SHOULD I GET A CLINICAL FACIAL DONE?
QI’m a 33-year-old woman and have started noticing signs of skin ageing on my face, neck and hands. I’ve done a few facials but to no effect. Now my friend has suggested I should get a “clinical facial” done. Your opinion?
AThe term facial was coined by beauticians. In clinical or aesthetic dermatology, this term is not usually used rather the term clinical face treatment is medically more appropriate.
In the beauty care industry, facials were initially largely restricted to simple face massaging, steaming and occasionally applying some sort of an exfoliant mask and ending the procedure with moisturising the facial skin. This was done mostly for skin refreshing purposes.
As for skin therapeutic facials, they can only be provided by those qualified and trained in aesthetic dermatology and should not be done at ordinary beauty salons.
The areas of your body showing signs of pre-mature skin ageing (photo aging) cannot only be managed through a facial. In fact, you will need a combination treatment which might require few sessions of microdermabrasion together with mild to moderate chemical peels and some sort of skin tightening treatments to achieve some degree of satisfactory results.
The final selection of the right treatment combination can only be possible after thoroughly examining your skin condition and going through your personal and past medical history in detail.
I would strongly recommend that you visit a dermatology centre equipped with the full range of latest and certified aesthetics skin treatment tools/modalities and staffed with properly qualified physicians and technicians who can work together as a team to offer you the best possible outcome.