When it comes to skincare and beauty treatments, the furthest I had ever gone before was Microdermabrasion. For those not too sure what that is – it is basically a procedure where tiny crystals are swept over the face to a certain degree of pressure which deeply exfoliates off the top layers of your skin to reveal fresher, clearer and a more glowing complexion. I have always suffered from the occasional break out, therefore without make-up I have red marks and little reminders of past spots. As much as microdermabrasion gives my skin a real radiant feel and smoother texture, it is only really a nice short term pick me up for my skin, not an ideal procedure to tackle the texture of my skin and marks from previous blemishes.
I spent a lot of time last year looking into a procedure called Dermaroller, which is a much more intensive treatment that delivers permanent results and really tackles sagging skin, fine lines, wrinkles, acne scars and stretchmarks. For me, this seemed to be the procedure I needed to undergo next, in particularly as I had spent 8 months in Australia and the sun damage to my skin only made my skin colour and texture look w orse. Some people would maybe disagree, but you know your skin yourself better than anyone, and I knew that Microdermabrasion was only merely touching the sides for me, and a more intense treatment was worth giving a go.
I used to live in Castlefield in Manchester, therefore had seen the SkinViva clinic open it’s doors a while ago, making it the first place I inquired to when I saw the long list of treatments on offer.
SkinViva have a philosophy that looking good isn’t about looking young- it’s about restoring inner confidence whilst enhancing external appearance. They specialise in anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers, dermaroller treatments, hyperhidrosis and thread vein treatments, botox, eyelash enhancement, semi permanent make-up, tear troughs, non surgical brow-lifts, temple hollows and non surgical rhinoplasty.
I arrived for my dermaroller treatment 3 weeks ago. The reason I left it a number of weeks before blogging about my experience is that I thought it would be more beneficial to report on the improvements I have seen since having the procedure. The first step is for a numbing cream to be applied to your entire face and left to ‘work its magic’ for around 45 minutes. This is a really strange feeling if you have never had this done before (like I hadn’t), a little bit went onto my lip and the weird feeling or not being able to feel your lips is un-describable! The even stranger feeling is going into the procedure room and having the cream all wiped off (it sits quite thick above the skin) – it’s someone removing something you can’t feel! However, this cream is so beneficial for the dermaroller treatment, it basically acts as a numbing barrier so that you are more tolerant to the pain, meaning that the procedure can be carried out effectively.
The actual dermaroller is a mini roller with thousands of needle columns that are rolled across the face in lots of mini ‘union jack’ patterns to stimulate the skins natural healing response and the production of collagen and elastin is increased, thus plumping the skin. This is why it is recommended for anyone like me with marks and scars from old breakouts. It is technically causing damage to your own skin so that your skins natural healing process can kick into action and produce new skin which in time will reveal fresher, plumper and smoother skin.
The main question you will all want to know – does it hurt? At first no, you can feel tiny pricks but the roller moves so fast that it doesn’t cause any feelings of pain. It is only after the roller has been roller over the same area for a while that it can start to feel a little sore, in which I just told my Doctor, and then he moved onto another area.
The procedure lasts about 25 minutes, and a soothing, calming cream to help encourage healing is applied straight after. Yes, you have a red face afterwards resembling that of about 30 minutes on the sunbed, and it does feel extremely tight with a slight sting. Don’t expect to look ‘normal’ approaching the evening after having this procedure,-although the good thing about this is that the downtime is very very minimum, you will have a red face for approx 2-3 days after the treatment. It is strongly advised to treat your skin like a babies for the 7 days following, so that means no make-up for 48 hours and keep applying a healing/soothing gel to protect your skin post dermaroller as best you can. The below photo’s are not the best quality and I am definitley not a big fan of posting these up on here, but I wanted you to see the redness and blotchiness that comes out following the dermaroller, which really isn’t bad to say it’s an effective treatment. The photos don’t show a clear viewing, but you can see redness and blotches if you look close…
Here are my results from 3 weeks after. Bear in mind, you don’t see or feel the most results until 6 weeks after, and that 3 treatments of dermaroller are usually recommended for visible results.
Week 1: Skin was red and felt tight. Felt very dry with slight flaking.
Week 2: No more redness, no more tight skin, no more dryness or flaking. Skin feels really smooth and half way through the second week, my face had a nice glow and appeared more fresher.
Week 3: Today is 3 weeks since I had the treatment, and my skin feels smooth and clearer, with an obvious glow and clarity improvement. I can’t tell yet about the texture and scarring, I should be able to report on that at week 6. Red marks from previous breakouts have faded much quicker than ever before, and all in all, I am very happy with how my skin is looking at just week 3!
I have booked in for my second treatment which takes place in 4 weeks time (you must always leave it 6 weeks before each treatment) so I look forward to updating you then about the improvements.
Where SkinViva is situated in Castlefield
A huge thank you to Dr Tim Pearce who carried out my procedure, who is a UK qualified doctor and clinical director. He specialises in non-surgical aesthetic rejunvination. He has over 5 years experience in cosmetic medicine, and has performed thousands of treatments. Dr Tim also is a trainer of botox and derma filler injection techniques to fellow clinicians entering the aesthetics industry. He carried out my treatment really effectively and made me feel at ease, and I look forward to him carrying out procedure number two next month!
If you are looking for any skin rejuvenation treatments, and live in the North West, take a look at SkinViva and their team of professional doctors. I found the prices extremely reasonable and the professionalism is highly recommended. There is more information available here, but do feel free to tweet me or email me any questions regarding SkinViva!
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