CATCHING sight of myself in the tiny window at the top of my computer screen, I did a double take.
I was on a work Zoom call and what I saw in front of me didn’t just leave me feeling completely horrified – it triggered me into taking a dramatic step that would stop the school mums in their tracks.
Bethan, pictured before the procedure, noticed her jawline had been replaced by saggy pouches either side of her chin
Dr Shotter Sophie injecting Bethan’s lower face, jawline and the front section of her neck beneath her chin
The beauty editor, pictured here after the new ‘vampire’ facial, chose to test out MCT to get rid of her jowls and dreaded ‘turkey’ neck
Quite simply, my jawline had disappeared – and in its place were saggy pouches either side of my chin.
A bad camera angle perhaps? Wishful thinking…
Analysing my face later in the mirror, I noticed crepey, crinkled skin underneath my chin and on my upper neck too.
It suddenly hit me – I had jowls and the dreaded ‘turkey’ neck.
As a editor, I was horrified – after all, a certain level of maintenance goes with the job, so how had I not noticed this before?
I was 45 – a good decade away from a , surely – but it seemed my face was already heading south.
Later, I asked my husband if he’d noticed. His response: ‘Not until you just pointed it out.’
Definitely not an outright ‘no’, then.
But according to recent research, it turns out around a fifth of us (18 per cent) are worried about our jowls and a whopping 38 percent fear saggy skin.
Of course, good is vital, but it can only do so much. So what to do?
A facelift at 45 felt a little extreme. But thankfully, as my job involves keeping up to speed with the latest tweakments, I’d heard of a few A-listers having injectable skin-firming treatments derived from their own blood cells.
Known as (Platelet-Rich-Plasma) – or the ‘Vampire facial’ – the procedure is said to boost collagen production, tighten the skin and improve elasticity in saggy areas.
Think about it like a skin-tightening, rather than a lifting effect
Dr Sophie Shotter
and and are reportedly fans, and it’s done via a course of superficial injections – no surgery required.
PRP itself has been around for a while now, but recently I caught wind that a newer, souped-up version called MCT – Cell – had launched.
Like PRP, MCT still involves taking a sample of your blood and the plasma that’s rich with platelets (the cells that release growth factors) is extracted by spinning it in a centrifuge. The resulting liquid is then injected back into the areas that need it to kick-start collagen and elastin production.
, an aesthetics doctor who recently started offering MCT at her London and Kent clinics, explained the difference.
“With MCT, the plasma’s regenerative potential is given a further boost,” she says.
Bethan pictured from the side before the treatment
After the second treatment, Bethan says the area along her jawline felt firmer and her jowls less obvious
“Some of the plasma we extract is exposed to certain heat and light conditions in the MCT machine, releasing more growth factors and also exosomes – the regenerative messengers that come from our own cells.
‘So much smoother’
“MCT is a more turbo-charged version of PRP and it’s been shown to contain three times as many growth factors, making it much more powerful when it comes to regeneration.”
She added that once your plasma has been processed in the MCT machine and injected back into the face, neck or even decolletage, it signals your own cells to stimulate growth and repair, improving skin texture and tightening up these areas.
“Think about it like a skin-tightening, rather than a lifting effect,” says Dr Shotter.
“MCT is amazing for helping skin texture and improving elasticity, working on the skin to make it behave more youthfully, so it’s firmer and more elastic.”
The cost – and does it last?
From a hefty £1,050 per session, it’s a big investment – think £3,150 for the recommended three sessions.
But it is still considerably cheaper and far less invasive than a facelift, which can cost upwards of £10,000.
So how long can MCT’s results last and is it safe?
“The regenerative results of MCT won’t go away once you’ve had the treatment, but of course, the ageing process doesn’t stop for anyone, unfortunately,’ says Dr Shotter.
“Some people have a maintenance session after six months or a year.”
The good news is the treatment is considered very safe.
Because it involves using your own cells, not injecting any foreign material into your body, the risks of adverse reactions are very small.
“Patients can experience small bumps at the injection sites, but these usually disappear within 24 hours, or bruising or short-term warm or itchy sensations in the area that has been treated,” she explains.
The fact that the downtime and side-effects were minimal, and that my face would still look natural – only firmer and more youthful – certainly appealed, so after a thorough consultation with Dr Shotter, I made a beeline to her London clinic for my first treatment.
First, she took a blood sample from my arm, which was as easy as having bloods taken by the .
As the MCT machine was working its magic on my blood plasma, I had numbing cream applied to my face to minimise any discomfort since there would be multiple injections.
Forty-five minutes later, Dr Shotter got to work injecting my lower face, jawline and the front section of my neck beneath my chin.
I was surprised by how quick the treatment itself was, but it wasn’t completely painless – I could feel a slight discomfort from the injections.
Thankfully the numbing cream helped take the edge off and the injections took less than 15 minutes to complete.
I lost count of the number of jabs I had – I’d guess around 60.
It sounds extreme and I felt a bit like a human pin cushion, but Dr Shotter needed to ensure all areas were treated thoroughly.
Afterwards, my face was a bit tender, blotchy and bumpy, but this was gone by the following morning.
MCT involves taking a sample of your blood and plasma, before being injected back into the areas that need it
Bethan with aesthetics doctor Sophie Shotter, who says MCT has a skin-tightening effect rather than a lifting one
I did have some mild bruising appear over the next couple of days around some of the injection sites, but after about ten days these faded.
Dr Shotter warned me that I’d be unlikely to notice much difference after my first treatment – and she was right.
After three weeks, when it was time to go back for my second round, I hadn’t spotted any noticeable improvements.
But after the second treatment, it was a different story. The area along my jawline felt firmer to the touch and my jowls less obvious.
But the biggest difference was in the neck area – it looked so much smoother.
Since returning for my third and final round of MCT, another three weeks on, I’m thrilled by the results.
My whole lower face area now looks much more toned, the sagging is far less noticeable and as a result my jawline looks more defined.
On my neck, the ‘turkey waddle’ I was developing has pretty much disappeared and it’s far less crepey
Bethan
On my neck, the ‘turkey waddle’ I was developing has pretty much disappeared and it’s far less crepey. When I pinch it, it now springs back for the first time in years?
And when I look at myself in profile in the mirror, that area is much more toned and defined. It looks better in side-on photos too. In short, I feel much more like my old self.
The treatment has given me such a confidence boost. A couple of friends asked me on the school run what skincare I’m using, when in fact I haven’t changed anything about my skincare routine at all. It’s all down to the MCT.
I was at a work event recently and a make-up artist, who was testing out a new foundation on me, gaped when I told her I was 45, she’d guessed 38 – result!
As for my husband, he told me I looked ‘less tired’ so I’ll take that as a compliment.
I feel fresher, more youthful and there is more definition to my lower face because the skin is firmer there. Above all, I love how natural-looking the results are.
So feel free to schedule a Zoom call with me whenever you like.
I feel fresher, more youthful and there is more definition to my lower face, says Bethan 
