Understanding Filler, Botox, and Facial Aesthetics ft. Dr. Ewoma Ukeleghe | Encore Episode

Naked Beauty

In this encore episode of Naked Beauty, host Brooke DeVard sits down with Dr. Ewoma Ukeleghe, a cosmetic dermatologist based in London, to d

Key takeaways

• Cosmetic procedures like fillers and Botox should be approached with transparency, research, and self-awareness rather than judgment.
• Dr. Ukeleghe emphasizes a 'natural glam' aesthetic that enhances existing features without altering ethnic identity or creating artificial appearances.

Main topics

• Cosmetic fillers and Botox: risks, benefits, and personal experiences
• Ethical aesthetics and cultural representation in facial enhancement

Notable quotes

"I'm not going to give you a white nose. If the nose I'm giving you looks like you couldn't have been born with it, then I didn't do a good job."

Conclusion

The episode underscores that cosmetic enhancements should be personal choices

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:03) Hello, hello, this is Brooke DeVard and you're listening to the Naked Beauty Podcast. Welcome back to another episode. And today's topic is a very hot topic. Now, if you guys don't follow Dr. Iwoma on Instagram, one, she's stunningly gorgeous. She's beautiful. She loves skincare, but she is a cosmetic injector. So she injects fillers and Botox and she does it on herself and for patients. And she's someone that I've really kind of seen over the years. talk about this space and talk about what it's like for Black women, which I think is unique. Now, I've been doing Naked Beauty for six years now, if you can believe that. Wow. And I've always been really passionate about skincare, about natural skincare, about wellness, about self-care. But over the years, more and more, this topic of how far can skincare really take me comes up. People are really curious about lasers. They're curious about micro peels. They're curious about what they can do to enhance their aesthetics with means other than skincare. So of course that means filler and Botox and all of the things. Now, in terms of my personal point of view and advocacy on this. I am neither for or against doing these things. By the end of the conversation, I was like, ooh, like, should I actually get Botox? Like maybe it's time for me at 33 to get Botox. I'm open, but I'm also very cognizant of knowing myself. And I just don't want to have too much maintenance. I don't want to have like too many different various things that I have to do every six months, every year to look a certain way. Does that make sense? Like for me, it's more of like. the laziness of like not wanting to have to do a lot of maintenance. And when I look in the mirror, when I look at my appearance, I feel good. I feel good about what I see. But if I didn't feel good about what I saw or if there was something that I wanted to correct, I would absolutely go that path. I am neither, again, for or against, but I do believe that people should have access to information. And it was just really interesting hearing what her perspective has been. Also, she's based in the UK, so a very different market than here in the US. And this is a space in an area that's growing. It's growing a lot. Now, personally, I don't love a lot of people shame people that are getting lots of filler and Botox. they talk about how bad they look or it ages them or it makes them look unnatural. That's really not necessary. That to me kind of falls into the category of like shaming women for choosing to wear makeup or saying like, oh, you know, you look better without makeup. You don't need all of that. Who says I need anything or who says that you're doing it for the male gaze or an outer gaze or anyone other than yourself? So I really want to make it clear that although I don't. personally spend a lot of time and investment in the space of doing these things, I am really pro people doing what works for you. Now, that being said, I also want to say, if you do decide to go down this path or you're already someone that does these enhancements, you have to do your research. You have to make sure you're going to the best, best people. And I think you should really understand the pros and cons. There are things that I have done like under eye filler. Some people, when they do under eye filler, it leads to like vision damage or even blindness can be one of the most extreme side effects. So again, extremely important to understand the pros and cons of each. So anyway, that's my little spiel. I'll get off my soapbox and we can get into the episode. I really loved hearing from Dr. Awoma and getting her insight and her story. I hope you guys love this episode. And also like, let me know if this area of injections in cosmetic dermatology is something that you're more curious to hear about on the show. And I'll bring on some more experts. All right, let's get into it. Hello, hello. This is Brooke DeVard, host of the Naked Beauty Podcast. And I want to talk to you about Lexus. Have you ever considered how the smallest details can create real emotion? Lexus does. Like the feeling associated with the sound of a turn signal or the touch of a button as it's pressed. At Lexus, master craftsmen called Takumi are involved not just in physical craftsmanship, but in all of those sensory details. These masters evaluate things like how a door closes, the click of a switch, the acoustic feedback of controls. Instead of just instruments, Takumi craftsmen rely on human perception and intuition to create what sounds and feels right. Out of all of the tools that Lexus uses, the most powerful one is understanding what will make us feel something. Because a car that doesn't make you feel something is a car that stops short of amazing. Experience amazing at your Lexus dealer. Speaker 1 (5:05) All right, beauties, I am joined by Dr. Iwoma, who is joining us from here in London, right? I am. I am. This has been a trickier one for me to schedule because now that I'm in LA, London is so far ahead. Where in London are you based? Just Speaker 2 (5:20) outside of London, actually, but kind of on the eastern end, because I actually recently just moved out to the suburbs. Oh, nice. I'm kind of calling it my suburban Speaker 1 (5:29) housewife era. Speaker 2 (5:31) I Speaker 1 (5:32) love it. Are you married? I'm not, no. Yeah, but you know what? You don't have to be married to be in a suburban housewife era. I feel like that's very important to communicate. It Speaker 2 (5:41) is. I feel like it's just the concept of like going to Pilates at like 11am, going to like girls bakery after, which is like kind of a fancy bakery here in the UK. And yeah, just Speaker 1 (5:55) suburban housewife. Absolutely. When I graduated college, I was living in South Kensington and I would just see all of the... women who fold. I mean, they dropped their kids off at school. They did the school run, but then it was Pilates and then it was lunch and then it was a bit of shopping. And I was like, what a life. It's everything. I'm not going to lie. Meanwhile, you're like a full doctor. So the opposite of a lady of leisure, but you take such good care of your skin. You're so passionate about self-care and skincare. Thank you. But you're also incredibly smart and you've worked very hard to get the degrees that you've gotten and have that expertise. So that's why I'm really excited to have you on the show. Thank Speaker 2 (6:30) you. Speaker 1 (6:30) You're a cosmetic doctor now. What started your interest in skincare? Like what really sparked it for you? It's a bit Speaker 2 (6:37) of an interesting journey. So I would say definitely sort of the pull factors that sort of pulled me into the world of cosmetic dermatology was definitely the fact that growing up, particularly in my teens, early twenties, I struggled with my skin. When I say that, particularly to my patients, they're like, am I allowed to swear? Of course. Okay. They're like, bitch, you haven't struggled with your skin. What are you talking about? It's perfect. But I'm like, genuinely, I have. So I had sort of mild acne and then obviously the associated hyperpigmentation. And I literally had tried everything. This was during like the YouTube era with the Jackie Einers. Well, Jackie's still there, God bless her. But you know, the Jackie Einers and all of them. And like, do you remember the oil cleansing method? Yes. I like oil cleansing. You're not a fan? Not for my skin type. I'll say that. I have mildly kind of oily acne prone skin type. So definitely it was the worst thing for my skin. So I had literally tried everything for like to treat my acne, prescriptive stuff, trends. And I think through that, I really just developed a love for skin. And naturally, you know, with friends and family, I became that sort of go-to person. And then moving on swiftly into when I became a doctor, of course, throughout training, postgraduate, you know, you do a bit of dermatology. So I did dermatology with family medicine, or over here, it's called GP, general practice. There I really got to see things like eczema, of course, acne, random rashes, lots of random rashes and family medicine. And yeah, and I would say I just sort of fell in love with it. And I think particularly then the angle of the more cosmetic side, so the injectables, Botox filler, again, always being a very creative person. I was like, oh my God, this is perfect for me. I get to like sculpt someone's face with a syringe. So yeah, that's why I kind of fell into what I'm doing now. Yes. And where did you grow up? I grew up in East London, so I'm an East London babe. So specifically Newham. So fun fact, it's actually the same borough or the same part of London that Emma Greed grew up in. Oh, and she's the head of marketing for Skims. Speaker 1 (8:39) I swear she owns the whole show. Isn't she like one of the founding partners? Yeah. Yes. Well, you know what? Skims, Good American, the whole, they call her like the Kardashian secret weapon. I say that I am like a reluctant fan of Skims, but I do think that the marketing has just been so incredible over and over again. So I just so associate her with all of the like brilliant marketing moves. So yes, she is definitely a force. Speaker 2 (9:02) I do love Emma. So yeah, so that's where I grew up. So very unglamorous, pre-gentrification especially. I feel like back in the day, so I grew up in the early 90s. I feel like back in the day. Growing up in East London, specifically in Newham, it's like you lived there because you had no choice. Okay. Speaker 1 (9:18) But then now it's become like, Speaker 2 (9:20) especially around Hackney where it's become like million pound townhouses and coffee shops. And even till today, I'm like, what the heck? I'm like, that used to be murder mall. What are you guys talking about? So Speaker 1 (9:31) 90s East London. So I'm sure the Spice Girls were as big of an influence for you. as they were for me, because the Spice Girls were everything to me. 100%. Best believe I was 40 Spice. I was Scary Spice, all Speaker 2 (9:44) rolled into one. I was walking around that playground as I could turn you up with my belly top. Don't ask. But yeah, Spice Girls is everything to me. Speaker 1 (9:52) Yes, but also just like an amazing era, I feel like, to be a young girl growing up, because I feel like I really did feel that girl power. Now, looking back, the way Scary Spice was treated, there are some racial overtones that are problematic. Right. But I just, I love the Spice Girls and they had such an influence on me. So your family is from the UK? Speaker 2 (10:12) No. So my parents are Nigerian. So I'm very Nigerian with that English East London sort of flavor to it. Okay. So yeah, so my parents grew up in Nigeria, came here essentially in about roughly their thirties. And funnily enough, so I'm basically the youngest of four. All of my other siblings were born out in Nigeria and then I was born. here in London. So Speaker 1 (10:33) I don't know in Nigerian culture what it's like, but I do feel like in English culture, there is this like, kind of like, don't pay so much attention to your looks. That's like considered vain. Do you know what I'm talking about? That kind of like English, like people, it's like, oh, you think you're special, you know, like don't, you know, just kind of blend in, don't do too much. In Nigerian culture, how are facial enhancements, things like that treated culturally? And I'm sure it varies from family to family. I would say definitely beautification as Speaker 2 (11:02) a whole. It's the complete opposite in the Nigerian culture. It's like you stand out, bold, out there. I love it. I feel so lucky to have gotten that, you know, in the home from my mum. Yes. God bless her soul. Like she's everything. She's iconic. Yeah. She'd constantly be like, she says she calls me Oma. That's like her little nickname for me. And she'd constantly be like, oh, ma, you need to be proud of yourself. Oh, ma, you need to be confident. Like just constantly saying that. Yes, good. Funny because it's like moments where, I don't know, maybe growing up, you know, you feel insecure or like, you know, you're getting teased and whatnot. And she'd literally be like, oh, ma, they're teasing you because they're jealous of you. Look at you, you're tall. So I had lots of that. She was very kind of bright and loud with her makeup. So yeah, so complete opposite in Speaker 1 (11:50) Nigerian culture. I love that affirmation that like, yes, you should stand out. So you have all of these kind of, your mom is influencing your perspective on beauty. You have these skincare struggles. You find yourself in this space of being a cosmetic doctor and you're practicing now. And also I should say, you're a contributor. You contribute a lot of kind of beauty content and skincare content with a lot of amazing publications like Elle. But what was the beginning of your journey like? Do you start with like learning the basics like Botox and filler and then you get more advanced? Like what is that journey like as you enter this field? Yeah, definitely. Speaker 2 (12:27) So definitely your existing medical training counts for a lot. Medical training is slightly different. So I did five years at Liverpool Medical School. And then after kind of graduating, you then move into sort