I was so excited to talk to Piroska Cavell, owner of Clinic Sese, as part of the Glowday Practitioner Spotlight series. And that’s because I was dying to find out about her varied career. Not only has she done so much in her working life, but she’s also passionate about empowering women. Oh - and she’s a keen powerlifter! Let’s find out more…
Hi Piroska! Thanks so much for joining me! Tell us about your career to date.
I started out doing beauty therapy when I left school, and I became a makeup artist in London. For a while, I worked for a makeover studio before starting up my own, where I specialised in the transgender community. Many people would come to the studio looking to be photographed and I saw that this particular community had nowhere else to go at the time. It was really enjoyable working with them. Then, after a few years, I moved to Manchester, where I worked with the gay and transgender community.
When I reached the age of 40, I decided I wanted to do something ‘worthy’, and I trained to become a midwife, which was something I’d always been interested in. For me, midwifery was all about empowering and helping women. I saw hundreds and hundreds of mums-to-be over the years and, interestingly, I noticed a real difference over the course that time, with more of a focus being placed on how they looked and how they wanted to appear in photos after the birth.
Another thing I learned from my days as a midwife was about weight and obesity issues, ranging from before conception to during pregnancy and after birth, and this was something that really interested me. When I spoke to women about it, their weight issues were often down to a lack of understanding, so it was nice to be able to help them through their issues - whether that be helping them reach a point where they could healthily conceive or avoiding complications during pregnancy.
I still very much had an interest in my creative side and, one day, I spoke to a colleague of mine who told me he was thinking about starting out in aesthetics. I knew straight away that this would allow me to combine all of my passions, so I trained in 2015 and started doing aesthetics on a part-time basis, and I absolutely loved it. For me, it was all about empowering people and making a difference to their confidence. It’s amazing how just one small tweak can make a massive difference to the way someone feels.
Last year, I set up Clinic Sese, which was so exciting. I just want people to feel good from the inside out and I love how aesthetics can help you do that with injectables and weight management treatments.
That’s an incredible journey! Talk to me about the weight management side of things.
I developed the Sese Slim Medical Weight Loss programme, which is a bespoke weight loss programme incorporating injectable weight loss medication where appropriate. But there's no starving yourself, no cutting out food groups. I offer one to one support to identify factors influencing food intake and exercise levels.
This is a really important side of my business to me because many people feel so unhappy about their weight and it’s often simply down to a lack of education around healthy eating. I got into this side of things to help people who were struggling to conceive because of their weight, or were suffering with gestational diabetes, and it’s great to be able to help people through these issues. Unfortunately, many people aren’t open about weight issues and don’t want to talk about them, but to be able to talk through their diets and provide suggestions and advice is great.
In my clinic, I offer Deso fat reduction injections for the face and body for patients who have lost weight but struggled with certain stubborn areas, Profhilo for crepey skin, and IV vitamin and mineral drips for patients who are malnourished.
I like to practise what I preach too. As well as eating healthily, I do powerlifting, boxing and sea swimming.
Sounds great! What advice would you give to anyone starting out in aesthetics?
Working with patients who are anxious or scrutinise themselves so much can be difficult, but it’s important to remember that you are the expert in an aesthetic situation. Consultation is key, and this is where you can explain and educate with regards to any issues a client may have, or any treatments you might suggest. Be aware of your own value. Sometimes, practitioners can feel vulnerable or shy putting themselves out there.
This is currently an unregulated industry, so do everything you can to make sure you are qualified and can treat patients as safely as possible. I’m CQC registered and, for me, that’s really important. I’ve worked as a beauty therapist but it always surprises me when I see beauticians offering aesthetic treatments. You wouldn’t ask your plumber to deliver a baby, so why would you ask a non-medic to do your aesthetic treatments? There’s so much anatomy and so many complications that you need to be aware of. As medics, we retrain each year to ensure we know what to do if something goes wrong.
I really care about my patients and always talk them through how things work and what results they should see, as well as the complications that could happen along the way. I always say, “these are the possibilities, but don’t panic - I’m fully trained in complications management.”
One more thing to remember is that every human face and body you come across should be treated individually. That’s really important!
Thanks so much, Piroska! It was lovely chatting with you!
