Jul 26, 2026

Professor Caitriona Ryan Featured in The Irish Examiner Weekend on the Future of Aesthetics

Professor Caitriona Ryan featured on the cover of The Irish Examiner Weekend magazine last Saturday, speaking to journalist Kirstie McDermott about a shift she's watching play out in clinic every week: patients moving away from that instant, visibly "done" look, and toward treatments that work quietly, with the skin's own biology, over months rather than minutes.

Aesthetic treatment in Ireland is moving away from visible, instant-result fillers and toward regenerative approaches that work with the body's own collagen production, according to Professor Caitriona Ryan, Consultant Dermatologist at the Institute of Dermatologists. Rather than chasing a single dramatic change, patients are increasingly choosing treatments described as biostimulatory, ones that encourage the skin to rebuild its own structural support over time, part of a broader shift toward longevity and skin health rather than "anti-ageing" in the traditional sense.

Why Has "Getting Work Done" Stopped Being Something People Hide?

"Getting injectable and cosmetic treatments has become the norm," Professor Ryan told the Irish Examiner. "It's not something that people hide away as much, it's now seen as the standard thing to do." That openness has changed what patients actually ask for in the room. Fewer people want to look visibly altered. Most want to look like a well-rested, well-maintained version of themselves, which has pushed demand toward treatments built for subtlety rather than transformation.

What Does It Mean to "Biostimulate" and "Bank Collagen"?

That subtlety is the whole idea behind biostimulation. "People are now about trying to regenerate their own skin," Professor Ryan explained. "They're doing things to biostimulate, and bank collagen." Rather than adding volume directly, these treatments prompt the skin to produce more of its own collagen and elastin, a slower process than traditional filler, built around longer-term skin quality rather than an immediate, single-visit change.

"It's a really subtle, beautiful type of dermal filler. It works away in the background and really helps to tighten the face and jaw." — Professor Caitriona Ryan on Sculptra

Sculptra is the treatment Professor Ryan returns to most often when she describes this approach. Made from poly-L-lactic acid, it doesn't fill so much as it persuades the skin to rebuild its own scaffolding. "It's a really subtle, beautiful type of dermal filler," she said. "It works away in the background and really helps to tighten the face and jaw."

Why Is Everyone Suddenly Talking About Their Jawline?

A defined jawline is one of the most requested results Professor Ryan is seeing in 2026, and it rarely comes from one treatment alone. She pairs Sculptra with ablative, collagen-focused options such as CO2 laser, radiofrequency, microneedling, and Ultherapy, building the result gradually rather than reaching for a single fix.

That demand isn't only aesthetic curiosity. A growing number of patients are dealing with a newer cause of facial change altogether: rapid weight loss. With GLP-1 medications now widely used, facial and neck sagging, often shorthanded as "Ozempic face," has become a more familiar concern in clinic, regardless of whether the weight loss involved medication at all.

"Weight loss causes sagging, but it's not because it makes the skin less elastic," Professor Ryan explained. "It's that the fat pads are gone." The treatments that help are largely the same ones driving the jawline conversation: ultrasound-based skin tightening, and Sculptra to help replace lost volume rather than simply pull skin tighter.

How Is the Institute of Dermatologists Putting This Into Practice?

This shift shows up directly in what the Institute of Dermatologists now offers. Consultant-led brow lifts and blepharoplasty are newly available, alongside its existing range of laser and injectable treatments. The piece also highlighted PhilArt, a polynucleotide treatment using purified DNA fragments derived from biocompatible salmon or trout, which works to stimulate cellular repair, support collagen and elastin production, and hydrate the skin from within, another example of treatment designed to work with the skin rather than simply sit on top of it.

Where Does This Leave Supplements and ID Formulas?

For Professor Ryan, the same philosophy extends beyond the treatment room. She recently launched ID Formulas, a supplement built around the biological processes involved in ageing, and sees it as part of the same broader movement. "I think people have really moved into supplementation when it comes to improving their health and the quality of their skin and hair from the inside out," she said. It's the same regenerative logic driving Sculptra and biostimulation, just applied from the inside.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Sculptra the same as traditional dermal filler?

Not quite. Traditional filler adds volume directly, while Sculptra (poly-L-lactic acid) works gradually by encouraging the skin to rebuild its own structural support, with results building over time rather than immediately.

What is a polynucleotide treatment like PhilArt?

Polynucleotide treatments use purified DNA fragments, in PhilArt's case derived from biocompatible salmon or trout, to stimulate cellular repair and support the skin's own collagen and elastin production.

Does weight loss cause skin to lose elasticity?

Not directly. According to Professor Ryan, facial sagging linked to weight loss is generally caused by the loss of fat pads rather than a change in the skin's elasticity itself.