Jenni Gilbert There are skin peels to correct and rejuvenate the skin … and there are skin peels that promise to correct and rejuvenate the skin. Not all are equal.
Some weeks ago I attended a cosmetic medical conference where a core element is a trade hall. Owners or distributors of device technology and medical-grade skincare, or products appropriate to cosmedical practices, have the chance to showcase their wares, and what’s new, to potential buyers.
In the spirt of the event, one enthusiastic stand attendant offered to give me a taste of a life and skin-changing peel.
I am perennially bothered by spotty lizard-skin hands and forearms. These are not just the legacy of basking unprotected on the beach in the uninformed 60s and 70s but general attrition of day to day UV exposure from childhood. So, naturally, I rushed the offer.
The peel was applied to the back of my right hand and forearm (so as the create a comparison with the other aged, crepey and pigmented limb). It was a quick process. It stung a bit, but that’s all part of the deal.
I was told that, after a week, my skin would start peeling in the treated area and then peel for up to two weeks.
It indeed started peeling after a week. I looked down at my hand one day en route to work and freaked. There was poxy dead skin all over it.
I’d completely forgotten the experiment by this stage and my immediate reaction, seriously, was that I’d contracted leprosy. Not that I have any idea what the essential signs of leprosy are, but I am a hypochondriac from way back and also have a very active (should I say over-active) imagination.
When I remembered what the reason was, I waited excitedly for the great reveal.
There was a bit of skin shedding for a few days, like dandruff of the hand and forearm. I waited more … nothing.
Granted, the right hand and forearm (the worst) kind of matches the same lesser degree of lizardness now as the left.
I’ve had all name of rejuvenating treatments over the past 30-some years and certainly wasn’t expecting miracles, but this one more than disappointed me.
Yeah, it sort of faded the intensity of the worst discolouration of the “bad” hand and forearm, but despite my obedience to the “Moisturise, Moisturise, Moisturise” mantra of the spruiker – far out, how many times in a day is a client realistically going to moisturise to make a treatment fully effective?! – the downside is that the treated skin seems massively weakened.
When subjected to the “pressure” test, it resembles the pleats of an accordion. It’s so thinned it has even less “spring back” than before.
I’ll keep tabs on it as the next few months go by, as new collagen and elastin production can take a while to kick in.
However, previous peels and device treatments have shown very promising outcomes right from he early stages.
This is the experience of a person who’s had countless anti-ageing skincare and device technology treatments over the years, with 90 percent satisfactory and/or pleasing results.
I can deal with this for no but I know that as soon as I’m out of my winter cocoon clothes and into arm-exposing attire, that skin is gonna backlash on me badly.
Hmmm. Now consulting skincare brands that deal in skin “revision”, rebuilding it from the inside out as opposed to damaging it from the outside in to effectively “reboot” its functions.
Stay tuned. Lesson being – trial the hype on willing subjects before adding to your treatment menu.
