New aesthetics clinic owner in Derbyshire shares scary experiences from past military career as RAF aeromedical evacuation nurse in Iraq War

Jesse Sowerby’s new business includes treatments for scars, acne, fine lines, wrinkles and rosacea.

She will officially open JS Aesthetics clinic at The 1924, Campbell Street, Belper on June 5 at 6pm. The launch party will include a DermaPen microneedling demonstration, goodie bags, cupcakes and fizz.

Twenty years ago Jesse joined the RAF at the age of 18 and trained as an aeromedical evacuation nurse which included service during the Iraq War. She said: "I would either be in Iraq moving injured troops into the back of an aircraft and nursing them or stationed in hospitals in the UK or on call doing aeromed to safe places such as The Falkland Islands, Germany, Cyprus – anything you wouldn’t need a weapon for.”

Nursing casualties in Iraq was fraught with danger. Jesse said: "I think the first time I ever had a rocket attack was probably the worst day. You're hearing these thuds and praying that wherever it drops is not within 100m to 300m of where you are....100metres is a blast that will kill, 300 metres will cause shrapnel to maim.We were taught to lie flat on the ground because a blast radius is a V wave which goes up and out, so the lower you are to the ground, the safer you are. There were terrible cases of injuries where people hadn't hit the ground and had tried to run for cover and not made it in time.

"Another scary time was when I was coming back from Baghdad to Basra in the back of a Hercules aircraft and then all of a sudden everything was going everywhere – it was like a tornado. A screw had come loose in one of the doors and the aircraft had depressurised inside of the cabin so the pilot had to quickly drop it to get to a level whereby we could breathe. To fly low in a Hercules, a big plane which is very identifiable, is a major risk because they'd want to shoot us down. All our flares were going off and we were told to get ready in case we had to land which was very scary."

Jesse wore heavy armour and carried a weighty load of medical equipment in searing heat. She said: "When I was out in Iraq it was mid 50 deg C and you'd have your t-shirt, your combats over the top, all your body armour which was two stone of Kevlar plates across the chest, webbing on top of that, a machine on your front for taking ECGs and blood pressure and a defib machine over the top, and a huge bag on your back in which there would be everything from paracetamol to an airway. Then I'd have my helmet and my rifle. For some moves, I'd have to have an oxygen canister. We'd have to run on and off the aircraft, it was hot and very physically demanding."

A night's sleep wasn't the most comfortable. either. Beds that were nicknamed coffins were made of breeze blocks built to chest height, thick Kevlar to protect from shrapnel and multiple sandbags.

Jesse left the RAF after eight years’ service. She said: "There are only so many close calls you can have before you start to think get out before it starts to get to you. I just thought that I'd rather leave when I've got two arms, two legs, full vision. My husband Daniel was in the Royal Navy and between the two of us going away all the time we weren't always seeing each other.”

Daniel and Jesse gave up their military careers within a year of each other and lived in Bath where Daniel was from. Eighteen months later they moved to Linby in Nottinghamshire when Daniel was offered a job at Rolls-Royce in nearby Hucknall.

Jesse, who is originally from South Wales, said: “As an aeromed nurse, you're trained in multiple fields. I did a bit of time working as an agency nurse so I was working in different hospitals and wards such as orthopaedic, cardiac, vascular, and everywhere from Bath in Somerset to Derby, Nottingham and Leicester.

"The military taught me the true meaning of a bad day at work. Sometimes in the NHS I'd be working shifts and I'd think I'm having a bad day and I'd think no you're not - no one is shooting at you, you're going to to go home in one piece with two arms and two legs, your life is at not risk.”

Jesse's keen interest in dermatology secured her a job in a treatment clinic at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. She said: “When I was in dermatology I did multiple different roles but my favourite was nurse-led scar clinics where I would be injecting people's scars. I liked seeing the effect, minimising the scars, the confidence boosting, the difference it made - I felt that the aesthetics side was something I could really enjoy. She said: “When I was in dermatology I did multiple different roles but my favourite was nurse-led scar cinics where I would be injecting people's scars. I liked seeing the effect, minimising the scars, the confidence boosting, the difference it made - I was really enjoying it and felt that the aesthetics side was something I could really enjoy.

"I'd been looking at aesthetics from a distance for a long while and been interested but it's taking that leap to start your own business, be brave and open a clinic. I did all my aesthetics training last year, looked around for a building and found Belper which I love. The 1924 old shopping arcade was set up for small independent artists or businesses and felt just right.

"I wanted a boutique feel to the clinic, offering individualised personal one to ones. I wanted it to be where someone can come in, have a glass of non-alcoholic fizz because you can't drink alcohol with the treatments and talk people through what their skin concerns are, what their goals are, formulate treatment plans and give that really personalised feel to it.

"People think aesthetics are filler and Botox but there is so much more. A popular treatment that I offer is polynucleotides in which fragments of DNA are injected into the dermis layer of the skin that signals to the fibroblast cells to create more collagen and elastin so it's basically helping people's skin to repair itself.

"Another thing which offers a similar effect is microneedling using a DermaPen. The device creates 1,920 needle pricks a second in the skin; by doing this it stimulates the fibroblast cells to create more collagen and elastin.

"I do skin boosters where I inject hylauronic acid into the skin. It's like an injectable mosturiser, it draws one thousand times its weight in water so helps skin look plump and glowy.

"I offer lumi eye treatment which minimises dark shadows, fine lines and wrinkles around the eye.

"I also offer different types of chemical peels.

"There is also Platelet-Rich Plasma (PLP) where I'll take the patient's blood, spin it in a centrifuge so the red blood cells separate from the plasma and platelets then I’ll draw the platelet-rich plasma into a syringe and inject into a person's face or scar and that helps the body repair itself.”

Jesse said of her new clinic: "I love that positivity, that I'm making people feel better about themselves and more confident. Not that nursing in the military wasn't positive because we were helping people. But in a war zone you're seeing the worst case scenarios, you’re almost seeing the worst in human nature.

"Being a business owner, the military has put me in a good footing because of the self-discipline and other aspects that I have carried over to my everyday life.”

For further details on JS Aesthetics, go to www.jsaestheticsbelper.co.uk