Skin Deep with Cosmedic Lab
One local cosmetic nurse is on a mission to fix the industry – and our faces, as Deb Caruso discovers.
The top end of Thomas Street Noosaville is fast becoming a style hub with world-class leaders in food, fashion and beauty. From the relocation of Eliza’s Boutique after 25 years on Hastings Street to the fresh flavours of Lánai Noosa, a modern Australian seafood restaurant with a sexy fitout, slick service and divine morsels.
Nestled between the two is Bianca Dyda’s Cosmedic Lab with its refined, minimalistic aesthetic that is both welcoming and warm – just like Bianca, who opened the space in February.
Bianca spent thirteen years as a clinical nurse, including 10 years in Adelaide’s major metropolitan hospital.
“I was losing my spark so was looking for a change,” she said. “I’ve always loved aesthetics and at one stage wanted to be an interior designer so I thought that cosmetic injectables was a good way to combine my artistic side with my nursing experience.
“It’s a very hard industry to get into but I was lucky to work for a clinic in that invested in support and training.”
Bianca sees her nursing background as an essential element to her role as a cosmetic nurse despite it not starting out as her intention.
“I have been working as a cosmetic specialist for over seven years, including three years as an educator and trainer,” she said. “I believe that my years of clinical experience bring confidence and trust to my patients that they’re in safe, professional hands.”
The cosmetic nurse is at the top of her field, a clinical educator for Swiss brand Teoxane and passionate about educating new cosmetic injectors to have safe clinical practices.
“Nowadays, people are studying nursing just to break into the cosmetic industry which I’m not a big fan of,” she said. “I think it’s important to have that education however I think you shouldn’t discount the importance of working in a clinical environment. You need to know how to treat clients acutely; how to read body language as an indicator of underlying health issues and to develop a strong bedside manner.
“When I’ve been training, you can tell who has had hospital experience and the people I mentor and train must have at least two years hands-on nursing experience. It’s important to give the industry a better name and separate out the professionals from the cowboys who want to take advantage of people.
“It’s all about credentials, training and relevant experience as well as the right motivation. While it is more glamorous than traditional nursing, you still have a lot of responsibility so you shouldn’t be doing it to make money.
“You’re working with people’s faces so you want to do your best for the client.”
Tired of working for companies that didn’t have a patient-first approach, Bianca opened Cosmedic Lab.
“It’s important to develop a real connection with your clients for them to trust you because if you don’t build that relationship you can’t deliver the best results,” she said. “I’d always been passionate about what I wanted to do and I knew I could do it better and when the site became available on Thomas Street I grabbed it.”
“I am not a new injector and years of clinical experience and exposure are reflected in my treatment prices – and happy clients.”
Since opening Bianca has built a strong following for providing a holistic approach that is both professional and personalised.
“When clients come in for a consultation, it’s quite extensive and I look at the overall skin health because you can’t do one without the other,” she said. “There’s no point investing in injectables if you aren’t going to look after your skin by using sunscreen, cleansing and moisturising properly.
“People need to be educated about both, particularly if you are new to it.”
Bianca said the best results were when it looks like you haven’t had any work.
“I’m a true advocate of enhancing people’s natural features and being very natural and soft so that it enhances their own beautiful features rather than making them look like everyone else.
“Social media has a lot to answer for as it’s creating clones and people are striving for this perceived perfection that they’re losing their individuality.
“I like to point out to clients what their best features are and uncover what they like about themselves because these are the things we don’t want to change.”
There are a range of solutions on offer from anti-wrinkle injectables (botox) to dermal fillers, PDO Mono threads or Platelet Rich Plasma where your own stem cells are harnessed and injected back into trouble areas to amplify the natural growth factors your body uses to heal tissues and accelerate collagen and elastin production. Amazing.
“My most popular service would probably be Botox And then kind of mid-face rejuvenation with dermal fillers. That’s what I love to do what I specialise in,” she said.
“It’s baby steps. If you’ve never done anything before, we’d start with softening a few lines so you still have movement and expression; you don’t need to be completely frozen,” Bianca says. “I like to leave a bit of expression to show people you don’t have to be completely frozen and expressionless.
“We can start gently and build on it.”
Bianca’s clientele are usually women, aged 35-plus so she works through the ageing process with them.
“I’ll talk about how the face ages, the aspects of that, facial changes you can expect to happen and then go from there to look at solutions such as dermal filler, if that’s a path they want to go down,” she said. “There is also a great range of skin treatments for beautiful glowy skin or plasma treatments are popular to help with collagen and elastin production.”
“Every treatment is tailored to a client’s specific needs and if you stop the treatments, you just go back to the way you were before.
“A lot of people see the benefits in our treatments as a preventative course of action to slow the ageing process and to avoid making any lines deeper.”
There are different modalities for different reasons, different things.
Bianca’s expertise is in injectables but as she is dealing with people’s skin, she believes it is important to know and understand skin health better so that’s where Dermal Therapist Deb comes in.
“She has been a dermal therapist on the coast for 26 years so comes with a wealth of knowledge and I’m always learning from her,” Bianca said.
To assist with overall skin and gut health Bianca stocks the Synergie Skin Clean Science skincare range, which is a pharmaceutical-grade range for skincare; as well as Imbibe Living collagen supplements and Beauty Renewal probiotic concentrate.
“I truly love what I do and I wanted to make Cosmedic Lab a luxurious clinic where clients feel listened to and not pressured to have treatments,” Bianca said. “I will always offer my professional advice and not be scared to decline clients if I feel the treatments they want are unnecessary or unnatural.
“Let’s face it, it’s important for the clients and the industry overall.”
COSMEDIC LAB OFFERS
- anti-wrinkle injections
- hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating)
- lip fillers
- dermal fillers
- skin boosters
- PRP
- PRP with skin needling (vampire facial)
- skin needling
- collagen rebuild
- bio stimulating/remodeling
- PDO mono threads
- Mechanical threads (coming soon)
- dermal peels
- medi facials
