Smooth formula

Who cares how pretty or not our internal organs are – skin-deep-beauty is deep enough for most of us. However much the importance given to superficial aspect of beauty is decried, the face remains a focus of attention.

Consequently, majority of women dream about a smooth, young-looking and blemish-free skin. And this craving for a flawless skin has been catered to from ancient times with various preparations and procedures. Modern technology too has contributed to the growing demand by creating machines and techniques that help in beauty management.

One such advancement is the Microdermabrasion technique. Simply put, it means scraping the outer layer of the skin using microscopic crystals. It is not as easy as it sounds though – a complex machine is used to do a variety of tasks that requires expertise and skill.

Microdermabrasion is a highly effective, clinically-proven technique for treating fine lines, wrinkles, scars, age spots and stretch marks. It regenerates the epidermal cell structure, resulting in a 30 per cent increase in the skin's elasticity, creating a more beautiful skin.

Rebecca, who has joined Beauty Solutions recently, has herself undergone the treatment to get rid of her acne problem that persisted since she was 18. Her glowing skin is a proof of the effectiveness of Microdermabrasion. She received training and worked for more than five years as a Microdermabrasion technician in London. She asserted that the technique could be safely used on all skin types or colours.

Each patient who visits Beauty Solutions is first given a skin examination to determine the patient's specific skin care concerns – whether there are dark spots from over-exposure to the skin, wrinkling, acne or acne scars, dilated capillaries or other minor skin abnormalities.

A special micro-camera enables both the technician and the patient to see the skin on a TV screen. The camera also helps the technician to decide the extent of treatment required for each case.

The process starts with a thorough cleansing of the face area. Rebecca massages the face gently with special cleansers like Epi-A. A client in her late 30s, who is getting the treatment done, confesses that she is not usually given such self-pampering at beauty salons. A Christmas gift had brought her to Beauty Solutions on Sheikh Zayed Road. The basically good skin was witness to ravages of neglect, age and harsh environment and looked dull.

Rebecca felt that younger people do not give due consideration to their healthy skin, taking it for granted.
By holding a delicate hand-piece at a precise angle to the skin, the technician effects a superficial skin polishing using aluminium oxide crystals.

The course of treatment may be a brief one-hour Beauty Blast or a more extensive treatment programme designed to gently address more serious skin care problems, such as chicken pox scars, broken capillaries or brown spots and pigmentation. A number of specific products such as hyluronic acid, rose E oil, Fluid-H, Derma block, etc. are used at various steps of the treatment to ensure good results.

No anaesthesia is required and the process requires little or no healing time. The only precaution advised by Rebecca is to avoid too much direct sunlight. There was no noticeable reddening of the skin, the creams applied by Rebecca at the end of the treatment imparting the skin a slightly oily glow.

The freshness and youthfulness of the skin's appearance is directly dependent on the level of cellular growth on the skin surface. On an average, the body renews the skin surface every four to six weeks. However, renewal is considerably slower with age and poor health.

Microdermabrasion exfoliates the skin, invigorates cell renewal, stimulates production of collagen and elastin that in turn results in a firmer, more youthful-looking skin. It is a much gentler and non-invasive approach to beauty management unlike chemical peels, laser resurfacing or plastic surgery.

Rebecca's personal, sensitive approach to each patient, her expertise in the Microdermabrasion treatment seemed to give considerable confidence to the patient.

The gentle abrasive treatment can be repeated after a week to 10 days interval and the number of sessions required varies from case to case, said Rebecca. After the treatment, she also recommends a customised regimen of skin care through special, clinical skin care products for best results.

Did you know that skin is:
* The largest organ of human body
* It covers a surface area of about 17 square feet
* It weighs between 3-4 kilograms
* One square centimetre of skin (approximately the size of a thumbnail) has three million cells, one meter of blood vessels, 100 sweat glands, 25 nerve endings
* Natural pH of skin is between 4.5 to 5.5. It is made up of three layers – outermost epidermis, dermis and the innermost subcutaneous tissue.
Functions of the skin
* Protects the body from invasion by bacteria, viruses and fungi
* Helps eliminate the waste products of metabolism directly through its surface
* Its network of complex sensory nerve endings help in conveying information about the outside world
* It guards the body from harmful ultraviolet rays
* Registers pain and pleasure from the environment