Dr Eithne Brenner

Dr Eithne Brenner Expert in Aesthetic Medicine, Dublin. Medical doctor for 36 years. Helping you look and feel your best. Subtle, natural results. dr.brenner@dreithnebrenner.ie
(1)

29/05/2026

Today, I’m going to have a lovely relaxing HydraFacial treatment with Angelika.
I’ve asked her to focus on hydration, antioxidants and to do some boosters around my eye area and lips. The treatment can be customised for each person.
She’s doing some gentle cleansing and lymph drainage. There’ll be a gentle peel, there’ll be some focused extractions of pores, lots of infusion of active ingredients, and then some LED treatment.
My skin’s quite reactive and this redness is normal for me, but it’s completely painless and it feels great to get a nice skin treatment and some glow and hydration. Skin quality is so important for me, so this helps, along with some subtle injectable treatments.
Angelika is going to do some eye serum for me, putting in lots of antioxidants, and that felt really nice. And then we’re going to do a lip exfoliation and a revitalising serum, and that just felt lovely. Then she’s going to pop me under the LED to help calm the redness and boost collagen. And then by the next day, my skin is really glowing and hydrated- happy days!
Thanks Angelika! Eithne
̇al

28/05/2026

Hi, when do I say no to treatment requests in the clinic?
The priority is safety. I’ve been a doctor for 37 years, and I have to protect somebody’s health and look at the long term outcomes rather than just a quick sale or a quick treatment that I think might not be suitable.
So we’ve got to look at medical history. We’ve got to look at certain medical conditions that make treatments sometimes not viable. And also, if I think the risks outweigh the benefits, I’ll give that information. There are treatments that I believe are risky that I don’t perform myself.
And the other is expectations. I always want to be on the same page with somebody to explain what I can deliver, and what my treatments can’t deliver. And I don’t want somebody being disappointed and spending money on treatments that won’t fulfil their expectations. So we have those clear conversations before we consider treatment.
We don’t follow trends ( like very sharp jawlines or angles in women/ overfilled lips/“Russian lips” distorted lip filler, large filler volumes in the buttocks, untested injectable peptides,etc, etc).
We want harmony and safety and facial proportions. And so if somebody comes in to me, say, for example, with a very small chin and very large lips, and they want more in their lips, then that’s not going to be a beautiful result, and I can help give advice on that.
There are treatments that I just don’t believe in, like lemon bottle fat dissolving. I’m not a fan of threads, and so I won’t offer some of those treatments.
There are also treatments that I’m not trained in, for example, blepharoplasty eyelid surgery. So if I think somebody would benefit from surgery, I’ll refer on to a colleague.
Stay as safe as you can. See a medical practitioner, and have a detailed consultation. Take care. Eithne

27/05/2026

Hi, let’s chat about filler migration or moving.
I’ve just played padel, so I’ve a healthy glow 🤗
So, fillers, they generally tend to stay put where they’re placed if they’re placed really carefully at the right depth. Are fillers going to move from, say, the cheeks down to the lower face? Absolutely not. But can filler redistribute or spread locally in the same area it’s injected? Yes.
Filler migration, we talk about it particularly in relation to lip filler. But often, it’s just poor placement. It’s too much product. It’s too thick a product. It’s too close to the border, called the vermilion border of the lip, and it can spread into the area above the lip, especially if we’re talking a lot, or if you keep filling and filling.
Definitely, if we do some cheek filler, that can soften or flatten a little bit over time, and in areas along the cheekbone, yes, it can spread a little bit in the same area.
But it’s not going to up sticks and move from one part of your face to another.
The key with any aesthetic medicine treatment is see a really experienced medical professional, and they’ll assess your face.
The goal with fillers is to do as little as possible, as infrequently as possible.
We want subtle amounts, we want careful placement in the right depth, and so that it looks really natural when your face is resting and really natural when your face is moving, as well, because that’s key.
So less is more with filler. Stay safe and see a medical practitioner. Take care. Eithne

26/05/2026

Hi, are you confused by all the skin boosters on the market?
How do you know which one is going to be right for you?
The main thing is to have a detailed consultation to assess your goals and wishes, and to assess your skin quality, whether you have volume loss, skin laxity, whether you have sagging, whether you have sun damage, and then you can put together a plan.
Skin boosters basically contain hyaluronic acid. They don’t act as fillers because of the way they are manufactured; they are uncross linked compared to fillers which are cross linked. This affects how they work and how long they last.
Skin boosters spread out under the skin, and they give hydration, they give a nice glow, and a temporary plumpness to the skin. And they can help reduce crepy texture and help improve fine lines.
What they can’t do is, they can’t lift or tighten the skin. They can’t replace volume, they can’t give structural support, or contour, and they don’t last a huge amount of time. But if they’re used in the right situation for the right person, they can give a lovely result.
I think people are sometimes over promised with skin boosters, and then it leads to disappointment. So rather than buying a treatment course somewhere online, have a personalised consultation, and you can assess which one is for you.
The other confusing thing is sometimes they change names!
For example, Redensity 1, which we’ve had for several years, has now been branded ‘Baby Glow’. I think it’s a terrible name, but a super product.
Another one that’s changed name in the last year is Skinvive from Allergan, and that used to be called Volite for several years. Again, I think it’s a lovely product.
Sometimes there will be just different ingredients in these, like amino acids, like vitamins, and these can also play a part for the right person.
So have consultation and stay as safe as possible. Take care. Eithne

24/05/2026

Hi, how has our approach to treating nasalabial folds with dermal fillers evolved over the last 15 years or so?

When I started in aesthetic medicine about 19 years ago, people would come in and complain of nasolabial folds, and we often went with a dermal filler and we put some along the fold, and it could look a bit better, but it didn’t always look great.
Our understanding of anatomy has improved greatly in the intervening years. And now we’re much more clued in about looking at what’s happening the skin quality, the fat pads, both superficial and deep, what’s changing in the bone structure and what movement is doing.
We’re always trying to get some support in the mid face, in the lateral face, to improve the appearance of the nasolabial fold, rather than just going for it directly with a dermal filler.
We might still do a little bit of dermal filler deep in the piriform fossa to give support, but we’re not going to just follow that line down with a sausage of product, because it can look very unnatural at rest and it can look even worse on movement.
So we’ve got to be strategic. Nasolabial folds are normal, children have them. We don’t want to eradicate them completely, or it looks unnatural. If we want to improve the appearance of them if they are deepening over time, we’re always going to try and get support elsewhere first, addressing the cause of the deepening folds, rather than going straight for the problem area.

Stay as safe as you can and if you’re concerned about something, ideally see a medical practitioner for a full, detailed assessment of your face, not just going straight for the fold, so they look at your overall facial harmony, and get you the best result. Take care. Eithne

23/05/2026

Hi, if you had a sick dog, would you take them to somebody who wasn’t a vet? No, you wouldn’t.
If you had a child who needed a vaccination, would you let a non -healthcare professional vaccinate them? No, you wouldn’t.
Now, in fairness, I did let my ex -husband give me the shingles vaccine, but he is a doctor ( and he promised not to add any arsenic 😆).
I’m always amazed how much risk people take with their faces when they go and seek cosmetic treatments from non-medically trained personnel. You really are taking high risks, and just because something is technically legal, like anybody can inject a dermal filler, because it’s a medical device, and not a prescription only medicine, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take great care when seeking treatment.
You just get one face and body, and myself and many, many of my colleagues, both in clinics and in hospital settings, have seen numerous people over the years with complications from botched procedures.
You’ve got to have a sound knowledge of anatomy, you’ve got to have training, experience, familiarity with medicines, how to handle them, how to store them, how to source them appropriately, how to use them, how to recognise and prevent complications, and then, in the unusual circumstances when there are complications, because they do happen across the board, then you want somebody who’s medically competent to handle complications and treat them. So always pause before you think about treatment.
Is it a healthcare professional?
Are they being careful?
Are they looking after my health?
Am I going to be safe, and what sort of follow up care is there? Take care. Eithne

22/05/2026

Hi, let’s do some more scribbling, looking at crow’s feet treatment on one side, compared to the other.
I often see people in their 30’s, and they’re complaining of crow’s feet lines, and these are a natural part of our faces changing over time as we pick up sun damage, and we’ve got repeated movement.
Generally for these kind of lines, I would just advise a daily SPF and some good skincare and sunglasses if you’re out and about.
I generally don’t treat these because I think they’re a natural part of our smile. They give nice expression, we smile with our eyes, as well as our mouth.
If we get into our 60’s like me (and 40’s, 50’s too), they start to get more extensive.
They extend further out, the upper eyelid is often creased, and then they often start to merge with these smile lines or accordion lines lower down. So sometimes people will come in to me and say, can you treat all of that with anti wrinkle treatment, and you can’t.
It’s not just a muscle issue as such. It’s also skin quality, it’s fat loss, it’s bone change. So that’s where we need to have more careful evaluation of what’s going on. And, yes, we might use an anti wrinkle medication. It’s not going to eradicate all of these lines( nor would we want it to), and we can’t extend it too far down or too deep, or we’ll hit zygomaticus major and distort the cheek and smile.
So we have limitations in what we can do with medication here. And again, we’re going to look at skincare, SPF, probably for this, something like SkinPen micro needling, or we might look at some of the biostimulator( Juläine), or skin booster ( SkinVive/Restylane skin booster) injections.
Stay as safe as possible and see a medical practitioner. Take care, Eithne

21/05/2026

Hi, if you’re having an injectable treatment, how do you know if your provider is using correct and legitimate products?
Always ask for information. I’ve lost count of the times people say to me, they’ve no idea what was injected elsewhere, or they weren’t shown the product, it wasn’t opened in front of them, and they didn’t see the expiry date. So ask for that information if you’re having treatment for your face/body.
Let’s look at two products here. This one is Radiesse (a collagen stimulator) and we buy it from reputable suppliers, so we know what the product looks and feels like, and we get a ton of information on the back. This will tell us that it conforms to the CE regulation. It a medical device, it’s for single use. It tells me it’s sterilised with ethyleneoxide gas. It tells me what the lot number is, where and when it was manufactured, and what the expiry date is. And there’s usually a bar code. So if we’ve any issues with the quality of the product, we’ve got all of that information to hand, and that’s really important. If you’re having an injectable, you could always ask to take a screenshot of it. But do ask for the information. Here’s another one, Profhilo (hyaluronic acid), and this has hologram logos to help protect safety and protect against counterfeits. Again, it’ll give me the CE regulation. It’s a medical device. It’ll give me the temperatures it needs to be stored at. I need to follow the instructions. It’s single use, and it will give me all of those details. There will be an internal barcode/QR code for the company, and that feels and looks like the right product.
So ask for that information, it’s going into your face. Stay as safe as possible, and ideally keep a record of treatments for future providers. Take care. Eithne

19/05/2026

Hi. Hopefully we’ve got some good weather coming next week, so here are my tips for SPF use.
Make sure your products are in date. If you’ve got old products from last year, especially if they’re grainy or watery or start to separate or smell funny, I would replace them, and especially if they’ve been in a warm car for a long period of time.
Whether you use mineral or chemical sunscreen, the main issue is to be consistent, and use it every single day.
When I’m doing Observ skin analysis in the clinic, I often find people have got very little or very patchy SPF around their hairline ‘cause they don’t want to mess up their hair. They haven’t put any on their ears, or their eyelids, and sometimes they’ve rubbed off the nose SPF, or they’ve licked off the lip SPF. In my photo, I’ve applied SPF in one side and none on the other to show the difference under the UV camera. So be consistent, put on plenty. Cover your neck, cover your hands as well. And if you need to top up during the day, you can use the sprays. I wouldn’t rely on them as my sole SPF, because only about 50% of that product lands on the skin. So close your eyes, hold your breath, spray them on as a top up, and you’ll get some additional coverage. Some of the tinted SPFs have iron oxides, and that can help reduce a little bit of the ultra violet pigment change, but I would just say, be careful you’re putting on enough. Be consistent. Pick one that you like, pay attention to all those extra areas. Use your sun avoidance as well, like a sun hat, shade, sunglasses, ultraviolet protective clothing, and don’t rely completely on your SPF. We know know that mineral SPF’s also absorb UV rays as well as reflecting the rays, and the chemical ones also absorb the UV rays, so both are effective- find one you prefer to use and that doesn’t irritate your eyes. Many products now contain both. Take care. Eithne

18/05/2026

Hi, we’ve had some informal reports from UK colleagues this week about two patients with suspected botulism after cosmetic anti-wrinkle treatments in Leeds.
There have been previous similar situations in the UK. It’s very likely that counterfeit products were used in a non medical setting.
Counterfeit products might contain nothing at all, or they might contain many, many multiples the dose of toxin. They might be manufactured in poor conditions. They may not be stored properly. They may be contaminated with other chemicals or bacteria.
The dosage may not be right, and it really substantially increases the risks of complications. People are seeking bargains, and we understand that everybody wants value for money. But if you’re thinking about these treatments, they are medical and are not trivial or a commodity.
You need a face to face detailed consultation to discuss the risks and benefits, and you need to be confident that you’re seeing a medical practitioner or a dentist, a healthcare professional who’s going to look after you, use the correct products, buy them legitimately from the manufacturer or from approved pharmacies, store them correctly, understand the dilution, and the dosage, and the indications, and your anatomy, and take as much care as possible for your health, and treat you as safely as possible. These medications can have many different uses, from migraine, sweating, muscle disorders, bladder disorders as well as the common cosmetic uses for muscle movement, and it essential that it is used correctly, carefully and legally to minimise risks.
So if you’re considering these treatments at all, my advice is, please stay as safe as possible.
See a registered medical practitioner, and do your research beforehand, and don’t just look at the bargain headline price. We know counterfeit product is brought into Ireland so it’s not just a UK problem. The HPRA monitors this situation for public safety. Take care. Eithne

12/05/2026

Hi, why does some anti-wrinkle treatment start working faster on one side compared to the other?

This is completely normal. Our faces are so different anatomically, and often, the muscles on one side are stronger and bulkier than the other.
Our pattern of movement may be different.
We may be somebody who habitually raises one eyebrow, and our sleeping pattern may vary, and our chewing pattern may vary ( maybe that’s why I’m single 😂 pulling faces like this)
so there’s lots of different things that can play a part.
In the first few days, people see a subtle result. Then it gets a bit more noticeable and then you get your full result. And most minor asymmetries or changes in one side compared to the other even out at the point of two weeks.
If needed, any remaining little asymmetries can be adjusted after two weeks. I had a medical treatment four days ago from a colleague, and I had some treatment along my jawline, DAO ( depressor anguli oris muscle) to reduce the pull down on the corner of the mouth, and some on platysma.
This was an anti wrinkle medication that’s used, and it’s a prescription only medication. You need to see a medical doctor or dentist for a face to face assessment for suitability in Ireland. Interestingly, I chew more on one side, and so one side is still quite strong. The other side is working away, and you can see I’ve got a couple of little needle marks there, and I have a little one here. So, my pattern is stronger on one side. That sometimes takes more medication to get an effect, but it will balance out. I’m just four days in now. really happy with the result, but I’m not bothered by that asymmetry because it will resolve itself. As always, stay as safe as possible and if you’re considering any treatment see a medical professional. Take care. Eithne

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