GLOW with britt

the thing people say to me most before lip filler is "i don't want anyone to know."

so here she is, three angles, same appointment.

look at the border, not the size. before, the edge of the lip had gone soft and the fine vertical lines were starting to set in. the goal was never a bigger lip. it was giving the lip its outline back.

the cupid's bow has shape again. that is placement, not volume. it is the single detail that decides whether a lip reads natural or reads done.

the proportion held. the lower lip still carries more than the upper, the way a lip is supposed to. nothing sitting above the border where it doesn't belong.

and it is still her mouth. nobody is going to ask her what she had done.

one honest note on the photos: these afters are same day, so there is swelling in them. lips settle over about two to four weeks and the finished result is always a little softer than day of. if you have ever seen a fresh lip photo and thought "that's too much," swelling is usually what you were looking at.

so if looking overdone is the thing holding you back, say that out loud at your consult. it's a plan, not a dealbreaker.

what's actually been stopping you from asking about it?

Most people come in asking for "a laser." There isn't one. There are three, they do genuinely different jobs, and picking the wrong one is how people end up disappointed or worse.

Sylfirm X, for redness and melasma. This is the one that makes it into almost every plan. It's radiofrequency microneedling, and the reason it matters is that it can treat melasma and vascular redness, which a lot of resurfacing lasers can actually worsen. If you flush, or you have rosacea, or you have pigment that darkens every single summer, this is usually where we start. It does texture, pores and laxity on the way through.

Clear + Brilliant, for tone and texture. The gentlest of the three. Non-ablative, a couple of days of sandpapery skin, then glow. It works as a series, not as one appointment. This is the "my skin looks tired and I want it to look like skin again" laser, and it's what I recommend most to people who want to stay ahead of things rather than catch up later.

CO2, for what the others can't reach. Ablative resurfacing. Deep etched lines, acne scarring, real sun damage. It's the heaviest tool I own and it comes with about a week of actual downtime. You don't do it casually and you don't do it often. But when it's the right call, nothing else substitutes for it.

And the honest answer to "which one do I need" is that I can't tell you until I've looked at your skin. Your skin type, whether there's active melasma, how much sun you've had lately, what medications you're on, whether you get cold sores. Any one of those changes the device, changes the settings, or means we wait.

Happy 48th Birthday to my babe, John Frisella ! ❤️🎉

Always sharing the spotlight with some sort of sporting event 😂⚾️⛳️, but we definitely couldn’t let today go by without celebrating YOU.

You are truly the best husband and father around, and we are so lucky to have you. Thank you for everything you do for our family and for always being the one we can count on.

We love you so much, babe. Here’s to 48 and another amazing year ahead! ❤️🥂🎂

the elevens are smooth. that deep vertical knot between the brows isn't carving in anymore. it's the single most requested thing i treat and the easiest one to overdo, which is exactly why dosing matters more than units.

her brow sits more open. when the muscles that pull the brow down relax, the brow drifts up a little on its own. no one touched her eyes, and her eyes are what look different.

the outer corner is quieter. second pair. same smile, same crinkle when she means it, just not gathering into a permanent fan.

she still looks like herself. this is the part i care about most. nobody is going to ask her what she had done. they are going to tell her she looks rested.

that is what conservative dosing and careful placement actually buy you. movement where you want it, quiet where you don't. skin quality is the next conversation for her, and it's the fun one.

what has been keeping you from booking?

✨ Britt’s Friday Fav ✨

A little different kind of Friday Fav this week… because if I’m being honest, I barely made it through this week. 😅 Back to school, sports starting, clinic, schedules, and just life in general had me running in a million different directions.

So naturally, I hadn’t prepared my Friday Fav for today. And then it hit me… maybe THIS is the Friday Fav. 🤍

Some weeks aren’t about doing it all. They’re just about holding it all together… even if it’s barely. 😂

Not sure who else is feeling this way, but I have a feeling it might be a pretty common theme right now. So if you’re also limping your way into Friday… just know we made it. 🫶🏻

Yesterday, many of you bought giftcards for Juvederm day. Today I'm going to tell you three things I won't use them on.

Under-eye filler, for most people. It's the least forgiving area on the face. The skin is thin, the drainage is slow, and product placed there can outlast the appointment by years. Some people are genuinely good candidates. But most people who ask me for it are describing volume loss higher up in the midface, or a skin quality issue that filler will not touch.

Tox for brown spots or rough texture. Tox relaxes muscle. That's the whole mechanism. It does nothing to pigment and nothing to the surface of your skin. If your actual complaint was spots or texture and someone sold you units, you paid for the wrong tool. That's a laser conversation, or a skincare one.

Laser packages sold before anyone looks at your skin. Your skin type, active melasma, recent sun, certain medications, a history of cold sores. Any one of those changes the device, the settings, or whether we treat at all that day. A package priced at the front desk was priced before the assessment.

None of this is me being precious. It's that the thing you came in asking for and the thing that would actually work are not always the same thing, and I'd rather have that conversation than take your money.

What have you been told you needed that you were never quite sure about?

These are the texts that make every long day, weekend hours, and showing up everyday so fulfilling. My patient's trust in me means that absolute world and I don't take it for granted.

Botox or a laser? They don't do the same job, and mixing them up is the most expensive mistake in this whole category.

Tox relaxes muscle. It softens the lines that only show up when you move — frowning, squinting, raising your brows. It does nothing to the surface of your skin, and it was never designed to.

Lasers change the skin itself. Texture, tone, pigment, pore size, laxity, old sun damage. All the things that are there whether your face is moving or not. No injectable touches any of it.

Here's the test. Look in the mirror with your face completely still. Any line you can still see is a skin problem, not a muscle problem. Anything that disappears when you relax is muscle.

Most people need both, and usually in that order. Skin first, then muscle, because relaxed muscle under rough skin still looks rough.

If someone books you for tox without ever looking at your skin, that's worth noticing.

Try the mirror test and tell me what you found. I'm curious how many people have been treating the wrong thing.