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Types of Retinoids Explained: Retinol, Retinal and Tretinoin
Ask ten people what a retinoid is and you'll get ten different answers. Anti ageing miracle. Purging nightmare. Something a dermatologist mentioned once that never got followed up on. The truth sits somewhere more useful than the marketing, and it starts with understanding that "retinoid" is a family of ingredients, not a single one. This guide walks through what retinoids actually are, how retinol, retinal and retinoic acid relate to each other, and how to introduce one with
Dr Victoria Manning
3 days ago5 min read
Sculptra, Ellansé or Juläine: which collagen stimulator is right for you?
If you have been researching collagen stimulating treatments, you have probably come across all three of these names and wondered what actually separates them. It is a fair question. All three work with your body rather than against it, and all three sit within what I call the Regenerate edit: treatments that rebuild rather than simply fill. But they are not interchangeable, and the right choice depends entirely on what your skin needs. Here is how I think about the differenc
Dr Victoria Manning
2 days ago5 min read
Types of Retinoids Explained: Retinol, Retinal and Tretinoin
Ask ten people what a retinoid is and you'll get ten different answers. Anti ageing miracle. Purging nightmare. Something a dermatologist mentioned once that never got followed up on. The truth sits somewhere more useful than the marketing, and it starts with understanding that "retinoid" is a family of ingredients, not a single one. This guide walks through what retinoids actually are, how retinol, retinal and retinoic acid relate to each other, and how to introduce one with
Dr Victoria Manning
3 days ago5 min read
Why Every Neck Ages Differently and Why No Single Treatment Fixes It
by Dr Vix Manning Nora Ephron put it better than most of us ever will. "Oh, the necks," she wrote. "There are chicken necks. There are turkey gobbler necks. There are elephant necks. There are necks with wattles and necks with creases... Our faces are lies and our necks are the truth." "Our faces are lies and our necks are the truth. You have to cut open a redwood tree to see how old it is, but you wouldn't have to if it had a neck." — Nora Ephron, I Feel Bad About My Neck
Dr Victoria Manning
Aug 175 min read
JULÄINE: The Injectable That Teaches Your Skin to Rebuild Itself
If you've spent any time in aesthetics recently, you'll have noticed a shift. We're moving away from adding volume with fillers and towards something far more interesting: teaching your own skin to rebuild itself. JULÄINE is at the sharp end of that shift, and it's one of the treatments I get asked about most in clinic. What Actually Is JULÄINE? JULÄINE is a next generation PLLA (poly-L-lactic acid) collagen biostimulator, developed by Nordberg Medical in Sweden. It's injecte
Dr Victoria Manning
Aug 105 min read
Are You Seeking Answers? Or Ready to Ask Better Questions?
A reader's question reveals the real divide in how we approach health. A reader of Busting the Code to Ageing emailed me last week. She wanted to know whether people who engage with the book tend to focus on the practical interventions, the testing strategies, the supplementation protocols or whether they engage with the broader argument: that health should be understood proactively, not reactively. It's a sharper distinction than it might first appear, and she was right to d
Dr Victoria Manning
Jun 92 min read
Why I Started Taking Saffron Every Day (And What Happened When I Did)
As a longevity doctor I spend my days looking at blood results, cellular markers, and the slow, silent creep of inflammaging. My world is built on biomarkers, mechanisms, and measurable outcomes. So when I started taking a saffron supplement, I did not do it because it sounded nice. I did it because the clinical data was compelling and I wanted to know, in my own physiology, whether it worked. Let me explain why I was looking in the first place. Like many people running a bus
Dr Victoria Manning
May 113 min read
The Root Cause Reset: Why Your Gut Health is the Secret to Ageing Well
The Root Cause Reset: Why Your Gut Health is the Secret to Ageing Well Discover how gut health impacts inflammation, skin, and ageing. Dr Victoria Manning explains the gut microbiome, leaky gut, and how to restore balance. The Root Cause Reset: Why Your Gut Health is the Secret to Ageing Well If you have been struggling with fatigue, skin breakouts, brain fog, or stubborn weight, you might be looking for answers in the wrong places. For years, we have treated symptoms. We p
Dr Victoria Manning
Mar 203 min read
Why Your Bedroom Light is Stealing 50% of Your Melatonin (And How to Fix It)
Does your bedroom have a glowing alarm clock, a streetlamp shining through the curtains, or a standby light on the TV? If you can see your hand in front of your face at night, your bedroom isn't dark enough—and it is actively suppressing your body's ability to repair itself. When was the last time you could honestly say you had a truly good night's sleep? A night where you didn't lie there staring at the ceiling, and actually woke up feeling refreshed? If that sounds like a r
Dr Victoria Manning
Mar 193 min read
The Uninvited Guests
Forget The Walking Dead- the most persistant zombie apocalypse is happening inside your body right now. In the world of longevity science, there’s a group of cells that are quietly undermining your health, recovery, and how you age. They don’t send out a dramatic announcement or cause sudden symptoms. Instead, they linger, creating the perfect biological environment for inflammation, dysfunction, and accelerated ageing to thrive. Scientists call them senescent cells. Most of
Dr Victoria Manning
Mar 13 min read
Sugar Sag: Are You Accidentally Caramelising Your Skin?
We're all familiar with the usual suspects when it comes to skin ageing: sun exposure, smoking, stress. But what if one of the most significant — yet least-discussed — drivers of ageing is happening right on your dinner plate? It's a process called glycation, and it's essentially caramelising your skin from the inside out. As an aesthetic and longevity doctor with over two decades of clinical experience, I've seen firsthand how profoundly lifestyle impacts the way we age. And
Dr Victoria Manning
Feb 254 min read
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