Best eye surgeons in the UK

SABRINA SHAH-DESAI

Shah-Desai has an infectious enthusiasm for life – and a desire to bring out the very best in her patients. (Even the jasmine-scented candles works is a Cambridge outpost, in her elegant consulting rooms are emblazoned with the mantra, ‘Be your own kind of beautiful.’) The periocular specialist excels in the most fiddly cases, from complex revisions to fixing up ‘festoons’ (surplus pockets of fluid or tissue, which gather below the orbital bone and exacerbate the appearance of fatigue). ‘I’m always looking at what others say is challenging and can’t be done,’ says the surgeon, who has been operating for 24 years, ‘but also at the innovations that will help us to achieve incredible results.’ Her extended lower-lid blepharoplasty swiftly excises unwanted fat, while her Endolift uses a laser as thin as a hair to deploy radiofrequency and tighten the tissues beautifully. And she’s also finessed other eye-opening techniques that subtly refresh without need of the knife. ‘Over time, the area above the eye – the upper sulcus – becomes hollow,’ she explains. ‘However, a small amount of filler, subtly placed, restores plumpness to the area, giving a lovely youthful effect.’ Just launched is her new under-eye-focused skincare range – which is clinically proven to reduce pigmentation – so don’t leave empty-handed.

RACHNA MURTHY, CAMBRIDGE

With her calm demeanour and unflappable nature, Murthy is a reassuring presence to those considering a cosmetic procedure. The consultant surgeon is a Royal Society of Medicine councillor – as well as a complications faculty member at the Allergan Medical Institute – and also operates in tandem with Professor Jonathan Roos, her Face Restoration co-founder. ‘Patients like to have two doctors, she says. It makes them feel looked after.’ Consultations take place from Lanserhof at the Arts Club on Dover Street – the pair have a non-surgical residency there, offering everything from holistic eye health to injectables – while surgery happens at the best-in-class One Welbeck hospital. (In the works is a Cambridge outpost, where Murthy will be leading.) Blepharoplasties are their bread-and-butter. Careful attention is always paid to the orbital septum – the thin sheet of muscle that covers the fat below the eye – perhaps strengthening it with tiny amounts of heat and cautery to smooth bulging eye bags. Just as critical, though, is the patient journey. Murthy’s aim is to make the experience so comfortable that it feels less like surgery. So they incorporate music and aromatherapy to enhance relaxation – and deliver the anaesthetic using super-fine Botox needles, to reduce bruising. ‘Everything we do is about minimising trauma at every step,’ she says. Her antiseptic Purifeyes mist is the perfect post-procedure tonic.