#IAMME

Consultant editor Vicky Eldridge speaks to Dr Vincent Wong about the #IAMME Living Foundation and its work to support the LGBTQ+ community

Dr Vincent Wong has long been an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community within aesthetics. In 2018, he started a campaign, #IAMME. Since then, he has gone on to speak at conferences and write for numerous publications on the topic and has become the go-to expert, particularly when it comes to providing non-surgical treatments for trans patients.

In September 2022, he set up a new non-profit foundation – the #IAMME Living Foundation – to promote the needs of LGBTQ+ patients from both an aesthetic and well-being perspective.

The foundation aims to raise awareness of the challenges the community faces, including discrimination, bullying and body and gender dysphoria, as well as to support the community holistically with gut health, mental health and non-surgical facial aesthetics.

Here our consultant editor Vicky Eldridge speaks to him about why he set up the foundation and the important work the charity is undertaking.

AM: What inspired you to set up the #IAMME Living Foundation?

Dr Vincent Wong: It originally started as a campaign back in 2018. As a member of the community, I’ve been involved with Pride celebrations for many years. Through those experiences, I spoke to people and told them what I do. I discovered that a lot of people within the community wanted something done to match their outer appearance to how they felt on the inside but needed to know what treatment options were available or who to go to. This was especially true within the trans community.

So the initial mission was to create awareness and educate people about what’s available. That surgery is a good option, but it’s not necessarily the only option, and it need not necessarily be the first step forward. It was also to create conversations surrounding gender fluidity and appearance. So I do a lot of interviews with drag queens, members of the community, influencers, and things like that. (You can watch these on the #IAMME Instagram page @iamme_living).

AM: Can you tell us a bit more about what the transition process involves?

VW: A lot of people who are either not in the community or who are not trans would think that it’s a short journey, but it’s actually a very long process. For many people, it’s a lifetime journey. It’s not just something that you do within a few months or a year, and then, boom, you’re done.

It all starts with identifying how you feel on the inside; how you identify yourself. Many people will go through counselling at this stage because many have either gender or body dysphoria, which is a huge mental health issue. Imagine if you identify as a woman or man and look in the mirror, and it’s the complete opposite. It has a huge impact on your mood, your mental health, and your ability to function on a day-to-day basis.

So a lot of trans members of the community would have gender identity clinic appointments, as well as speaking to their GPs and other healthcare professionals.

Once they have identified and are 100% sure that they want to transition, they would generally start with hormone replacement therapy. And that’s when aesthetics really comes in.

AM: Tell us more about how aesthetic treatments can be utilised.

VW: Non-surgical treatments are a good way to see whether someone likes the look because most of these treatments are either reversible or temporary.

If someone is starting their journey and has just started hormone therapy, we obviously don’t want to change their face too much. We will be going for a subtle, softer look so that they can start to feel a little bit more into the preferred identity that they want.

Then, as the hormone treatment goes on and the soft tissue changes, we go for the final look, whether it’s masculinisation, feminisation or both.

It has to be very, very personalised to that individual. We always talk about the “ideal male face” or the “ideal female face”, but gender is a spectrum. So it’s just what looks good on the individual, what the individual prefers.

I have quite high cheekbones, and that’s a look I personally prefer. But I remember when I first started in the industry, I would go to colleagues, and I’d be like, “Oh, I would love a little bit of filler in my cheeks”, and they’d say, “ I’m not comfortable doing that because it will feminise your face.” As if that was a negative thing. Or, “It’s not the normal thing we do.” I was just like, “Define normal.”

There’s no real definition of a masculine or feminine face in this day and age. A classic example would be drag queens. When they’re working and performing, they need to look feminine. But in their day-to-day life, they want to look like a man. The key is to create the structure so you can play around with makeup more. So when they’re on stage, they apply makeup in a certain way, enhancing their features. But then, when they wash off their makeup, they look more manly.

To achieve that, it’s about anatomy and knowing the correct features and how to do it, and also removing any judgment from the clinician’s perspective.

But that’s what makes it so interesting. It elevates what aesthetic medicine can do. It’s beyond looking younger; it is actually helping someone, from a mental health point of view, and also matching how they identify to how they look. Which I think is a great thing.

AM: What would you like to see happen in the future to serve the community better?

VW: In an ideal world, I would love to see all clinics being able to cater to the LGBTQ+ community. Obviously, within the community, we have a wide diversity. We have people of all different backgrounds, all different looks, and it would be amazing to see a day when any member can go to any clinic and achieve the look that they want and be supported, in the wider sense, with referrals to a mental health specialist or whatever help that individual needs. That is the dream.

There’s a lot of unnecessary stress for members of the community and also unnecessary challenges that we face that people who are outside the community may not fully understand. So it would be good to see that level of acceptance and inclusivity.

This is why the foundation is launching training courses. I’m also doing a talk for University College Birmingham on communication skills, how to speak to members of the LGBTQ+ community, and knowing the differences between pronouns, gender, sex, and sexuality.

We are also starting a collaboration with various charities, where we can refer people who need help but may not necessarily be able to afford it. Then we can provide the service for free.

We are slowly building a community of healthcare professionals who are willing to either donate a day a month to perform these treatments for the patients, and we are getting fantastic support from Allergan, Teoxane, Galderma, and ReLIFE in terms of providing products so that we can actually carry out the treatments.

I’m also writing a textbook on gender fluidity in aesthetics medicine with CRC Press which is due out, depending on how quickly I work, at some point next year.