This new year, if you want to gift yourself an improved look, there is an address close at hand in New Town which is offering cosmetological solutions.
“Many women who come to us with hirsutism have a visible beard. Some have acne scars. Topical treatment can help them only minimally. We offer laser treatment that is minimally invasive and the results are quick as well,” said Nikita Khelani, the director of Apollo Cosmetic Clinic in Action Area I. The clinic has been in operation for eight years but the wellness services have recently got added.
Off with the ugly mark
Not just facial hair and acne scar, the clinic offers solutions for pigmentation, tattoo and birthmark removal as also services like facelift and contouring. “The body’s collagen levels start falling with age. Technologies that we harness, like high-intensity focused ultrasound (Hifu), helps reactivate it. That tightens and uplifts the skin. It is a gradual process,” said Khelani, showing the skin profile of a 45-year-old client on a computer skin, who thought he was looking fine for his age. “But after he underwent the treatment, he realised how much better he was looking. The results do not show overnight. It takes a minimum of three months,” she added.
“Our treatment is non-invasive. We put conducting gel on the skin surface (that is used during ultrasonography as well) and apply focused ultrasound. There is no piercing. The ray reaches about 5mm below the skin and creates a micro injury. That triggers the production of collagen. The collagen starts working inside to heal the injury and in the process effects a facelift. The results of the procedure will sustain till one year,” said cosmetologist Madhumati Das.
This is not Botox (which are injections that use a toxin to prevent a muscle from moving for a limited time), they clarify. “When the muscles are forcibly paralysed through Botox, it hampers facial expression. You can’t even smile or frown properly. And you need to take the injecton every five to six months.”
“If you go for Hifu at 40, you will not need Botox at 50 as your natural collagen level will remain high and your skin will stay radiant and youthful. It delays the ageing process,” Dr Das explained.
People with double chin who want to look slimmer also come for this hifu treatment to achieve face contouring, as do models wanting a chiseled look, they said. “We mark the space and target that precise spot. The effect takes place deep down at the point and does not radiate. It is a half-hour session,” Khelani pointed out.
A person with scars or a jagged skin surface, though, will need help from a state-of-the-art micro-needling machine, Morpheus 8. “It goes deep inside, a matrix of fine needles comes out and a single shot delivers radiofrequency energy to remodel the surface. It is therefore slightly invasive as large pores or stretch marks on the skin have to be dealt with,” Dr Das said.
Skin-deep measures
Another machine, Hollywood Spectra, administers laser treatment to deal with deeper pigmentation, from tattoo to freckles, post-pregnancy marks to birthmarks. “It also treats tan after a vacation, taking out dead skin cells and blackheads. We can combine this with another service wherein we first remove the tanned skin layer and then hydrate the skin with another device called Hydrafacial to moisturise it with serums,” Dr Das said. In the first phase, debris are removed from pores through painless suction, minimising the appearance of blackheads and congestion. This is followed by an infusion of antioxidants, peptides and hyaluronic acid, tailored to one’s specific need.
Human beings, Khelani pointed out, shed epidermal tissue naturally at a month’s gap. “Much of what is swept at home is dead tissue,” she said.
What salons do by way of a facial service is bleach the area with hydroquinone, a lightening agent. “But it makes the skin sensitive to light. You should not go out in the sun for 48 hours after bleaching. That is harmful,” Khelani said, adding that all the parlour treatments work on the outer layer and therefore can only be effective to a certain degree. “What we do is work from inside. And everything is done under medical supervision,” she assured.