Bye-bye Botox The latest wrinkle treatments, tried and tested

[Pages:1]6 Body + Soul

the times Saturday January 6 2018

the times Saturday January 6 2018

Body + Soul 7

Bye-bye Botox The latest wrinkle

A new wave of non-surgical cosmetic treatments has hit clinics and salons for 2018. We try them

Harry Wallop, 43, gets an electronic facelift

T here comes a point in a man's life when he looks in the mirror and finds his father staring back at him. I have reached that point. It's not that I look particularly old for my 43 years, but, by God, I look tired. Wrinkles can add gravitas to a face that is otherwise Palm Beach perfect, but on a man who has a blotchy pallor they merely add to a sense of midlife crisis.

Recently, while shaving, I tried to work out why I had a previously unnoticed scar to the side of my mouth, before I realised it was a smile line. And my nine-year-old daughter often asks me to frown so she can dig her fingers into the furrows, like a detectorist searching for Saxon gold in a ploughed field.

So, the prospect of a facelift without surgery is appealing. Like many men of my generation, I both fear and envy millennials with their scrupulous beauty regimens. No procedure or product -- from male eye-liner to hair-replacement treatment -- is considered a vanity too far. Surgery, to me, suggests unspeakable narcissism. But post 40 and post four children, I do feel I need to ensure I don't slide remorselessly towards

My nine-year-old often asks me to frown so she can dig her fingers into the furrows

middle-aged dad bod. This is where the Caci Synergy treatment comes in.

True, the procedure sounds like a management consulting firm and the equipment would look more at home in a dentist's surgery. There are probes, "wrinkle combs" and something called an ultrasonic actuator. "It sounds scary, but it doesn't hurt," says Yasmeen, the therapist giving me my treatment at the Seduire salon in Soho, London. The actuator looks like a plasterer's trowel, which she rubs across my face while it gently vibrates. The electrical current produces a metallic taste in my mouth because of the reaction with my fillings. It's like sucking on a battery.

It is the sole unpleasant part of the 90-minute procedure, and only very mildly so. The rest is rather enjoyable and involves my face being prodded and poked with exfoliating wands and having a mixture of red and blue light shone on

DAVID SANDISON FOR THE TIMES

The 10 best treatments I've tried

Alice Hart-Davis,

beauty expert, 54

to my skin with an implement that looks like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, which also massages my forehead. I feel nothing more than a pleasant tingle.

"Think of it as a gym for your face. It's the same concept," says Linton, explaining that I'd need repeat visits for long-lasting results. "Red light is your anti-ageing light. It rushes the collagen to the forefront and helps increase your blood flow. It also helps with scarring -- it's all about anti-ageing and plumping. The blue light is antibacterial; it's amazing for rosacea, redness."

I am not convinced that pointing a coloured light at my skin is going to make any difference, although various doctors use it for dermatological complaints and I do feel rejuvenated at the end. The real test, however, comes when I return home. My wife and my daughter mockingly demand to see the "younger" me. But when my wife examines my face she declares, "Oh my, your skin really does look smoother," and my daughter claims that I have fewer lines. It definitely works -- only for a couple of days, admittedly, but as a quick fix it's very impressive. Caci Synergy facial, ?150 for 90 min ()

Harry Wallop

The moisturiser jab

Everyone in Los Angeles is raving about the Profhilo injection -- with good reason. For those who can stomach the idea of a few injections and leaving the clinic with five slight lumps on their face (they vanish overnight), this is one of my favourite new treatments. My skin barely needed moisturiser afterwards, and the solution of hyaluronic acid that is injected is clinically proven to boost collagen and elastin levels, and lasts for at least six months (Profhilo is ?900, at salons including and lighttouchclinic.co.uk).

The in-your-mouth laser

Having the inside of your mouth lasered sounds pretty extreme, but lasers are good for shrinking skin tissue (the flappy bit at the back of the mouth to help reduce snoring, for example). Debbie Thomas, aka the Laser Queen, uses the technology on the inside of a client's cheeks as the finale of her popular DNA laser facial (, from ?330). First, she works on the outside of the face, layering gentle doses of different lasers to smooth the skin's surface, reduce redness and boost collagen production to firm up the skin (it's a bit tingly, but not too bad). Then she puts the laser in your mouth and you feel nothing, because there are fewer nerve endings in there. Two weeks later, skin looks much clearer, plumper and tauter.

The skin tightener

Radiofrequency (RF) is another type of treatment that has traditionally been used heavily for maximum impact (which makes it painful and leaves you a bit pink for a day or two), but is now being offered in doses that after two or three sessions give the same results as an old-style session. RF uses radio waves to heat up the lower layers of the skin to 42C, kick-starting collagen production. The gentlest form of the treatment is a facial such as the Venus Freeze (from ?100, or ), in which a warm disc is moved around the face, giving a gentle lift and a red-carpet-worthy glow. RF is also added to traditional facials -- the Organic Pharmacy considers it sufficiently non-invasive to include it (from ?260, ). Sarah Chapman's London salon, which prides itself on giving its clients (Victoria Beckham, Meghan Markle) visible results, adds it to her Eyes Tight treatment (?350, ).

The face iron

Aside from fancy lasers, radio waves and electrical currents, you can get a great rejuvenating result using plain old heat.

treatments, tried and tested

That's the premise behind Tixel, although it's perhaps not ideal for firsttimers as it involves having titanium rods, heated to 400C, applied to the face -- lightly and carefully so that the skin is shocked into wound-healing mode. It's quick and tolerable, with anaesthetic cream, and it's remarkably effective, although skin will be pink for a day or two. I loved that this could treat my eyelids (it's the only such device), as well as the visible wrinkle-shrinkage (from ?400, at and belgraviadermatology.co.uk).

The microcurrent lifters

Running microcurrents of electricity through the skin is by no means the torture that it sounds, just mildly prickly, but it is good at livening up ageing face muscles that are starting to sag and obliging them to shorten themselves back into shape. It's particularly popular with men who like to see immediate results. Caci's recently souped-up signature treatment is the Synergy Purifying facial (see Harry Wallop's report, left; ?80 for 45 minutes at ; caci-international.co.uk for other clinics). Microcurrents also feature in the "electrical" version of FaceGym's signature workout. The "workout" is strong face massage and the device that it uses afterwards lifts eyebrows as they work (?90, ).

Microneedling

If a beautician says, "I'm going to use a motorised pen-type device tipped with super-sharp needles to stab thousands of tiny holes in your face . . ." that may be as far as the conversation gets. But microneedling is another hugely effective add-on to the modern facial. Making those holes allows high-tech potions and serums -- say, vitamin C or growth factors -- direct access into the skin, which should mean a clearer, fresher, plumper complexion. Needles up to 0.5mm are reasonably tolerable (yes, really), but the sort of length that you'd use to wound the skin more deeply and stimulate collagen growth requires anaesthetic. The top facialist Marie Reynolds weaves needling into her Master Lift facial (from ?222, ). It's not painful -- unless you turn up stressed, short on sleep and dehydrated, as I once did -- and the Crystal Clear Comcit Elite facial (from ?115, crystalclear.co.uk) wraps up microneedling with microdermabrasion and pressurised oxygen (see below).

The painless peel

Chemical peels have had an image problem ever since that 2002 episode of Sex and the City in which Samantha turns up at Carrie's book launch with a face like a skinned tomato. Old-style peels were extreme; the acids they used took off most of the top layer of your face and needed a good deal of downtime while fresh skin frantically grew itself into shape. Today's peels are gentler, often done as a course of tiny doses, but are still able to get great results that will brighten the skin. I like the Neostrata Retinol Peel (?275 per treatment at ) for being swift and painless, and because peeling is limited to shedding discreet scuffs of skin rather than snaky chunks on days three to seven.

The gentle laser

Traditional lasers worked by burning tiny channels into the skin to stimulate the growth of new cells. They were -- and are -- effective, but rather brutal, needing skin-numbing and significant recovery afterwards. New treatments such as the Laser Genesis use mild wafts of laser light to brighten and freshen the skin. At Medicetics (see Bridget Harrison's report, right), it takes half an hour, costs from ?95 and leaves you looking astonishingly refreshed. Laser Genesis is also part of the New York star dermatologist Dr David Colbert's Runway Facial at Harrods' Wellness Clinic (?2,000). His clients -- though not necessarily for this specific treatment -- include Angelina Jolie, Rachel Weisz and Jennifer Lawrence.

The light canopy

Relaxing under a canopy of warm, superbright LED sounds and it feels like a "nothing" sort of treatment. But there's a reason that light therapy is used in conjunction with so many other treatments -- used at the right wavelength and intensity, it helps to calm inflammation (red light), clear acne bacteria (blue light) and boost collagen production (red and near-infrared light).

My favourite quick fix is to get 11 minutes of near-infrared at (from ?35, at Harvey Nichols) because it is said to lower cortisol levels into the bargain, so I'll emerge feeling less stressed as well as looking fresher.

The oxygen skin-boosters

This treatment uses a jet of pressurised oxygen to get skin-rejuvenating serum into the lower layers of the skin. It aids lymph drainage and blood circulation too. Apparently, oxygen has a calming effect on the skin. The result is the sort of dewy skinned glow of which any model/actress would be proud. Kim Kardashian has her own machine from the celebrity favourite Intraceuticals (machines cost thousands of pounds, but treatments are from ?85; find your nearest salon at , or ). Pippa Middleton goes to Santi London in South Kensington, where the EGF Serum Facial (?150, ) "infuses" Bioeffect's much-lauded product (the EGF stands for epidermal growth factors, which have proven skin-rejuvenating effects) into the skin with pulsating oxygen.

GETTY IMAGES; DAVID YEO FOR THE TIMES

Is the low-key laser the future for anti-ageing?

For the first time in my life, I'd been feeling tempted to invest in a little "intervention"

Bridget Harrison, 46

I am lying down with plastic caps on my eyes to protect them from a searing light. There's a burning sensation in my forehead and I can smell singed hair. I reassure myself that my enthusiastic therapist, Gabriella, works with this facial laser several times a day, and that women (and men) are queueing up for her services. So I lie there submissively as she works tiny, burny, but bearable circle movements over my face.

The treatment I am having is Laser Genesis, a powerful but gentle laser that promises to reduce fine lines and instantly spark up my complexion. It's the go-to treatment offered by top New York and Hollywood clinics because the results are instant and it doesn't leave you with an angry red, blotchy face afterwards.

It works by applying tiny yet intense bursts of heat to the deep layer of skin where the regenerating cells live. The heat causes them to fire up and release collagen and elastin -- the stuff we need for youthful-looking skin.

"This treatment helps to shrink pore size and reduces fine lines by plumping up the skin," Gabriella explains. "All the cosmetic doctors in America I know do laser on themselves every week, and their skin is like silk."

Skin like silk. Now that is what I am after. Since I've hit my mid-forties my skin has become depressingly sallow and saggy at the edges. Until recently I rarely bothered with make-up, preferring to look wonderfully low-maintenance and natural. Now when I don't put on make-up I just look knackered.

So, for the first time in my life, I had been feeling tempted to invest in a little "intervention" -- but what? Botox is the obvious choice, and I have friends who have been dabbling for years. Yet, no matter what they say about "good Botox" being impossible to notice, can't you always spot that slight waxy look to the forehead? After Gabriella has carefully worked the laser over my face I am to lie under more bright lights. This time Dermalux, the brand name for LED phototherapy, which is a system of lights -- red, blue and yellow -- that, Gabriella tells me, are clinically proven to have skin-rejuvenating properties. Who knew? It feels like lying on a beach in bright sunshine. Ten minutes later we are finished, and I rush to the bathroom mirror. Well, I don't look 30 again, but yes, my skin certainly does look a little

plumped, and my complexion is noticeably perkier. I look as if I have had a month of early nights and have been drinking several litres of water a day. Over the next few days I get several unprompted comments that I look "rested". And I realise that, at my age, that is exactly what I am aiming

for. I don't want a face smoothed and frozen by Botox. I want to carry on looking natural and low-maintenance (just with a bit of extra help). Express Laser Genesis, ?95, plus ?25 for Dermalux LED, By Bridget Harrison

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