“I’ve been very lucky to be able to bring together a team of true experts here at Illuminate, all of whom have a real passion for achieving fantastic results for our patients”
Dr Sophie Shotter, MBChB BSc Hons
Dr Sophie set up Illuminate Skin Clinics to offer a holistic approach to improving people’s confidence and well-being through the provision of the best in aesthetic treatments, skin care and wellness.
Dr Sophie Shotter is a highly experienced, multi award-winning aesthetic doctor, with over a decade of medical experience and is regularly featured in the media as an expert voice in all things health and aesthetics. In 2023, Dr Sophie was delighted to be awarded Medical Practitioner of the Year at the prestigious Aesthetics Awards.
Having qualified from the University of Leeds with an MBChB in Medicine & Surgery, and aBSc (Hons) in Genetics in Relation to Medicine in 2008, she then spent six years working in the NHS, four of which were in anaesthetics and intensive care, before training as an aesthetic doctor and setting up her premium clinic in Kent. Dr Sophie has subsequently developed expertise in all areas of non-surgical facial rejuvenation and women’s health and has quickly become one of the UKs leading aesthetic doctors, having garnered renown as an expert aesthetics trainer, international speaker and commendable injector, as well as numerous awards for her business acumen.
Dr Sophie is registered with the General Medical Council (GMC), and is also on the British College of Aesthetic Medicine (BCAM) board of trustees to help raise standards in medical aesthetics, improve patient safety and regulations. In addition to her own clinical work, Dr Sophie is involved in training, lecturing, and setting standards for practising doctors within the aesthetics field.
Dr Sophie’s passion for safety has seen her take on many cases helping victims of botched procedures who cannot afford the necessary aftercare. Dr Sophie joined the talented Allergan Aesthetics Faculty in 2018, and is also on their Complications Board, helping them support injectors who have experienced treatment complications and to develop management protocols. Dr Sophie is also an international trainer and speaker for Allergan Aesthetics.
She supports several other leading brands in the aesthetic and skincare space, including Candela, Meder Beauty, Revision Skincare, Vichy, Dose & Co, SkinBetter Science and Neostrata as ambassador and media spokesperson, and is regularly invited to speak and host at industry events and conferences. She is a judge for the Aesthetic Awards, Woman & Home Clever Skincare Awards, Attracta Awards, and the Get the Gloss Beauty Awards.
Dr Sophie is passionate about achieving natural, balanced results with injectables and energy-based treatments, supported with medical-grade skincare and good in clinic skin treatments, such as chemical peels and HydraFacial. She takes a holistic approach to ageing and wellness and has a special interest in women’s health, particularly, the power of combining aesthetic treatments with hormone optimisation to support wellbeing from the inside-out. Dr Sophie trained in Bio-identical Hormone Therapy (BHRT) in the USA and passionately believes that balancing hormones is key to wellbeing and vitality as we age.
Dr Sophie is continuously building her treatment toolkit and has sought some of the very best medical products and technologies in the industry that are safe, effective and clinically proven to deliver results. She strongly advocates an effective, at-home skincare regime as the basis of any treatment journey and is regularly researching the best products on the market to offer her patients.
Her motto is that “Good work should be invisible. People should think you look beautiful, not that you’ve had any help.” And so, Dr Sophie will often treat her patients with multiple solutions, personally tailored to their aesthetic requirements and desires, to achieve an impactful, yet beautifully natural outcome. She will study your features to see how everything moves together, and then suggest a comprehensive plan of subtle strategies to help.
Dr Shotter practises from her own multi-award-winning medical aesthetic clinic in Kent and 10 Harley Street, London where she offers a broad portfolio of treatments including advanced fillers and Botox, HArmonyCa (a novel hybrid injectable), Profhilo, Nucleofill, Sofwave, Belkyra, hyperhidrosis treatment, Profound RF, Bio-identical Hormone Therapy (BHRT), and skin health consultations. Her aim is to help her patients look and feel the very best version of themselves.
Her teams in both Kent and London have been ‘handpicked’ and personally developed by Dr Sophie to deliver a selection of the very best holistic services that blend aesthetics with wellness, teamed with unrivalled expert care.
As an internationally renowned expert in her field, Dr Sophie regularly appears in the media. She has been featured in the likes of The Times, Telegraph, Evening Standard, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Allure, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Tatler, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Grazia, PORTER, Glamour, Women’s Health, Red and many other publications.
She has received many accolades and awards in acknowledgement of her outstanding achievement and leadership including:
- Tatler ‘Top Injector’ (2020, 2021, 2022)
- Harper’s Bazaar ‘Top Injector’ 2020
- Best for Botox in Vogue (2021)
- Best for Lips in Country & Townhouse (2021)
- Best Face Sculptor in Sunday Times Style (2021)
- Highly Commended – Medical Practitioner of the Year 2021
- Best Clinic, South England for Illuminate Skin & Wellness Clinic 2019
- Businesswoman of the Year at Kent Women in Business 2017
- Growth Award at Independent Business Awards Kent 2017