDA only considers two types of categories – cosmetic, and pharmacuetical grade.

4. Works deeper into the skin

Most over-the-counter cosmetic products only work on the outermost skin layer called the epidermis. They sit on the surface and barely penetrate into deeper layers.

Pharmaceutical or medical grade skin care products are specially formulated to be delivered to the dermis. This is where the collagen scaffold, and collagen producing cells live. Only by making changes to this layer can we expect significant, long lasting results.

5. Medical grade can only be prescribed by a medical professional.

After thorough consultation and skin assessment, Dr Tracy carefully prescribes a skincare regimen based on your need. There will be detailed instructions to use the products, as well as constant monitoring of your situation, in order for timely alteration to the plan. With the help from a cosmetic dermatologist, you are not left alone doing the guesswork with the high street products, or blindly following the recommendations of “influencers”. This saves you money in the long run, and taking the stress out of continued trial and error.

6. Medical grade: not necessarily more expensive.

You may have never heard of some medical grade skincare companies such as Obagi, AlumierMd, Fillmed and TebiSkin, but many of our clients are “in the know” and already started to benefit from the “secret”! Medical grade skincares are not always more expensive, for three reasons:

NO MARKETING COSTS BUILT IN

Generally speaking, these companies do not spend their money on advertising campaigns, instead choosing to spend that money on research, and quality product development. So medical grade products are not always more expensive than their over-the-counter (OTC) counterparts.

THEY WORK, SO YOU’RE NOT THROWING AWAY MONEY

You also have to consider the piles of money wasted on over the counter products that you purchase and stop using, simply because they don’t work, leaving you frustrated and disappointed. The product graveyard in your bathroom is proof!

YOU’LL USE LESS OF IT

Because the active ingredient concentrations are higher, and they penetrate into the dermis, generally you’ll need to use less product to achieve great results.

7. Medical grade skincare products are results driven

Over-the-counter skincare products aim to maximise their sales, rather than finding the skin type that suits the products. You could wrongly identify your skin type or condition and end up getting the products that make no change. With a medical grade regimen tailored thoughtfully to your individual skin, product combinations suitable for your specific skin type and condition can be assembled to achieve your desired results.