JULIA CARLING

This week Julia makes and breaks her new year’s resolution

I say it every year: never again. Just how much coffee, fruit juice, water and headache pills can one girl take? Yes, the parties were worth it, but how many of us have already broken our New Year’s resolutions?

At a recent get-together with my girlfriends I asked about their beauty resolutions. Removing make-up before going to bed, remembering to moisturise not only face but neck, and drinking more water all featured. My own are to sleep more and stop picking my spots. But there is a fat chance that I shall keep of either of these, so may be I should start the New Year with a new face.

Photorejuvenation is a new high-tech skin treatment that tackles common problems – uneven pigmentation, redness, acne scarring and coarse skin texture. Unlike everyday beauty treatments, it’s performed by qualified medical staff, using intense pulsed light technology (IPL). Light is beamed at your skin where it tracks down the colour pigment in red veins or brown pigmentation and destroys it – sounds painful to me…

SEEING THE LIGHT
Being the coward I am I sent my friend Cathy to The Private Clinic in Harley Street to try it out. To her horror, the first thing they did was to photograph her without any make-up.
Only then she believe the difference this treatment would make, they explained.

The main thing Cathy wanted were for the red veins on her cheeks and around her nose to vanish, along with some blemishes that had grown with age, as well as the usual lines, especially on her forehead. She was asking a lot, but then it was promising a lot – and costing a lot too.
After a special gel was applied to her face, Cathy was given glasses to protect her eyes from the light. Then the IPL gadget went to work. She was told she’d feel a sting as it went to work. But she described it as less of a sting and more of an ‘ouch’.

Thinking she’d come away from the treatment looking battered and bruised, Cathy was delighted that she looked a little red but otherwise okay. After 30 minutes’ soothing with some cooling gel bags, was even allowed to put on some make-up.

When I next saw Cathy a week later she was like an over-excited child. After initially turning a little darker, her blemishes had simply dried out and come away leaving her skin soft and smooth. The red veins had calmed down, too.
She had not hesitate to book another session.

Now, after her second treatment, she is happy to report that all her blemishes have disappeared, the veins are virtually non-existent and apparently after a few more treatments her frown lines will decrease considerably, too. Lucky Cathy is starting the New Year with a fresher, happier face. Now all I need to do is pluck up the courage to book an appointment myself.

Five Photorejuvenation treatments cost about £1,295

Source: Hello Magazine