I’m a medical doctor, aesthetic practitioner, clinical educator and the founder of The Curatory.
My work is centred on balance: understanding the outcome someone wants, explaining what can realistically be achieved and choosing a sensible combination of skincare or treatment to help them get there.
Professional background
I graduated from University College London in 2018 and completed my initial postgraduate medical training and Core Surgical Training in London. My surgical posts included experience in plastic, orthopaedic and cardiothoracic surgery, and during this time I became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
I enjoyed medicine and surgical training, so transitioning into aesthetic medicine wasn’t about trying to escape hospital work. I was drawn to what aesthetic medicine offered: technical work with my hands, varied procedures and the opportunity to think carefully about how different treatments could work together.
In a single day, I might be carrying out a chemical peel, an injectable skin treatment and a more involved facial treatment plan, and that variety continues to keep me on my toes. What I came to value even more, however, was the relationship I could develop with the person I was treating.
My interactions with patients in hospital were often brief, and I might meet someone at one point in their care without ever seeing them again. In aesthetic practice, I had more opportunity to listen properly, understand why someone had come to see me, treat them, follow their progress and make adjustments over time.
That continuity has become one of the most satisfying parts of my work, particularly with skincare, where the support and decisions made between appointments can be just as important as the appointment itself.
Clinical approach
Good aesthetic medicine is about balance. My aim is to create an effective result that the person is pleased with, while keeping it subtle enough that other people may simply notice that they look fresher or more rested without being able to identify that they’ve had treatment.
It would be easy to use more filler and produce a more dramatic before-and-after photograph, but that wouldn’t necessarily be a better result. I regularly recommend less treatment, a different treatment or no treatment, because we can always add more later if it’s appropriate and there’s rarely a reason to rush.
I’d also rather someone came to me with the change they’ve noticed or the outcome they want than with a predetermined procedure in mind. We can then decide together which option, or combination of options, is most likely to help while remaining honest about its limitations.
Sometimes the result someone wants would require surgery rather than a non-surgical treatment. In other situations, improving skin quality may be more relevant than adding volume, and occasionally doing nothing is the right decision.
Between appointments
In-clinic treatment occupies only a small amount of someone’s year, which leaves a great deal of time between appointments when an appropriate daily routine can support their skin. The more aesthetic and skin treatments I performed, the clearer it became that skincare wasn’t simply an optional addition to the work I was doing in clinic.
I repeatedly met people who were prepared to invest in treatment but felt confused about what to use at home. Some changed products frequently according to trends, while others had the right general idea but hadn’t received enough guidance to put it into practice.
A retinoid is a good example. Someone may be so cautious that they never develop a useful, tolerable routine, while someone else may begin too aggressively, experience avoidable irritation and stop using it altogether. Knowing the name of an ingredient isn’t the same as understanding how to introduce it, where it fits or what to do if your skin needs time to adjust.
Skincare often requires follow-up, adjustment and reassurance, which makes it more involved but also far more satisfying when someone develops a routine they understand and can maintain.
The Curatory origin
At some point, I realised that I was explaining the same principles repeatedly and had, without formalising it, developed a clinical decision-making framework. I was starting with the outcome, considering the person’s skin and existing routine, giving every step a purpose and recommending only what seemed to have a useful role.
I began writing this down in the Notes app on my phone. Initially, I thought it might become educational material that helped prospective patients understand how I approached skincare and treatment, but repeated conversations made me realise that the need extended well beyond my own patient group.
Most skincare retail is understandably organised around selling products. I wanted to create something that could sell good skincare while still being comfortable telling you when you didn’t need another product.
That idea became The Curatory, with a fairly straightforward mission: choose products that have a useful role, remove what you don’t need and build a routine that you can follow consistently.
Product selection
The first thing I consider is the company behind a product, and I then work through its formulation, how it performs in practice and whether its price is justified.
I tend to have more confidence when a brand demonstrates genuine formulation expertise, technical ownership and thoughtful product development, although I still assess each finished product individually.
I look at whether the product contains relevant ingredients with a credible evidence base and whether the finished formulation can reasonably support the claims being made for it.
Useful ingredients still need to be formulated and packaged in a way that keeps the product stable and practical throughout normal use.
I want to know how a product spreads, how it feels once it has settled, what sort of finish it leaves and whether it’s practical enough to use consistently.
My skin can’t represent everyone else’s, so I also seek feedback from people with different skin types and tones before deciding how widely I’m comfortable recommending something.
A product may be well formulated and pleasant to use, but if it’s prohibitively expensive for what it offers, it won’t necessarily make the cut.
This process has taught me not to make assumptions based on a brand’s reputation or ownership. A company can make an excellent pigmentation treatment and an unsuitable sunscreen, just as investment from a larger company can sometimes improve products rather than diminish them. Each product still has to justify its place.
Clinical education
Alongside my clinical practice, I’m Head of Clinical Training at Harley Academy, where I help develop and deliver education for medical professionals working in aesthetic medicine and cosmetic dermatology.
Aesthetic medicine doesn’t yet have the consistency of training found in more established areas of medicine, and parts of the field still rely on older theories, outdated teaching or education shaped too heavily by manufacturers. Being involved in training gives me the opportunity to promote a more current, evidence-led and patient-centred approach, including the teaching of anatomy, clinical decision-making and the management of complications.
Teaching and The Curatory come from much the same instinct. In both cases, I want to make the reasoning clearer, improve the standard of the decision and keep the person receiving care at the centre of it.
My approach
Patients often describe me as calm, thorough and honest. They value being listened to, having their options explained clearly and not feeling pressured into treatment, and that is how I want The Curatory to feel as well.
I don’t want it to become a retailer that treats more products as the answer to every problem. The selection will remain deliberately limited, and I’ll continue to explain what may help, what you can leave out and where the limitations lie.
Products may be added when they earn a place and removed when they no longer meet the standard. The exact selection will evolve, but the principles behind it will remain the same.
The Curatory provides general product and routine guidance, but it can’t diagnose a skin condition or replace individual medical care.
If you’re struggling with your skin, think you may need prescription treatment or want to discuss whether an in-clinic treatment is appropriate, the Contact page will help you send an enquiry or book online.