Written by Dr. Kamen Ng & Dr. Daniel Chong. Last reviewed 2026-08-06. 8 min read
Why sequence matters more than technique
Dr. Kamen Ng: The most common reason a patient is unhappy after aesthetic treatment following weight loss is not that the treatment was done badly. It is that it was done at the wrong time.
Dr. Daniel Chong: And the most common reason someone loses more lean tissue than they should is not the medication. It is that nobody was measuring what the loss was made of while it was still happening.
Both problems are problems of order, not of skill. What follows is the order we use.
Phase one
Before the first injection
If we see you here, this is where most of the value is available. It is also the phase almost nobody uses, because very few people think about their face before they think about their weight.
On the metabolic side: baseline body composition, relevant bloods including ferritin, and a conversation about protein and resistance training that will matter more than anything done later. Titration pace discussed rather than assumed.
On the aesthetic side: standardised facial photography. In eight months there is then an objective record rather than a memory and a phone gallery, and patients are routinely wrong about what has changed.
This phase costs an hour and changes what is available to you a year from now.
Phase two
During active loss
Metabolic work only. No aesthetic treatment.
Body composition retested at intervals, so the split between fat and lean is visible while it can still be changed. Protein and training reviewed rather than assumed. Titration adjusted with the prescribing doctor where the rate of lean loss warrants it.
If the face is changing quickly, that is information about what is happening underneath, and the response belongs on the metabolic side rather than the cosmetic one. Treating it here means paying twice and looking overfilled in between.
This is the phase where patients most want us to intervene and where declining does them the most good.
Phase three
Stabilisation
Weight steady for around three months.
We compare current imaging against the phase-one baseline. This usually reframes the conversation, because what patients believe they have lost and what they have actually lost are frequently different. In the temples and deep cheek it is often worse than they realise, while the jawline is often better.
Skin is assessed properly here too: how much of what looks like laxity is genuine and how much was simply loss still in progress. Twelve months of retraction has often not finished, and some of what is visible at three months will improve without treatment.
Phase four
Restoration
Only now, and in a specific order.
Structure before volume. Collagen stimulation to rebuild support over months, rather than large filler volumes to replace what deflated. A rebuilt scaffold ages better than a filled hollow, and it costs less to maintain.
Skin quality treated as its own problem. Laxity and texture do not respond to volume, and treating them as though they do is a common and expensive error.
Filler last, deliberately and conservatively, where structure alone cannot restore contour.
And where the honest answer is that something sits above the ceiling of non-surgical treatment, that is said here rather than after a course of treatment that was never going to reach it.
If you are already partway through
Most patients are, and it is not a problem.
Someone six months into a GLP-1 course can still start at phase two. Someone who finished losing weight a year ago starts at phase three. The sequence describes the ideal, not an entry requirement, and there is useful work to do from wherever you are.
What we would not do is skip to phase four while phase two is still running, which is the one shortcut that reliably disappoints.
Why this needs both practices
Dr. Daniel Chong: A clinic that only prescribes cannot influence the outcome my colleague is later asked to correct. The decisions that determine how a face and body come through this are made in phase one and two, months before anyone sees an aesthetic doctor.
Dr. Kamen Ng: And a clinic that only treats skin arrives after those decisions are made, with a narrower set of options and a more expensive job.
Running both under one roof is not a marketing arrangement. It is the only structure in which the prevention half actually happens.
Where to start
If you have not begun a GLP-1 yet, book the baseline. It is the cheapest hour in this entire process and the one with the highest return.
If you are already underway, the assessment tells you which phase you are in and what is worth doing now rather than later. Frequently the answer is to wait, and we will say so.
Further reading on the specifics: what happens to the face, loose skin and where the ceiling sits, and why hair sheds at three months.
Frequently asked questions
No. Most patients arrive partway through, usually several months into weight loss or after it has finished, and there is useful work to do from wherever you start. The phases describe the ideal sequence, not an entry requirement.
Because volume placed into a face or body that is still changing will sit wrong once the change continues. That means adjusting it, then adjusting it again, which is how the recognisably overfilled look develops and how patients end up paying twice.
As long as active weight loss takes, which varies widely. What matters is that it ends with weight stable for around three months before restoration begins, not that it lasts a set number of weeks.
Yes. Baseline body composition, bloods including ferritin, standardised photography and a protein and training plan are useful regardless of who is prescribing. We would coordinate with your prescribing doctor rather than duplicate them.
Each component is priced separately and published on our pricing page. There is no bundled protocol price, because the phases are not a package and some patients need only part of it.
The sequence applies to any substantial weight loss, medication or not. Rapid loss through diet and exercise produces the same facial and skin changes, and the same prevention applies.
This article is general educational information and is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or an offer of treatment. GLP-1 receptor agonists are prescription medicines, indicated and prescribed by a registered medical practitioner following individual assessment. Devices referred to are registered with the Medical Device Authority and administered only by registered practitioners. Suitability and outcomes vary between individuals and no result can be guaranteed.