FINE NEEDLEWORK
Cosmetic acupuncture is said to tap into your muscle memory for an instant facelift, and there are wellbeing benefits, too
Cosmetic acupuncture is not a new idea – it’s an ancient practice rooted in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). But a high-tech take on this holistic treatment is being lauded in A-list circles and its practitioners are quietly acquiring high-profile followings.
“It’s like a facelift, without the scalpel,” says cosmetic acupuncturist and beauty editor favourite Sarah Bradden. The Bradden Method (from £295 at Hershesons Belgravia; visit hershesons.com) is a bespoke needling treatment that comes with a side of LED light therapy, activated oxygen (administered via nasal cannula), facial massage, reflexology and reiki.
“It gives you that fullness of face,” explains Sarah. “The needles remind our muscles what they’re supposed to be doing. I can make cheekbones pop and it gives skin that glow we all crave.” Although Sarah doesn’t disclose her client list, she reveals to hello!: “I just had somebody in for the Emmys. Before a big red carpet, I recommend two treatments in the week leading up to the event. This client was up for an award and wanted to look her best.”
SHARP SCIENCE
So how does acupuncture work? Practitioner Anna Miller, who is a registered nurse and managing director at the Waterhouse Young Clinic, London, breaks it down: “With any needle or insertion, we increase blood flow and the amount of oxygen and nutrients to the site. This trauma to the skin triggers a cascading healing effect. It stimulates collagen and elastin and that gives an overall improvement to the quality of the skin.” Anna’s cosmetic acupuncture sessions (£200, waterhouseyoung.com) include calming auricular therapy (ear acupuncture) and they take place on a Seqex treatment bed, which emits waves of pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) to target inflammation. “Needling should not be painful,” Anna says. “It’s hard to describe, you have to experience it because you get such a deep relaxation and overall sense of wellbeing. And because we’re reducing stress and anxiety, clients appear more relaxed facially. Over a course of treatments, you’re going to notice a reduction in fine lines and wrinkles, an improvement in skin brightness and the lifting of tense muscles.”
What’s more, with acupuncture you can home in on parts of the face and target specific lines and wrinkles. Facialist and TCM practitioner Ada Ooi – who is booked by actresses including Rooney Mara and Emma Mackey, and singers Ellie Goulding and Lily Allen, for her Pinpoint Wellness Treatment (from £500, adaooi.com) – explains: “With frown lines, I start with a massage to relax the muscles around the forehead and eye area and then I use cupping [where special cups create suction on the skin] to stretch out wrinkles. After that, I ‘surround the dragon’ [where the site gets hemmed in by a zig-zagging line of needles].”
As long as the wrinkle in question isn’t deep set, Ada insists she can lift it away. “And with nasolabial folds, I gua cha [stroke skin with a smooth-edged tool] to alleviate the masseter [the chewing muscle] so it’s not weighing down the cheek and folding over the mouth. Then I needle around the line and switch on a microcurrent machine to tone up the skin. A fine line can quickly become a faint shadow.”
It sounds almost too good to be true. So are the facelifting benefits of cosmetic acupuncture on a par with injectables? “I’m not going to compare
acupuncture to fillers because they are very different in what they do,” says Anna. “And [unlike Botox] we’re not reducing movement. But cosmetic acupuncture can improve the appearance of lines and wrinkles, particularly on the forehead and frown lines – you will see a marked difference. I did my training so we could offer an alternative to patients at our clinic – and not just for those who don’t want to go down the injectable route, but also as an add-on treatment.”
GETTING TO THE POINT
Ada says the results after an acupuncture session won’t last in the same way as a single dose of Botox. “The sagging will return after your first treatment, which is why I say come once a week for the first four sessions, so we can start to signal to your body how it should be behaving.”
What cosmetic acupuncture lacks in terms of a long-lasting facelift effect, it makes up for in wellbeing benefits. “Since the lockdowns, there are a lot of new clients,” says Sarah. “People want a dose of wellness, as well as the aesthetic result.” Anna and Ada also report a recent surge in booking enquiries.
“I’ve got clients who come to feel alive again,” says Ada, who grew up around TCM and has always believed in “treating skin from within”. “I approach aesthetics by looking at the core of the issue,” she says. “When a patient walks into my treatment room with a greyish complexion, I can still hear my grandfather’s voice saying: ‘You need to stimulate this person’s liver meridian [which is around the calf and is said to boost circulation] before you even touch their face.’”
More than just a relaxing, glow-giving treatment, its practitioners list anxiety, swelling and digestive issues among the symptoms that this souped-up strand of cosmetic acupuncture can address. Sarah, who discovered acupuncture while dealing with her own ill health, makes the point: “When someone starts to feel better, they look better. And quite often, they stop focusing on that wrinkle that had been bothering them so much before.”