Around 30 years old was when I finally started listening to the skin care professionals to take care of your skin NOW to help prevent damage in the FUTURE. In my twenties, like all of my peers, I refused to believe I would ever get older and show signs of aging.
Little by little, my skin started to show signs of fine lines, uneven texture and sun damage. Pregnancy wreaked havoc on my skin, all the hormones creating blemishes and melasma over my entire face.
I decided to start listening to the professional advice I had been given, starting with sticking to a strict, medical grade skin care regimen twice a day. This helped tremendously with repairing some of the damage to my skin barrier and texture.
Next step for me was to treat the fine lines that seemed to be more evident in each picture that I took (once I noticed them, I couldn’t unsee them). I decided to try out Neurotoxins, alternating between Botox, Xeomin and Dysport, based on whichever was recommended for the areas I was wanting treated.
I was obsessed with the results, and never turning back to a life without toxin…but I still had texture issues, fine lines around areas that Neurotoxins just couldn’t tackle well enough and sun damage spots that felt obvious to me (yes, we are our own hardest critics…no one else could have cared less about the random spot that bothered me so badly).
Every provider I had ever seen to get Neurotoxins all recommended the same thing, skin resurfacing lasers in conjunction with Neurotoxins and medical grade skin care. It was the only treatment that was going to help get me the long lasting results that I was hoping for.
As always, I resisted.
First, let’s face it, lasers are expensive. The price tag on a series of lasers can be daunting and I thought I should just put that money into filler and more neurotoxins, right?
Second, I loved the immediate results I got from toxins and fillers and now you want me to do a series of 3-4 lasers, one month apart, and wait for the final result? I didn’t have it in me…I want it, and I want it now…
BUT- then I joined the team at The Spa West Ashley and once again I shared my skin complaints with our skin care “wizard”, Amanda, and our nurse injectors, and EVERY one of them shared the same sentiment…a regimented medical grade skin care routine combined with neurotoxins and fillers help to create a perfect foundation for your skin, while skin resurfacing lasers will penetrate deep into the skin’s surface to create dramatic, lasting changes that also boost your skin’s collagen production.
I finally decided to listen. Did it help that I got my employee discount? Yes of course, but it gave me the opportunity to see if it was really worth the price…should I have spent the money that was suggested so many times before on lasers, and would I in the future? f
The answer is a resounding YES YES YES….my skin is so DRAMATICALLY different…the texture, the fine lines, the areas of sun damage that bothered me. My skin looks like I have a real life filter on it. And it is not just me saying that because I still work here, but my results have encouraged several of my girlfriends, patients and even strangers to purchase laser packages…and I can say that without feeling narcissistic because I didn’t do any of the hard work, I just finally listened and followed directions that produced the promised results.
The various lasers we offer at The Spa West Ashley, each address and treat multiple skin care concerns, some of which include minimizing pigment, improving fine lines, skin tone and texture and boosting collagen production, with little to no downtime.
And as the providers tried to stress to me earlier, these treatments also INCREASE the results of the other skin care treatments I was already doing, such as my dermal skin care absorption, (some lasers improve absorption by up to 17x), which further enhances results from medical grade skin care products.
I have personally done our Clear+Brilliant Touch Series, which I absolutely love, and found amazing improvement in all the conditions listed above. I highly recommend this series of laser to anyone ready to take the next step in skin care results!
I am currently on my first of 3 Fraxel laser treatments and I am already obsessed with the results after just one! Fraxel laser similarly treats hyperpigmentation and uneven skin tone, fine lines, sun damage and age spots, but it also helps to minimize appearance of skin imperfections like acne and surgical scars. I will plan to do a blog post about my Fraxel series journey as well!
No matter which laser you choose (and I highly recommend having a consultation with Amanda and letting her guide you) doing the full series is SO important. Your skin damage is buried deep beneath the surface and if you want to see the life changing results, do it all the way…bite the bullet and you won’t regret it!
