FREEZE THE CLOCK
The painless procedure that can help anti-ageing
IT’S that time of year when moving from winter woollies to summer separates is still a work in progress. It’s neither warm enough for one nor cool enough for the other. Just remember that your skin is going through the same process. Moving from cold days outside and central heating inside to blazing sunshine and airconditioning plays havoc with your skin. So now is an ideal time to give your face some extra TLC – it deserves it after getting through the worst of the winter weather. And speaking of going from cold to hot and back again, the Venus Freeze facial is a procedure that’s earning itself an army of supporters worldwide. This is a heat-based treatment which aims to boost collagen and ‘freeze’ the ageing process – what woman wouldn’t love to do that?
It may be called a freeze but the treatment is actually a heat-based facial, with a high-tech machine delivering radiofrequency energy and magnetic pulses into the skin to tighten and refine its contours.
The radiofrequency energy waves deliver enough heat to the skin to kick-start production of new collagen and elastin and encourage skin to become firmer, plumper and more springy – basically it causes a thermal response in the skin’s tissue activating the body’s natural healing response and self-repair mechanism. RF waves also shrink existing collagen in the skin to tighten it.
Adrienne Kelly, the owner at Park Beauty Clinic in Mount Merrion, takes charge of my treatment. She takes a good look at my skin and pronounces I’m not doing too badly for my age – 38. She does, however, hone in on my chin and jawline as my problem area.
I’ve had something of a droopy chin all my life – to the point where I hate photographs taken of me from the side. My good side? That would be head- on, where you can’t see the droopiness. She tells me she’ll work over my whole face and neck but will focus on my problem area. She then
I’m so relaxed, I doze off several times. Heavenly
thoroughly cleanses my skin and covers it in a special glycerin that acts as a protective barrier between the machine and my face – the skin has to reach 39C or more to make collagen shrink. She then moves the head of the machine around in a very gentle motion.
I had heard in the past that radio-frequency treatments were particularly painful, but the total opposite is the case with Venus Freeze.
I’m so relaxed, I actually doze off several times – it feels like a hot-stone massage on your face. Heavenly.
After the first 40 minutes, I’m not expecting radical results but am pleasantly surprised to see my skin definitely looks smoother. My forehead was definitely less wrinkled and my jawline more defined. There’s also less crepiness on my neck – the giveaway for so many women.
There’s no downtime from the treatment, and I returned to work straight afterwards – I was even able to put make-up on. Adrienne advised that I’d see the best results after three treatments and this was definitely the case.
After eight treatments, my entire face and neck areas are noticeably smoother and the crease between my brows – the result of years of scowling and squinting – has reduced a lot. As for my droopy chin? Well I may not be stepping on the catwalk any time soon, but I’m now more ready for my side- on close-up...
VENUS FREEZE on the face and neck costs €89 per treatment, €500 for a course of six or €605 for a course of eight at Park Beauty, 63A Deerpark Road, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin. Visit park beauty clinic. ie or call 01 210 3828