Diagnosis first, stated as a standard.

What we treat

Eleven treatments across resurfacing and skin conditions: texture and scarring, pigment and melasma, rosacea and vascular redness, and skin quality and hydration. Each is offered where it addresses the finding and declined where it does not, because a competently performed procedure aimed at the wrong finding is the commonest cause of a disappointing skin result.

They are set out in full on the treatments page, each with what it changes, what it will not touch, how skin type alters the plan, recovery and aftercare.

The standards we hold to

In place of galleries and figures, the commitments that actually determine how a course of treatment goes.

Diagnosis before device

The finding is named before a treatment is proposed, and melasma is distinguished from post-inflammatory pigment, vascular redness from inflammatory redness, and texture from laxity. Where the correct route is a GP or a dermatologist rather than a clinic, that is said.

Skin type governs the plan

Fitzpatrick type, pigmentation history and healing history decide the settings, the depth and sometimes whether a treatment is offered at all. Post-inflammatory pigmentation is the complication that matters most and it is planned for rather than hoped against.

Patch testing where it is indicated

For energy-based treatment, particularly in higher Fitzpatrick types, a test patch and a wait rather than a full treatment on a first visit.

A written plan you take away

The finding, the treatment, the number of sessions, the interval, home care, cost and the risks that need a protocol, in writing and before you consent.

Courses reviewed, not completed on autopilot

If a course is not working at session three, it is changed or stopped. Home care between sessions is part of the plan rather than an upsell, because most of the result is decided between appointments.

Cost that follows the assessment

No price list, because a number quoted before anyone has looked at your skin is a shopping prompt. A written quotation follows the assessment and states what is and is not included. What skin treatment costs.

No results gallery

Photographs of skin can be made dramatically more flattering without editing anything, by changing lighting, angle, distance and expression, which makes a gallery a poor basis for a decision. How to read the results a clinic shows you sets out what to look for instead.

The regulatory position

In England, whether a clinic must register with the Care Quality Commission depends on whether it provides a regulated activity, and much purely cosmetic skin treatment does not fall within one. Premises using certain lasers and intense pulsed light may need a local authority licence, and the requirements differ between boroughs. Individual healthcare professionals remain accountable to their own regulator.

So the useful checks are on the individual treating you and on the protocol behind them. The questions that establish it apply here as much as anywhere, and you should ask them.

Editorial approach

The treatment pages describe mechanisms, indications, contraindications, recovery, complications and the regulatory position as it stands in the United Kingdom. Where the position is uncertain or changing, that is stated rather than smoothed over. Where a treatment cannot deliver what people commonly hope for, that is stated too.

Nothing here is medical advice or a substitute for an in-person assessment. If a mole or a lesion is changing, that is a matter for a GP or a dermatologist and not for a cosmetic clinic.

Contact

Enquiries: hello@aestheticlaunchlab.com. This website is operated by Aesthetic Launch Lab and enquiries are handled by them. Please do not send clinical details or photographs by email. If something has gone wrong after a treatment, contact the practitioner who treated you, or NHS 111, rather than waiting for a reply. Full details are on the contact page.