Last month i wrote about the ellipse intense Pulse light treatment, offered at loved in Bramhall, for removing and reducing freckles and sun spots anywhere on the body and face. now i’ve had a treatment, and am very excited to tell you… it worked!
Wholly in the interests of proper scientifc testing (not at all because I’m a ginormous chicken) I decided to do my right arm frst, then follow up with the left arm if it worked and didn’t do awful things to me… like hurt.
After settling me into the treatment bed and taking me through the science behind it Helen had a quick check of my arm to make sure there were no unusual looking moles there. She then handed me a pair of goggles and placed the hand piece against my skin.
There was a bright fash and a sting, like an elastic band, against the skin that lasted a split second. Phew – perfectly manageable! Helen carefully zapped my entire right arm, across the top and a little way down the sides, where the freckles and sun damage were most apparent.
The sensation of heat grew as the treatment progressed. As Helen had explained, this was due to the heating of the pigment cells under the skin. The light targets the pigment and heats it up, till it effectively bursts the cell. It then rises to the surface during the natural process of skin rejuvenation and fakes away.
The treatment made it horribly apparent that there were considerable levels of sun damage that I hadn’t been aware of, as teeny tiny freckles suddenly darkened and became visible. The amount of pigment within the upper epidermis meant that quite some considerable heat built up, and indeed for a couple of days it looked, and I felt, like I’d given myself a bad attack of sunburn!
After 48 hours the tenderness eased off, and the rosy glow faded. The freckles had however turned very dark and begun their progress to the surface. Long sleeves were the order of the day – especially as only the one arm looked so odd!
This is just one reason however that this should be a programme restricted to the darker months. After sensitising the skin in this way, you really don’t want to expose it to the sun for at least three weeks.
Three weeks later I popped back to Bramhall for a microdermabrasion, where Helen carefully exfoliated the skin to lift away the last of the dead cells and faky freckles. As we chatted away I watched as my 20 year old’s arm reappeared from the past. Even more exciting, the two ‘age spots’ from the back of my hand are gone!
Just four weeks after my single treatment my skin looks amazing. Not only have all the freckles, large and small, disappeared, but the skin is soft and fresh. Helen has advised that a second or third treatment would work to rejuvenate the skin further – which is certainly worth considering in relation to the décolletage!
For now however I have another priority – I need to get my left arm matching my right! An appointment is booked, the aloe vera in the fridge and I’m already looking forward to baring my new and youthful looking skin next spring.
