Nipping out for a spot of laser is your new age-proofing secret weapon if you want to look good but not ‘done’.
Laser rejuvenation used to mean going into hiding for weeks and saying goodbye to the top layer of your skin (the old, ablative CO2 lasers worked — very effectively, it has to be said — like paint stripper).
Lasers of the future can produce faster results, and with minimum downtime. They also provide pinpoint accuracy at various depths within the skin. The Swiss Army Knife of Ageing. They can handle any type of skin concern.
BBL Lasers claim to have the fastest IPL (intense pulsed laser) and deliver it four times faster than conventional lasers. In just a few sessions, it can reduce sun damage, redness and acne scarring, as well as improve skin texture.
Victoria Woodhall is treated with laser lipotherapy at Dr Esho Clinic Wimbledon, London
BroadBand Light Laser, which Dr Esho created was claimed to have the highest power IPL.
There are only a handful in the country at the moment — and they’re getting doctors very excited.
The laser can make your eyes look longer and lift your eyebrows in a matter of minutes. While I was sleeping at the Dr Medispa London clinic, I lost four lockdown pounds while losing four centimetres of my waist.
If you want to look slimmer or younger without resorting to the needle, today’s lasers have plenty to offer.
‘For people averse to the idea of injecting substances into the skin, lasers offer the opportunity to reverse some of the signs of ageing in a more “natural” way,’ explains aesthetic doctor David Jack. ‘There is practically no risk of looking odd with laser treatments, unless you are unfortunate enough to get a burn, which is rare.’
Lips are a concern. Nobody wants to be a trout pout.
Tijion Esho, an aesthetician created the laser lip lift. He’s known as the ‘king of lips’ for his subtle nano-droplet method of injecting filler.
As someone like me, he came up with the idea of a laser lip lift to offer an alternative.
‘I’m always looking at how I can improve the lip augmentation technique to make it safe and get more natural results,’ he says. While he’s a master of injecting, there’s still a stigma attached to lip fillers, he says. He’s treated the faces of numerous celebrities, but none of his VIPs has talked publicly about having their lips done.
Laser lip lifting is painless, has no negative connotations and takes only ten minutes. There are no complicated aftercare or downtime.
People like Victoria Woodhall may consider the laser liplift as an alternative to filler.
And there’s no chance of overdoing it, says Dr Esho, because any added volume will be limited to what my body will naturally produce — the laser will be stimulating my own collagen-making fibroblasts over the next six weeks or so.
Nor will it change the shape of my lips, which I’m pretty happy with anyway. The only thing I am unsure about is whether or not it will make a significant difference in my appearance.
‘If you want to be the next Kylie Jenner [famed for her sausagey lip fillers] this treatment isn’t for you. It’s about giving natural results and rejuvenating the area, not enhancing them into a duck or trout pout,’ he reassures me. It will merely ‘improve the architecture’ of what I already have.
Dr Esho has no less than 14 lasers in his clinic, and the one being used on my lips — the Alma Laser — is his newest toy. It’s a hybrid laser that combines two forms of energy (fractional CO2 and 1,570 nm wavelengths) to deliver the holy grail of ‘maximum results, minimum downtime’.
It’s the first time a laser has been used on the lips as an anti-ageing treatment — the latest lasers are less of a blunt instrument, so are better for treating delicate areas.
Previously, the only way to tweak lips was with needles: via fillers, Botox or microneedling. Dr Esho was already using the laser to treat barcode lines around the lips. It got him thinking that maybe it would work on the lips themselves, too.
The treatment doesn’t change the shape of your lips, and Dr Esho said: “If you’re looking to become Kylie Jenner, this is the place for you. [famed for her sausagey lip fillers]You don’t need this type of treatment.
In trials, he started to see improvements, ‘not just in the surface quality of the tissue, but in the volume of the lip itself’.
Granted, some of the volume I’ll get will be temporary swelling from the procedure. ‘But we found that, with cumulative sessions, people were improving their volume and they felt their lips looked fuller,’ he adds.
Ideally, I’d keep coming six times a year — this is a slow and steady way to hold back the years — but I should see an immediate improvement in some of the common signs of lip ageing: barcode lines, lip wrinkles and a damaged skin barrier that makes your lips dry and less plump.
Also, my lips will look more smooth and my lipsticks will be better placed.
He tells me the Alma can be used to cut skin. I am nervous as I sit down in my chair. The Alma can be used to cut skin and remove any growths. It burst into flames when he tried it with a wooden spatula.
However, he adds, the machine is ‘idiot proof’ thanks to pre-set functions that have been researched and deemed as being safe for your skin type (including if you have darker skin or a tan). I’m still trusting him to press the right buttons though!
As he lights the probe onto my lips, he puts on dark glasses and starts to shine it on mine. He first goes over the border then the surface. The probe feels hot and itchy, which can be a bit uncomfortable. However, it’s over within five minutes.
As a way to slow down the aging process, it is best that you get treatment at least six times per year.
The tiny dots of fractional CO2 energy that I see in the mirror are small white spots on my lips. They radiate energy outwards. (It blasts tiny ‘fractions’ of the skin, not the whole surface, hence the name.)
These points contain non-ablative energy dots at 1,570 nanometers, which are scattered between them. This energy works below the surface but in deeper layers of my collagen.
It’s a far cry from the old days of laser, when people had to be sedated or even have a general anaesthetic, Dr Esho tells me.
Then, he applies Coat to my lips, which is a moisturizing oil that contains squalane.
Then he reaches for a different head on the machine called the ‘impact stampede’. He warns me that it will sound strange in my head. But, don’t worry. The ringing sounds are simply ultrasound energy pumping the serum into the lip cavities.
After ten minutes, I’m all done, and I’m surprised to see an immediate natural-looking fullness. There’s no redness or angry needle wounds. I’m to avoid make-up for 24 hours and apply the serum regularly — handily it makes a good lip gloss.
Thank you so much for allowing me to go out with perfectly plumped lips the next night. If I’d had filler, I’d be walking out not just with swollen lips, but puncture marks, an ice pack every hour for the rest of the day, 48 hours of downtime (including no wine!) and a bill for up to £600.
Alison said: ‘After ten minutes, I’m all done, and I’m surprised to see an immediate natural-looking fullness. There’s no redness or angry needle wounds. I’m to avoid make-up for 24 hours and apply the serum regularly — handily it makes a good lip gloss’
At home, I can see a slight difference but my family can’t — mind you, they barely notice when I’ve had a haircut. The Braille-like marks on my lips are visible the following day but not noticeable. There’s no peeling and I still look like me — and quite frankly, filled lips on a mature face that hasn’t been plumped elsewhere would look ridiculous.
While the lip lift is quick, almost painless and controllable, it can’t address all of the signs of lip ageing. You can see only my bottom teeth now, and my top lip is lower than when I was 20, so it’s not as noticeable.
A cosmetic dentist used to tell me that a smile with a prominent tooth was an indication of youthfulness. Fillers could make a minor improvement, but if it bothered me that much I’d need a surgical lip lift, where an incision is made under my nose and excess skin is removed, says Dr Esho.
The laser lip lift can’t address asymmetry, either. Dr Esho will likely refer you to the dentist if your middle-aged lips become wavy.
Is it worth it? I was able to reapply my lipstick two days later with minimal swelling. My daughter claims that my top lip appears plumper. I also agree. Now I have to wait to see whether the five treatments over the coming year will give me back the volume I once had, but it’s a promising start.
If you’re like me and want to rejuvenate your lips naturally without looking scary, the laser lip lift is a new and easy option that will keep you looking like you and press pause on lip ageing.
The laser lip lift costs £950 for a course of six treatments (eshoclinic.co.uk)