Every December, the clinic phone gets busier with people wanting to buy a treatment for someone they love. It’s a lovely instinct, but it’s surprisingly easy to get wrong. Choose the wrong treatment, or give it with the wrong message attached, and a thoughtful present can land very badly indeed. Get it right, and it can be the start of someone looking after their skin properly for years to come.
Aesthetic gift vouchers have become one of the most popular presents we sell, and I think they’re one of the most thoughtful, provided they’re given in the right spirit. So here’s my honest guide to giving the gift of great skin, including what I’d recommend and the one or two things I’d steer you away from.
The Gift of Great Skin
Why A Voucher Beats Another Bath Set
Most of us have a cupboard somewhere containing three unopened candles and a gift set of shower gel that smells faintly of a hotel lobby. A clinic voucher is different because it gives someone something they’d often love but rarely buy for themselves: an hour that’s entirely about them, in the hands of people who know what they’re doing.
It also removes the guesswork. Skin is personal. What suits one person can be completely wrong for another, and the right treatment depends on what a proper consultation shows. A voucher lets the person choose, with our help, rather than you choosing for them.
My One Firm Rule: Treat, Don’t Fix
This is where I’ll probably upset a few people. A gift voucher should be a treat, never a hint that something needs fixing. A voucher that comes with a pointed comment about someone’s wrinkles, jawline or tired eyes isn’t really a present at all. It’s a critique with a bow on it.
For the same reason, I’d never recommend gifting a specific injectable as a surprise. Anti-wrinkle injections, dermal fillers and skin boosters such as Profhilo, SuneKOS or SkinVive are prescription-only or medical treatments, and nobody should receive them without a face to face consultation and a genuine wish to have them.
The safest, kindest approach is a voucher for a value, with a lovely message, and a recipient who decides. If they choose injectables after a proper consultation, wonderful. That’s their decision to make, not yours.
The Treatments That Make The Best Gifts
If you’d like to nudge someone in a particular direction, these treatments work beautifully as presents.
For someone who simply needs a lovely, restorative treat:
- Bespoke HydraFacial: my top pick for a first time visitor. It cleanses, extracts and hydrates, with no downtime, and ours finishes with a Dermalux LED session. It’s relaxing, and the glow is instant.
- Dermalux LED Light Therapy: calming, brightening and completely relaxing. A lovely add on, or a treat in its own right during the darker months.
For the person who wants more glow and less redness:
- Laser Genesis: gentle, no downtime, and excellent for redness and a smoother, brighter complexion.
- Genesis Glow and HydraGenesis: our combination treatments, pairing Laser Genesis with a surface peel or a Bespoke HydraFacial. Perfect for skin that’s dull after a long year.
For the skincare enthusiast who reads ingredient labels for fun:
- Chemical peels: a course of the right peel, such as the ZO Stimulator Peel, changes how skin behaves over time. Winter is the perfect season to start one.
- SkinPen microneedling: a step up for texture, fine lines and scarring, with collagen building quietly over the following weeks.
- A ZO Skin Health consultation: we build a proper home routine around their skin. In my experience, this is the gift that keeps giving long after Christmas.
For someone with a bigger goal in mind, a voucher can go towards a course of treatment such as Sofwave, Excel V+ for thread veins or pigmentation, the Cosmelan Depigmentation Programme, Secret RF Microneedling or the Alma CO2 Hybrid Laser. These all start with a consultation, so the voucher simply gets the ball rolling.
Don’t Forget The Men
Men are the hardest people to buy for and the most reluctant to book anything for themselves. A voucher removes the excuse. A HydraFacial is an easy first step for a man who’s never set foot in a clinic, Excel V+ is brilliant for the red cheeks and broken veins so many men quietly put up with, and laser hair removal for the back and shoulders has a surprising number of grateful recipients.
A Gift That Could Matter More Than You Think
Not every gift has to be about looking good. Plenty of people, particularly those who’ve spent years working outdoors or soaking up the sun on holiday, have a mole they keep meaning to get checked and never quite do. A voucher can be the gentle push they need.
It isn’t glamorous, but Mole Checks and Dermoscopy, skin tag removal and cyst removal can all be booked with a voucher. If someone you love has been putting off getting something checked, this might be the most meaningful present you give this year.
A Word On Timing
Our vouchers are valid for twelve months from the date of purchase, which is plenty of time to use them well. My honest advice to recipients is not to rush. January and February are quieter in clinic, and winter is genuinely the best time of year for peels, laser and resurfacing, because lower UV levels mean far less risk of pigmentation afterwards. A voucher opened on Christmas morning can become a properly planned course of treatment in the new year.
Choose The Clinic Carefully
One last bit of plain speaking. Every December, deal sites fill up with heavily discounted vouchers for injectables and laser treatments, and I’d treat most of them with real caution. A bargain voucher tells you nothing about who will actually be treating your loved one. If you’re giving someone a treatment, give them one in a doctor-led, CQC regulated clinic where safety comes before the sale.
How To Buy A Gift Voucher
Buying a voucher takes just a few minutes through our secure online portal. You choose the value, add a personalised message, and it’s done. No last minute dash to the shops.
You can buy one now on our gift voucher page. And if you’d like advice on which treatment might suit someone in particular, do get in touch with the clinic. We’re always happy to help you choose something they’ll genuinely love, rather than another candle for the cupboard.
