Newport skin clinic expands after taking on new staff

Elite Skin Studio on Newport High Street has seen a welcome resurgence in demand for treatments from clients new and old wanting to restore the appearance of their skin.

Despite being forced to close in March last year, mother and daughter pairing Anne and Fliss Ashton, who operate the business, have been able to welcome two new members of staff to their team adding valuable additional skills and experience following a £70,000 expansion and renovation and expansion during lockdown.

The studio has been back up and running since April – joining the team are aesthetic practitioner Julie Newton who lives in Market Drayton and skin therapist Niki Gittins from Lilleshall.

Studio director Fliss said she was thrilled to welcome the new staff to the team.

"It's been a difficult time for everyone, but we are delighted to finally be back open and with our two new team members on board.

"These ladies bring a considerable range of complementary skills to the business, and we know our customers are already really pleased with the results they are delivering," she said.

Julie Newton also works as a nurse at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford joined the business when it reopened on April 12.

Julie's background is in elective orthopaedics although she has been very much more hands on during lockdown working in intensive care by virtue of her critical care experience.

"Over the past 15 months I have worked in a variety of roles , vaccinations, swabbing – everywhere really. My usual role will hopefully be restarting shortly," she said.

Julie, who herself suffers with a skin condition, says there is a lot of help there for people but it's very often a question of finding the best solution.

"For me, it's about accessing help early. A lot of the time it's about treating from the inside out, so working out firstly if there's something going on within your body that is having an effect on your skin is vital.

"This is where professional advice is so important – the understanding and experience from the likes of Elite Skin Studio help you address your problems and help you treat your issues early on, which in turn will hopefully help prevent really damaging confidence issues."

For Niki, working at Elite Skin Studio came as a complete career change. She was previously a flight service manager for one of the larger airlines but decided to re-train in advanced skin care treatments when faced with redundancy.

Niki said: "I had been flying for 20 years which I loved but suddenly the future was not looking good.

"When I met up with Anne and Fliss it was a case of right place right time – for once. I have been made to feel so welcome as part of the "team" from day one she said.

"It's been so nice to mix with people again and it is a really lovely environment here. I've always worked with the public on the customer service side so for me I feel like a duck to water."