By Doctor Lisa Fay

I am a firm believer that you have to try out each treatment yourself as a cosmetic doctor. It is vital to have first hand experience of each treatment or procedure in order to explain it to prospective clients and more importantly in order to judge whether they work.

Facial redness immediately after Intracel

The day after Intracel – Redness camouflaged with makeup

Having spent the last eight years administering cosmetic treatments, I have tried Botox, fillers, chemical peels and IPL treatments. It is my opinion that patients expect their doctor to have tried the treatments first hand and appraise them objectively rather than rely on the word and PR of sales representatives. The best way to do this is to put yourself in the shoes of a prospective client and have a treatment. In this way I feel I can really give honest impartial advice to my patients.

I am a 37 year old Mum with two young children and I work full time. With a two and a half year old and a five month old baby, life is busy. The sleepless nights are starting to take their toll on my skin and my appearance. When I look in the mirror, I do not recognise the face staring back at me. My skin was dull and lack lustre, my makeup does not sit right on my skin and I have numerous open pores on my nose and chin. I wanted to have an INTRAcel treatment to see whether it would improve my skin tone and texture and especially to refine and tighten the fine lines around my eyes. I need all the help I can get!
Whilst I do not want to change how I look, I wanted to look like myself but a fresher version with nice healthy luminous skin. I hate the “done” “overbotoxed and overfilled look”. Trust me I have seen it all, bad and good jobs!

When we first got the INTRAcel machine in the clinic I must admit I was sceptical. After treating patients, I am very impressed with the results that our clients are seeing. The results are subtle but their skin is looking better and more youthful. INTRAcel is a revolutionary new device which combines two well-established techniques, micro-needling and radio-frequency (RF) skin tightening. Basically you are getting the benefits and effects of two treatment modalities in one session or a “double whammy”. And the beauty of it is that there is minimum downtime. You can expect to look red similar in nature to sunburn for 48 hours. After 24 hours you can return to work and any residual redness may be camouflaged with makeup. That said I would not get the treatment 1-2 days prior to a big event i.e. a wedding.

A strong anaesthetic was applied to my skin for 1 hour. Those who know me well know that I do not have a strong pain threshold so I was really interested to see how I would tolerate the treatment. Despite topical anaesthetic an INTRAcel treatment is not completely pain free. It was a little uncomfortable in some areas especially under the eyes and forehead regions. Overall though it was bearable.

Immediately after my treatment I looked very pink. I am very fair skinned and always react to treatments. Even after simple waxing I look like a plucked chicken. Therefore I was not too surprised about this. There was a slight burning or stinging sensation straight afterwards and my skin felt tight. This started to resolve quite quickly over the next 24 hours. I did feel self conscious leaving the clinic but I did not have anything else scheduled for that evening. I could see some pinpoint track marks on my cheeks and forehead but certainly nothing obvious to others. I was amazed how quickly the redness settled and I could easily cover it up with concealer and makeup the following day.

Intracel can treat the following conditions:

• Open pores
• Fine lines and wrinkles
• Rejuvenate sun damaged skin by stimulating collagen production
• Tighten lax and sagging skin especially good for the jawline and neck
• Stretch marks and scarring
• Acne scarring
• Active acne

I have planned to over haul my skin care regimen too. I will be the “clinic guinea pig” for the new skincare regimen from Zein Obagi called ZO. Hopefully with the combination of INTRAcel treatments and ZO skincare, there will be a dramatic transformation in my appearance. I will post photos in six weeks and let you be the judge as to whether there are any genuine changes.

INTRAcel treatment available exclusively in Southern Ireland at CosmeticDoctor, Stillorgan. Call 01 685 3100 to schedule a treatment with Dr. Lisa Fay.