Beautiful You by Suzanne Edmonds

Each week, beauty enthusiast Suzanne Edmonds explores the best ways to take care of ourselves so that we love the skin we're in.

If you enjoyed the sun in your youth, chances are your skin is paying for it now.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We now know how damaging the sun can be to our skin, but for those of us who grew up in an era where getting a tan was considered healthy the damage is already done.

What if I told you the damage could be undone?

Technology is advancing at a rapid rate and there are some amazing procedures available now days to turn back the clock on the cosmetic effects of sun damage.

My current favourite is IPL, or Intense Pulsed Light, a cosmetic breakthrough which uses highly controlled, multiple flashes of light to improve the appearance of photoaged skin.

Age spots, benign brown pigments and redness caused by broken capillaries usually respond well to IPL. It is also an effective hair reduction treatment.

The way it works is light is transmitted through a crystal hand piece, which is placed gently on the skin. The light penetrates the tissue and is absorbed by either the blood, when treating vascular lesions, or the melanin, when treating pigmented lesions. This damages the tissue and the body’s natural response is to remove the injured tissue, leaving the skin more even and youthful looking.

Sounds very sci-fi don’t you think?!

What I love about this treatment is that there is no downtime. Unlike other procedures, such as chemical peels, you can get this done in your lunch hour and go back to work without anyone noticing. There is no broken skin and you can apply makeup immediately afterwards to cover up any redness.

It is a gradual and gentle process, typically consisting of four to six treatments, administered at three-week intervals.

Winter is the perfect time to get this treatment done, as you need to avoid exposure to UV rays for several weeks before and after treatment.

That way you can start the summer with a blank canvas and keep it that way. Remember, prevention is always better than cure, so make sure you use sunscreen on your face every single day of the year to maintain a youthful, healthy complexion. Because we live in an era where know that there is nothing healthy about having a tan.

Suzanne Edmonds is the owner of De Lux Beauty of Cherrywood, Tauranga.

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