FORMER Miss Cork and wife of celebrity personal trainer Karl Henry, Dr Jean Kenny is opening a new botox clinic in her home town of Clonakilty.
Jean, who moved from Dublin to West Cork with Karl and their two kids two years ago is launching a medical aesthetic clinic offering clients the wrinkle-smoothening treatment.
Jean said she was motivated to set up her clinic having seen the recent RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme that exposed individuals injecting botox products illegally. ‘I’ve always been interested in the aesthetic industry, and I had this business idea in the back of my mind for a while but there was just so much going on with moving, that there wasn’t a chance to explore it until now. The time feels right,’ she said. She underwent extensive training at the Harley Street Institute in London. ‘It was the most intensive course I’ve ever done – it was phenomenal.’
However, she said she would be ‘conservative’ in her approach to administering botox, which she said should be more about enhancing someone’s natural beauty, rather than over-treating skin. ‘Skin regeneration continues until we are in our late 20s so while you can do preventative botox, there shouldn’t be a need for it from too young an age,’ said Jean.
Karl, among other things, is known for being the trainer on RTÉ’s Operation Transformation and Jean is no stranger to TV herself having appeared on Virgin Media’s Clinic for Well People. The series invites people with no underlying symptoms to come for a full medical check and in some instances, previously undiagnosed health conditions were discovered. Filming for the second series, again featuring Jean, has recently ended.
Despite admitting to having frown lines, Jean said she hasn’t ever had botox herself, despite the treatment becoming far more mainstream these days. ‘That’s just because I haven’t had the time,’ said Jean who works as a GP, and will continue in that role. Her clinic will be based at Rossa Street in Clonakilty, where Sherna Malone, skin specialist and Olive O’Sullivan, Browtique are also based.
