It’s a
suitably discreet location, a house in Harley Street, with the clinic situated
in the basement - nothing swish or glitzy. This
is serious business.
Lasercare run 12 branches of their clinics, in various parts of the UK. They work with the NHS to treat a wide range of
skin conditions and they also treat privately, employing highly qualified dermatologists
and other experts. As their name suggests,
they use laser therapy for many skin problems
- birthmarks, thread veins, hair and tattoo removal, scarring, even psoriasis, and many
more things you’d never think of (unless you were suffering from them, of course).
They also provide skin rejuvenation treatments and cosmetic surgery.
I decided to pay them a visit and present them with my personal set of lines
and wrinkles. What could you do for me? I
asked, pointing to the deepening lines around my mouth, not to mention a gently sagging
jawline.
Jane Lewis of Lasercare Clinics surveyed me with a critical and practised
eye.
‘A neck lift perhaps?’
Yes, I was expecting that one. Usually it is incorporated into a face lift and is
likely to involve a general anaesthetic. It
won’t remove vertical lines on the upper lip (I’ve got some of those) or
eradicate those deep lines that like to accumulate between nose and cheeks.
‘It is possible to predict results of a face-lift by lying on the floor
and allowing gravity to alter the geography of the face’, says the brochure. And very nice too, I thought when I tried it - good
cheekbones, nicely defined chin, definitely superior geographically.
Cost is £3,500, plus bruising and 2-3 weeks recovery time.
Pass, I said. ‘Anything less -
er - radical?’ I asked.
A chemical peel, then?
‘The crepeyness would go’, said Jane. I would also see more tightness of skin and a
general improvement of tone and texture.
Cost is £1450 for a face, neck and chest peel. Needs a month planning and preparation with
suitable creams and then 1 hour on the day with a local anaesthetic.
There is likely to be redness for a week, more special creams and the need to
use a 30 SPF sun lotion for 6 months after. A
repeat peel would be needed in 3-4 years.
Would I prefer botox?
This one would soften the effect of muscle-pull which causes the wrinkles.
Good for the cleavage area and for a smooth forehead and lines around eyes (neither of
which rated high priority for me). Disappointingly,
botox wouldn’t be able to fill out the saggy bits around my mouth.
A botox treatment is usually performed in half an hour. It takes 3-4 days for the effect to show, which
will be a general softening of lines. Cost is
£300-500 and the treatment needs to be repeated every 6 months.
Upper lip and lip outline fillers?
The top-lip and ‘vermillion’ fillers between them work on fine
upper lip lines and lip definition. So those
little lines on the lips themselves are reduced. (They
never say ‘eliminated’ unless you’re under 40, which we at laterlife are
not.)
Lip definition fillers cost £450 and last 3-6 months. They involve local
anaesthetic and injection through a fine needle and treatment lasts just half an hour,
though a preceding 28 day test for any reaction is required. Expect slight skin redness and possible tightness
for a day or two.
Lower face-fillers?
This sounds like the business. Lower
face deep fillers are ‘thicker’ and include special treatments called Dermaline
and Hylaform Plus.
Dermaline costs £500 and lasts for 3 years, though a mini treatment may be
needed after 6 months; Hylaform Plus costs £350 and lasts 6 months. Both require a local anaesthetic and fine needle
injections, and treatment time is 15-30 minutes.
There may be temporary puffiness, possibly slight bruising for a few days
after.
Easy peel follow-up
This is an option to start a week after the face fillers: a course of 4
sessions over the following month. Special
creams help the process, to improve fine lines and wrinkles all over face.
Cost is £800, with a maximum of 3 courses per year. You’ll feel the peel over the few days after
treatment - nothing startling, just a fine crusting of skin.
Most of these treatments allow for make up to be used the next day. Lasercare
Clinics provide full aftercare advice and appropriate creams.
So which will I choose from this
selection?
The answer is I don’t know. Too
wimpish, I guess.
I might take up Jane
Lewis’s advice to reduce muscle-pull - ‘hang upside down when you sleep’.
But imitating a bat doesn’t appeal.
Lasercare Clinics recommend use of SPF 30 sun cream to apply whenever out in
bright or sunny weather, winter or summer. Use
under foundation.
They make an exclusive SPF 30 sun cream with aloe vera moisturiser, price
£15.
If you’d like to know more about
Lasercare Clinics and the treatments they provide, take
a look at our special Lasercare page and associated email enquiry form.
Lasercare
Clinics information, available treatments and contact details
Lasercare Clinics work with NHS
Trust Hospitals and treat privately too. If
you would like a free, no-obligations
consultation, you can make an appointment at the clinic nearest to you (clinics
in major cities throughout the UK).
Mention laterlife.com when you make your appointment
……………..
If
you’d prefer to stick to anti-ageing creams, you will be interested in
hearing about YSTHEAL+
This new skincare range brings together
two scientifically proven ingredients to help repair
and rejuvenate ageing skin.
YSTHEAL+ has been developed by Avene
Dermatological Laboratories in France. It
contains Retinaldehyde CT, a precursor of vitamin A acid and Pre-Tocopheryl, a form of
vitamin E which is easily absorbed into the skin.
Between
them they help thicken the epidermis to smooth out fine lines and increase skin radiance. They also help with formation of collagen to
increase tone.
Retinol, the ingredient related to
Retinaldehyde CT, is a known antioxidant. Some
beauty experts and dermatologists advise caution with retinol creams as they can cause
redness and irritate some skins.
But
Retinaldehyde CT differs from retinol as it is a precursor,
better tolerated by the skin and suitable for all skin types. Combined with Pre-Tocopheryl, a stable vitamin E
derivative less fragile than the vitamin itself, YSTHEAL+ is claimed by its makers to be
the state of the art.
A word of warning before you rush to buy. This stuff will not work miracles or deliver like
the radical treatments above. But it does help
reduce very fine lines around the eyes, and makes the skin look more radiant. At least it does for me.
YSTHEAL+ cream for dry and very dry skin costs
£30 for 30ml
YSTHEAL+ emulsion for normal to combination skin
costs £30 for 30ml
YSTHEAL+ eye contour gel-cream for the eye area
costs £20 for 20ml
At present, you can get these products only through Lasercare Clinics
|
A vast industry is out there to help with all and every beauty concern. In
this column every month laterlife.com will report on ideas and products, old and
new. The practical results of everything from creamy cleansers to mud baths will be
brought to you. All with the focus on maturity of course.
