Behind every shining star on the red carpet, there is a group of people who help them look their best. But in addition to the personal trainers, makeup artists, and facialists clamoring on Instagram, there’s another, more anonymous behind-the-scenes expert who doesn’t feature in the hashtag: the aesthetic doctor.
Yes, people who use needles and lasers of all kinds are often the shadowy saviors of celebrity faces. The best in the business tweak, enhance, and hone, but their efforts are barely noticeable—it’s a common misconception that you can always tell when a celebrity has done something. Actually, it’s just bad when they do something.
PhD. Wassim Taktouk is an aesthetic doctor with a penchant for well-known faces, and while he naturally won’t detail who exactly, his client list includes movie stars and major fashion campaigners – you wouldn’t be able to tell which treatments they received . “I’ve always been a natural aesthetic,” he told me candidly over the phone. “If anyone asks if my clients are up to the task, then I know I’ve gone too far. The trick is that they should always look good and be told – that’s what anyone wants to hear.”
Here, he shares the inside scoop on the tweaks stars are really getting — ones you may not have heard of and certainly haven’t noticed — because, yes, there are a lot There’s a reason people seem to age so well in the public eye…
Skin Health First
Taktouk says , the key to looking good these days is looking really “good,” and skin health is key. While he offers mesotherapy (which involves infusing a custom blend of vitamins into the skin) and Profhilo (more on that below) at his clinic to help make skin look healthy, he’s also a third Join Esthetician Teresa Tarmey and Nutritionist Rose Ferguson for a skincare regimen. As a trio, they cater to every aspect of skin health. Tarmey uses facials, combined lasers and good skincare advice to improve skin health on the outside, while Ferguson looks at diet and nutrition to ensure skin is nourished from within. Finally, Taktouk adjusts with a needle. The same is true for the way it is delivered to the face. Today, it’s all about the natural look. “Filler companies aren’t just looking at volume replacement, but they’re also looking at how the face moves,” Taktouk explained. “They’re now making fillers that are stretchable, so when you smile, for example, the filler moves with your lips and you don’t pout. The gel fits perfectly into the tissue, replicating your own. Taktouk says he also uses more water-based fillers (often used to fill in smaller lines on the face) on his lips to ensure there isn’t too much (read: noticeable) volume. “It’s a smart move because it looks like you’ve got lip balm on,” he said.
Ever heard of Temple Filler?
While most of us hardly give a second thought to our temples, they’re a prime area for fine-tuning the world’s most beautiful faces. “You can do a lot of work in someone’s temple, but it won’t do any good,” Taktouk said. “As we age, the fat (or volume) at the temples starts to decrease, which can lead to dimples on the sides of the face—which can be quite aging.” As volume decreases, the tissue above it sits Less scaffolding, so the face starts to sag. Gently and slowly inflating the temples with fillers can fully rejuvenate them. “It gives a healthy sense of fullness—I’ve done it on a lot of famous people, but no one noticed,” he says.
Glow with Profhilo
one of the treatments du jour, Taktouk is also a big fan of Profhilo – an injectable hyaluronic acid treatment – that hydrates the skin and boosts luminosity. “It gives you a dewy post-face glow—think really plump, dewy skin,” he says. “It’s a great pre-event. We tend to do the first treatment about six weeks before the event and the second two weeks before the event. The skin looks great.” Although it’s a It’s an injectable, but it doesn’t plump up the skin like fillers, making it an entry-level treatment for those dipping their toes into the world of fine-tuning.
OPEN EYES
Since the eyes are such a huge focal point these days, there are multiple ways to open up the area , while creating “soft fullness” for the forehead. Taktouk applies filler directly to the forehead skull (sounds a lot worse than it actually is), which draws attention to the eyes and is a great alternative to Botox. “Our faces are so expressive, every little movement of our faces is our way of communicating,” he said. “The last thing we want is to mess up our natural expressions. This is a treatment that doesn’t interfere with them.”
Botox is still in use…
…but the number is very small. While there’s long been a “baby Botox” movement, which deploys tiny toxins on specific areas, Taktouk says he’s using even less in his treatments. “I really diluted it and dripped it in really critical places so the face could still move. That’s the most important thing—you can’t stop someone from moving. The idea is to address the strength muscles of the face and Weaken them a bit instead of focusing on the lines themselves.”
It’s all about proportion
“I’ve done liquid hundreds of times Rhinoplasty, they’re great for contouring,” Taktouk says of the treatment, which involves injecting fillers into the nose to balance facial proportions. It provides an excellent and much less invasive alternative to rhinoplasty itself. He also explains that working on a client’s chin can have a knock-on effect on the nose and “harmonize” their image. “When you inject filler into your chin, you can very beautifully bring your nose up to your face without touching it. It’s an optical illusion.”
