When you’ve been plagued by acne scars for most of your life, finding something that works even remotely well to remove them is like finding an oasis in the desert. And I’ve never missed an opportunity to try anything that promises to erase those pitted fiends.
So when I was offered the Vivace microneedling treatment, I promptly turned up at the Cocoona Centre for Aesthetic Transformation.
The procedure delivers fractionated radio frequency (RF) through a cartridge of 36 gold-plated needles into the dermis, and the wound created activates the skin’s natural healing process, restoring the collagen and elastin.
For someone who’s tried many treatments with varying degrees of pain, I still felt like a death row prisoner walking to the guillotine.
Soon my therapist Anna Nadolska took me to the treatment room for the torture (that’s what I thought). The first thing she did was dab my face with numbing cream, which was left on for at least 30-40 minutes. As the time to get my face jabbed grew closer, I tried to distract myself with conversations on different subjects — including footballer Robert Lewandowski (Nadolska’s also Polish).
Before starting the procedure, Nadolska decided to target my dark circles with mesotherapy that employs small injections. They were just a few small pricks in the upper and under-eye areas with vitamin C and arbutin.
She picked up the scary tool and directed its tip towards my chin. The needles punctured my skin and delivered the RF heat. She moved the tip around my face to make sure the entire surface was covered, except the under-eye area.
I wouldn’t call the procedure absolutely painless, but the numbing cream makes it bearable. After the first round, she did a second pass over the scars.
The treatment is concluded with a serum rubbed on my face. The procedure typically lasts 60-90 minutes, requiring four to six sessions. Shortly after my treatment, I felt no pain at all but my face looked red and puffy. The redness soon subsided, and the next day it was not even noticeable to other people. Did it work?
A few days later my skin feels tight and I see that the pits have filled up to some extent. The improvement to my raccoon eyes (dark circles) is remarkable.
Price Dh1,500/session; not including mesotherapy for dark circles.
