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Early Breakfast with Lindsey Russell 4am - 6:30am
23 October 2019, 15:01
Blemishes, birthmarks, thread veins and freckles are no match for the most powerful IPL machine on the market.
It doesn’t matter how many brightening serums or creams you apply, if you truly want a clear complexion there’s only one thing for it - laser treatment.
To rid yourself of thread veins, freckles, sunspots or general dullness, it truly is the most effective option.
Plenty of salons offer IPL - which stands for intense pulsed light - but for serious, long-lasting results, the current buzzword in the aesthetics market is Lumecca by InMode, which uses the strongest light beam possible.
I visited Dr. David Jack, a former NHS plastic surgeon turned aesthetics guru, on London’s Harley Street to remove a small red birthmark from my upper cheek.
I personally didn’t have a problem with it, but having to tell people I didn’t know that I didn’t have lipstick/pen/jam/blood on my face was getting a bit tiresome.
After two treatments the mark would be gone - but there were other benefits, too.
Firstly, it blasted off most of my freckles. Being a natural redhead I had a few - and also some other signs of sun damage, too.
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After taking a proper look at me, amiable Scotsman Dr. David revealed that I also had small thread veins, melasma and enlarged pores… but they too were combatted within a few minutes by the Lumecca machine.
Other common issues and ailments that can be treated with Lumecca are rosacea, acne and poor, dull skin texture. It also promotes collagen growth, giving you a heathy glow and a little plump for your face.
The treatment didn’t last long, less than 15 minutes, and after my face was covered in a special gel, I put on a pair of goggles - like ones you wear in a sunbed - and laid back waiting to be zapped.
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Lumecca is not a painfree treatment, with each pulse feeling like an elastic band being snapped against your skin - and I’ll admit that I was a bit of a wuss, especially when I had the second treatment and the laser was turned up a notch to finish the job.
I was worried that I might be electrocuted as my eyes started watering, but was reassured that wouldn’t happen as the laser is light based rather than electrical.
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Dr. David did his best to put me at ease, explaining that the sensation was just the (very) intense light flash being converted to heat.
It’s this process that brings pigment cells to the top of the skin and lets them be absorbed in to nothingness by the body, or to come off in scab form, which after a week leaves you with a clear complexion.
There are no after effects from this treatment, although I did the clinic with a headache which I put down to the extreme flashes of light.
It was two weeks after my first treatment that I realised that my skin looked great - and my pesky birthmark was reduced to a smear of pink lippie, rather than its original form of a blotch of phonebox red.
Now after having had my second treatment I’m excited to see what ‘blemish’ people will point out next – I might end up missing my ‘strange red mark’!