Skin Treats at Skin Renewal

I got to experience a few more skin treatments at my beloved Skin Renewal and wanted to share these with you today. My ultimate goal when it comes to my skin, is obviously to keep it looking its absolute best, and now that I’ve hit the mid 30’s mark – anti ageing is a thing that constantly plays on my mind. My other concern is pigmentation, but these treatments, while aimed at helping with pigmentation, were more specifically targeted towards breathing new life into my skin, following a series of very intense Fraxel Dual Laser treatments.

Prior to this series of treatments, my biggest concern was the redness of my skin. Following the Fraxel, my skin became more sensitive and inflamed, which is a no-no for pigmentation prone skin. Inflammation leads to future pigmentation, and I didn’t want to undo all the good the Fraxel had done in toning down the appearance of my pigmentation.

The lovely Deone was my therapist at Skin Renewal in Irene. She’s such a fantastic therapist that really knows her stuff. Whenever I have my treatments done, she always has so much knowledge about the them and helps me to understand what’s going on.

My first treatment was the Beta Melanostop peel. This is a combination peel used to treat difficult epidermal pigmentation and consists of Azelaic acid, Resorcinol and Phytic acid. It’s a good peel for dissolving oil inside your follicles and helps to increase the thickness and lightening of the epidermis.

A peel is also a great pre-treatment before doing laser treatments as it helps to remove the dead layer of skin and helps to increase the circulation of the skin, while helping the laser pick up pigmentation and redness more effectively.

Deone applied the first layer of Beta Melanostop to my skin. At first it was quite intense. It almost had a acetone smell, and felt like I had opened the oven door! That kinda of blast of heat, not really a burn.

The stinging sensation lasted only a few minutes, however Deone had to fan my skin since it was feeling rather sensitive even before the treatment. After the first layer had evaporated, a second layer was applied. It was a different combination of ingredients and it didn’t sting like the first one.

The second layer was applied for exactly three minutes, after which it was sprayed with a water based solution to remove. After the peel, which lasted about 6 minutes total, my skin felt very crisp and refreshed. Ready to take on the laser.

For maximum results, it is best to do a series of Beta Melanostop peels, between 6-8 with a three week break in between.

Next up, Laser Genesis. The Laser Genesis treatment is done using the same machine that was used to do my previous PhotoGenesis treatment, however the head of the laser was very different. Laser Genesis focuses on discoloration, “lifting up” red or brown pigment on the skin.

Deone did 6000 shots on my skin, working about 1cm above the skin, so it’s not actually touching the skin. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved this treatment! It felt so comforting, warm and fuzzy.

When the laser “pulled up” some of the pigmentation marks, I could hear a slight zapping sound, but it wasn’t painful.

Straight after the treatments, my skin felt lovely and “full”. It surprisingly didn’t feel tight, but rather nice and youthful – as if there were no lines or bumps on the skin. Just super smooth and full of collagen if that makes sense?

It also had the most incredible glow, which made my skin look and feel more radiant, but the texture was my favourite!

I snapped this no makeup, no filter selfie on my phone about 30 minutes after my treatments. You can see how lovely and blurred my skin looks on the cheek area, and the forehead pigmentation (the bain of my existence) looks more blended and not as staunch as usual.

Again, for maximum effectiveness a series of 6-8 Laser Genesis treatments would be required to show results

The day following day my skin peeled a tiny amount and it was only really around my chin area and the sides of my mouth. In terms of downtime, I could have gone about my daily dues straight after the treatment without any hassle and could’ve easily covered up with makeup – or even gone out sans coverup if I needed to.

Overall, it’s been just over 5 weeks since I had my treatments and I’m happy to say that my skin is no longer sensitive. YAY! My colouring has returned to normal and the texture is still good with my pores nice and small.

Sadly though, my pigmentation hasn’t budged. It’s certainly not worse, but not better either. Even though these treatments were more about skin conditioning to maintain the results of the Fraxel (but help normalize the redness and inflammation) I was secretly hoping that they would reduce the pigmentation as well.

But I only did one session of these, and with any treatment to be effective, they would’ve required at least 6 sessions to show actual results. I definitely want to go back for more Laser Genesis – it just feels so great on the skin, besides providing excellent circulation results.

Right now, with my skin as it is today – I’m almost happy with it. I still feel that the pigmentation on my forehead is an issue and although the Fraxel made a big difference, I really want it gone! I’m thinking I may need more Fraxel treatments, but instead of doing a full face, rather targeting only my forehead.

With my previous Fraxel’s I was ok with the first and second session, but it was after the third session that my skin started feeling inflammed. The inflammation was mainly on my cheeks – so if I skip out that area, I may be able to enjoy all the benefit without the redness.

Here’s hoping!

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