For mother-of-three Dr Anuya Deshpande, cosmetic medicine is a matter of proportion, balance and harmony, which also sums up her life quest in the Bay of Plenty after a busy 10 years.
A self-confessed workaholic, over the past decade Anuya had three children and at the same time gained post-graduate qualifications in cosmetic medicine, phlebology (diagnosis and treatment of varicose veins) as well as skin cancer medicine and surgery. She opened Gisborne’s first cosmetic clinic in 2008 and recently sold this business and moved to Papamoa to concentrate on spending more time with Safia, 7, Marcus, 3, Ariana, 2 and her husband Marty, who she met in Gisborne – a place she had never heard of – where she went to find sun and do a locum for his father’s general practice.
“I started cosmetic medicine training in the UK in 2006 and brought my skills to provincial New Zealand when I came to work as a GP to get away from the British weather. Some locals thought it was a bit ‘out there’ – Gisborne having a ‘Botox clinic’ – but enough people loved what was possible with modern appearance medicine that 10 years on the clinic is thriving.”
There are still plenty of people who think of overdone celebrities when they think of cosmetic medicine, but Anuya’s aim is for people to look like themselves, but better. “It gives people a lovely feeling of self-confidence, especially when we can change features that would otherwise distract them from getting out and seizing life.”
Varicose veins are satisfying to treat for the same reason. They can hold people back from living to their potential, says Anuya, who has treated “around 2,000 legs”, freeing their owners to enjoy summer in shorts. As well as her clinics in Tauranga, she flies to other centres – Auckland, Wellington and Nelson – to hold one-day vein clinics.
“There’s always an added relief for people beyond the cosmetic benefits, which is so satisfying – for me and for them. It might be helping people to resolve problems with restless legs, a feeling of heaviness, itching, cramping, swelling or it can be as extreme as having venous ulcers that need dressings twice a week.”
The changes people experience after using cosmetic medicine might not be quite as dramatic, but they can still be life-changing. Anuya says the key to getting great, natural-looking results is to understand how a person’s face differs from the archetypal human face, then gently give it balance in that direction.
Study of facial anatomy and training in facial skin cancer surgery, including dissection tutorials from plastic surgeons, combined with treating patients with blepharospasms and facial palsies for almost 10 years has allowed Anuya to move beyond the techniques of cosmetic medicine and into her first love, the art.
“The overall proportion and harmony of a face is really important to produce a pleasing result because unless you start with a full face analysis, the process can determine the outcome and it sometimes looks wrong. What I see in my mind’s eye – the outcome – determines the process, the treatment plan and the techniques I use. I’m lucky in that I love my work– meeting people and assessing faces is like opening a present for me as well as them, and I’m very clear about what I see, and what is possible.
“It’s incredible what can be done, sculpting the face with injections of muscle relaxants like Botox or Dysport, with hyaluronic dermal fillers, or more recently with fat-dissolving techniques. It’s immensely satisfying.”
Today’s ‘selfie culture’ and the emergence of low-cost clinics staffed by poorly supervised injectors, with as little as a weekend of training, could lead to many more of the ‘trout-pouts’ we see in women’s magazines. Worse still, poorly placed fillers can lead to skin necrosis or blindness if there is vascular compromise. Anuya prepares for every filler procedure like a skin cancer operation.
“Every single patient I treat has a thorough medical consultation and consent process; something they may not have had elsewhere, which always amazes me.” Anuya belongs to New Zealand’s medical college for cosmetic medicine, NZSCM, which is lobbying for better training and supervision of nurse injectors in this country.
That Hippocrathic Oath “First do no harm”, that every doctor takes, must apply in every case, Anuya says. “I feel if treatment is not necessary, or will do more harm than good, I will gently but firmly refuse to do it.”
Every face has key features that give people their individual identity.
“I’m not into making people look like someone else. For me it’s about helping people be the best version of themselves. As the old saying goes, ‘If you try to be someone else,who will be you?’”
Dr Anuya specialises in varicose veins, skin cancer medicine and surgery as well as cosmetic medicine using Botox, Dysport, dermal fillers and Belkyra at two convenient locations – Papamoa Plaza and Tauranga Specialist Centre.