advice & tips
SEPTEMBER 2026
Do I Actually Need a Treatment or Do I Just Need a Better Skincare Routine?
By Eliza Clark, Advanced Nurse Prescriber
And often, the answer is both
Skincare and aesthetic treatments don't have to be competitors.
They can do different jobs.
You might have a treatment to address one particular concern while using skincare to support the health and appearance of your skin day to day.
In fact, if you're spending money on professional treatments but completely ignoring what you do to your skin for the other 364 days of the year, there's probably a conversation to be had.
Especially about SPF.
Sorry.
We know we're boring about SPF.
We're going to continue being boring about SPF.
It usually starts with the mirror.
Something has changed.
Your skin looks duller. Your pores seem more noticeable. There’s a line that definitely wasn't there before. Your face looks tired even though, for once, you actually got eight hours' sleep.
So naturally, you start wondering what you need to do about it.
New skincare? Botox? A skin booster? Something involving lasers? That treatment your friend had that made her look annoyingly fantastic?
The slightly frustrating answer is: it depends on what you're actually trying to change.
Because skincare and aesthetic treatments can both do brilliant things.
They just don't do the same things.
And sometimes you don't need either.
Let's start with skincare
Good skincare is the foundation of healthy-looking skin.
It can help with things like hydration, dryness, pigmentation, breakouts, texture and protecting your skin from further sun damage. Certain ingredients can also help improve the appearance of fine lines and support your skin as it changes with age.
And no, a good skincare routine doesn't have to involve twelve products, three different acids and a bathroom cabinet requiring its own postcode.
For lots of people, a relatively simple routine using the right products consistently will do far more than an enormous collection of things bought because somebody on Instagram said they were life-changing.
If your main concern is that your skin feels dry, looks dull or has suddenly become more sensitive, we'd usually want to know what you're already putting on it before immediately reaching for a treatment.
Sometimes your skin doesn't need more.
It needs better.
But skincare has its limits
This is where expectations matter.
There are things even the world's most expensive moisturiser simply cannot do.
A cream isn't going to significantly replace lost facial volume. It can't relax the muscles responsible for expression lines in the way botulinum toxin can. And it can't fundamentally reposition parts of your face that have changed as you've got older.
We would dearly love to tell you that a £40 pot of moisturiser can do absolutely everything.
Our bank accounts would probably appreciate it too.
But if a skincare product claims it can give you the same result as an injectable treatment, we'd suggest approaching that claim with a reasonably raised eyebrow.
Skincare works on your skin.
Not every change you see in the mirror is happening there.
Sometimes what you're noticing is underneath the skin
This becomes particularly relevant in midlife.
As we age, changes happen to the collagen and elastin in our skin, but there are also changes to the fat, muscle and bone underneath it. Hormonal changes around perimenopause and menopause can affect the skin too.
All of that can change the way our faces look.
So you might be religiously applying your serums every night while wondering why your jawline still looks different or why your cheeks don't have quite the same fullness they once did.
Your serum hasn't failed.
You're just asking it to do a job it was never capable of doing.
Rude, admittedly.
But true.
So when might a treatment make more sense?
If there's a particular concern that skincare alone is unlikely to change, that's when it might be worth discussing treatment options.
For example, you may be bothered by expression lines created by muscle movement. Perhaps changes in facial volume or structure are what you're noticing. Or maybe your skincare is good but you'd like to explore treatments that could further improve skin hydration, texture or overall quality.
The important bit is working out what is causing the thing that's bothering you first.
Not deciding you need Botox because your friend looks amazing after hers.
Not booking filler because you saw somebody have it on TikTok.
And definitely not choosing a treatment because there's 20% off until midnight.
Your face is not a sofa in the DFS sale.
But what if I genuinely don't need anything?
Then we'll tell you.
Because noticing something about your face doesn't automatically mean it needs treating.
Sometimes you come across a photograph taken in particularly unforgiving lighting and suddenly become convinced that something has gone terribly wrong.
Sometimes Instagram has simply spent six months showing you the same facial feature until you've started noticing it on yourself.
And sometimes what you're seeing is just a completely normal face doing completely normal ageing things.
You are allowed to leave it alone.
There isn't a compulsory treatment schedule that kicks in at 40. You don't graduate from moisturiser to Botox and then automatically move on to filler at 50.
If something doesn't bother you, we have some excellent medical advice:
Don't worry about it.
How do I know where to start?
Start with the problem, not the product or treatment.
What are you actually noticing?
Has your skin become dry? Has its texture changed? Are you seeing pigmentation? Is there a particular line that's bothering you? Does your face seem less full than it used to? Do you simply look more tired than you feel?
Or have you just got a vague sense that something has changed and you can't quite put your finger on what?
All of those are much more useful starting points than:
“What treatment should a 48-year-old have?”
Because there isn't one.
Your face isn't the same as every other 48-year-old face.
Thank goodness. That would be incredibly weird.
You don't need to diagnose your own face
This is probably the thing we'd most like you to take away from all of this.
You don't need to know whether you need better skincare, a professional treatment, both or absolutely nothing.
That's what a good consultation is for.
We can look at what's actually going on, talk about what bothers you and what doesn't, go through what you're already using and explain the options that might make sense.
And sometimes the answer really will be:
Keep your money. Your skin's doing just fine.
We’re very happy with that answer too.
Not sure what your skin actually needs?
Before you buy another serum or start Googling treatments, take our Skin Check.
Tell us what you're noticing and we'll help you make sense of what might be going on with your skin, plus give you personalised guidance on what could be worth exploring next.