I attend the big Aesthetic shows several times a year, every year, to see what is new, and I challenge the new treatments. I can tell you, without a doubt, I am one of the people these companies don’t like to see at their booth. A couple of years ago I got some flack for writing a blog post about a new machine that combines Diamond Microdermabrasion and Hydra-Oxygen. They were new to the market at that time. We offer both of these treatments at BRS facial spa, but we have one machine for each, it’s not a dual purpose machine like the one being promoted. When I asked the benefit of the dual purpose machine over having each machine separately they could not answer, other than to tell me it is more convenient. But it isn’t more convenient. What if one of the modalities need repair, but the other doesn’t? It’s necessary to give up the entire machine while it’s being repaired which results in the skin care technician not having 2 modalities at their disposal instead of just the one being repaired. This is the main reason we have one machine for each treatment. In addition, the cost of the multi machine was thousands of dollars more than purchasing them separately. Literally 25K from one company that I talked with!!!! Are you kidding me? The enormous amount of money spent on these machines is why the consumer pays so much for these treatments. The cost trickles down, it has to. Otherwise how are these skin care studios going to pay for these machines? Makes sense right?
Some of you might have read this story before, but since we have a lot of newer clients I’m going to tell it again. At another booth, at the same show as the above story, was a new machine that uses vacuum suction to promote collagen development. Okay, there is so much wrong about this that I don’t even know where to start. First of all vacuum suction does not promote collagen development, that is ridiculous. Vacuum suction is used to loosen and remove debris from the pores or to facilitate a lymphatic treatment. In addition, the vacuum is used to vacuum dead skin cells for a cleaner treatment. For example, all Diamond Microdermabrasion machines use vacuum suction to suck up the dead skin cells as they are removed during the treatment. The benefits of this treatment come from the abrasion to the skin not the vacuum suction. In fact, the vacuum setting used should always be set on the lightest suction because pulling the skin with a higher setting can cause damage. All that being said, this booth I was visiting was promoting a machine they claim plumps the skin through vacuum suction. I was watching the demonstration as my questions were piling up in my head. Before asking my questions though, I wanted to see where this was going, so I watched.
When the demo was finished the model receiving the treatment sat up to show how the side of her face that was treated was more plump than the side of the face that was not treated. Well HELLO!!!! If you suck the crap out of your face with a vacuum it’s going to swell. That’s not collagen!! That’s swelling which will dissipate very soon after the treatment is finished. BTW the cost of this machine? 30K.
Collagen production can ONLY be generated by damaging the cellular connection deep within the skin which causes the body to rush to the damaged area to repair it. The repairing of this tissue is accomplished through collagen development. This is why we use treatments like peels and non-invasive face lift among others. These treatments cause controlled damage resulting in collagen development. Knowing this, I asked the technician giving the demonstration to explain to me how this treatment results in collagen development. She told me the collagen is produced from the suction. Again I asked HOW does suction develop collagen? She kept repeating the same answer and then moved on to someone else’s questions because clearly I was irritating her. I then asked her if there are any side affects to this treatment and what about the pulling of the skin, couldn’t this pulling lead to loosening of the connective tissue? She quickly answered there are no side affects, she completely ignored the second part of my question while giving me a pretty irritated look.
I left completely irritated at these ridiculous claims and felt sorry for the people falling for it and spending literally thousands of dollars to buy this machine. So the next day I went back to the booth, in disguise and with my husband. I was afraid she may recognize me, but luckily for me, there was a different person manning the booth that day. I asked if my husband could be the model for the demonstration, she accepted him as her model and started the treatment. When the treatment was finished she followed the same routine as the girl did the previous day; sat him up to show the onlookers the plump side of his face. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t ask questions, we just left. I watched my husbands face deflate over the next hour and THEN it started to show signs of bruising. The next morning his face was black and blue from all the suction and it was very swollen. Probably not necessary to mention the swelling was not collagen,
it was trauma from the brutal use of high suction.
So what’s new and stupid in 2015? PRP is getting a lot of hype this year. PRP is short for Platelet Rich Plasma. A persons own blood is drawn and then spun to separate the plasma which is later injected into areas of the face needing rejuvenation. The claim is that this plasma is safe because it comes from your own body, an alternative to derma fillers like Juvederm, for example. The plasma contains platelets which are proteins that stimulate collagen growth. This collagen growth is what plumps the skin. The cost for this treatment ranges between $1,500 and $2,500 per treatment depending on the area you live. The problem with this treatment is not just the cost. It also does not build any more collagen than a peel or other means of causing the controlled damage necessary to build new collagen. It simply costs a lot more. It’s an impressive technique, I’ll give it that. It requires a doctor and some very expensive machines to spin the blood. There is simply no scientific proof or studies that show this way of attracting collagen is any better than other more traditional methods. In addition, consider these treatments need to be repeated, as do all collagen treatments, usually every 3 to 4 months. Now that gets expensive with PRP. In my opinion this is simply another fancy and expensive way to reinvent the wheel.
The many different treatments available to maintain your youthful skin are not any different than the many different diets and exercise programs there are to maintain your weight and health. What does this mean? There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different diets and exercise programs you can follow to lose weight. The bottom line is that with all of them you are doing just 2 things: Eating less and moving more. It’s not any different with skin care treatments. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different ways to have younger looking skin. Don’t fall for the hype, simply make sure your skin care therapist is addressing the main issues that cause skin to age and look old. Do these things regularly and you will look younger. Here’s the areas you want to make sure are addressed: Texture, Soft Tissue Rejuvenation, Color, and Muscle Tightening.
At BRS facial spa this is our end game. We offer our clients the Modality Facials so that each time they come in to see us we are addressing the areas mentioned above, we keep them rotating and active and engaged at all times. We use well known, tried and tested treatments for collagen development, for exfoliation through manual or chemical means, we address muscle loosening, and soft tissue rejuvenation as well as color tone and overall condition of your skin.
To sum it up, there is no miracle cure for aging. We all do it. At least we all hope we do, the alternative to not growing old is dying, nobody wants that. Here at BRS facial spa we take a very sensible yet extremely targeted approach to help you age gracefully. Some of our treatments can be aggressive, however, you can rest assured we are not going to learn about some unknown side affect by trial and error on our clients. You can also rest assured that nobody wants to keep their skin looking young more than we do, we’re kind of obsessed about that, and that’s good for all of you.
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