Facial Rejuvenation - do non-surgical face lifts work?

I’m at an age where, if I wasn’t such a coward, I'd be seriously considering cosmetic surgery - perhaps a thread lift or mini-facelift. But because I worry about the risks, I’ve been searching for a safer, non surgical way to look youthful instead.

I'm very excited to report that I believe I've finally found one! It's phototherapy. I had a salon-based treatment, but the exciting thing is that Tanda is now offering a safe, effective home version, too.

I'm fairly confident that phototherapy is the best and safest non-surgical treatment, because I've tried and researched several other options along the way. I'd like to share my experiences here - both my false starts and the light treatment itself.

The first non-surgical facelift I tried was CACI, an electronic facelift system using microcurrents. It was supposedly used by Princess Diana in her day, among other celebrities. CACI is the best known of several non-surgical face lift systems which use electrical impulses to lift and tighten the skin.

I had the prescribed (expensive) course over several weeks, and the beauty therapist swore I looked “fabulous” - but I could see no difference in my jowls or eye bags by the end of the course. My wrinkles may have been slightly softer - but not, in my view, enough to justify the cost of the treatment.

I gave a similar system a try a couple of years later, when a friend of mine was training as a beautician and needed someone as a guinea pig. Once again, I saw a small improvement - but I was glad I hadn't had to pay for the treatment!

The trouble with CACI and other galvanic systems is that when you stop having regular treatments, the effect wears off, and you're right back where you started.

My CACI experience put me off non-surgical facelifts for a few years, until I started seeing adverts for Thermage, the “Sixty Minute Facelift”. Thermage uses radiofrequency to reduce wrinkles and firm sagging skin. It only takes a single one-hour treatment, and there’s no downtime.

Perfect, I thought – until I Googled the word and found forums full of women who had developed permanent dents and dimples in their skin after having Thermage!

The problem is, apparently, Thermage works by stimulating your body's own collagen, and there's no guarantee it will be stimulated evenly (or at all, for that matter). You can end up with areas where it grows too much, or where it doesn't (leaving hollows).

There's no doubt there are many happy Thermage patients out there, but it's also clear there are risks attached - and if something goes wrong, you're stuck with it (the only way to correct it is plastic surgery). For me, that was taking too much of a chance.

The Thermage ads made me wonder whether any other non-surgical face lift systems had popped up while I wasn’t looking. That's when I found phototherapy. There are several salon treatments, but the ones generally available in Australia are Omnilux Revive and Rejuvalight (Lumiere Lift). 

Phototherapy is gentler than IPL or laser, as it uses visible light. It's been around for years in medicine to accelerate healing and treat skin cancers. The machines can usually be fitted with two different lights:  blue light is very effective in healing acne, whereas red light stimulates collagen production, improves hydration and reduces wrinkles. 

I Googled, but couldn’t find even one negative report about it.

That sounded like my kind of facelift! But was it so safe that it wouldn’t actually do anything, like CACI? There was only one way to find out - try it out.

There are two types of red light therapy. Omnilux Revive uses a large array of lights which you simply lie under, allowing the light to bathe your skin for 20 minutes or so. Rejuvalight (and others like it) use a small hand-held device which concentrates the light. The therapist strokes the device over your skin so you effectively get a massage at the same time.

Just lying under the Omnilux Revive is relaxing but the light is very, very, very bright, even with goggles. Apparently it does freak some people out - if it make you feel uncomfortable, then the Rejuvalight-style device would suit you better.

However, apart from that, which style you choose is purely down to personal preference and convenience. It so happened that my closest salon (Paris Medispa in Sydney) had the Rejuvalight system, so that's the course I signed up for.

Here’s how it went:

Facial #1: Wrapped in a sarong and snuggled under a blanket, I surrendered to a full pampering facial as well as 20 minutes of Rejuvalight. The light treatment was completely painless, no heat or prickling, in fact no sensation at all. My skin looked nice afterwards, but no more than I’d expect after an intensive facial. Note to self: remember make-up next time, as my appointments are in my lunch hour and I need to go back to work.

Facial #2: Forgot make-up. This wasn't such a long session, just a cleanse, Rejuvalight treatment, and a 5-minute face mask. Spent the afternoon feeling shiny (no foundation) and insipid (no eye make-up). Heading home, wondered if my husband would notice shiny – er, glowing - skin. He looked at me quizzically and said I looked bleary-eyed. Note to self: must remember eye make-up!

Facial #3: Forgot make-up. Mentioned this to therapist who offered her assistant to “do my face”. In a rush, so settled for a quick sponge-over with liquid mineral foundation.

Back at work, looking at myself in the mirror under the harsh fluoro lights in the ladies' loo (why are the lights in toilets always so unflattering?), I’m struck by how good my skin looks. Is that the Rejuvalight or the mineral foundation? If it’s the foundation, I’m buying some! Guess I’ll find out tonight.

After cleansing my face at bedtime, I still look indefinably better. Can’t quite put my finger on why, though – maybe I’m just imagining it? If I'd thought Rejuvalight was actually going to do something, I'd have taken a "Before" photo!

Facial #4: Remembered make-up ut can't see to apply it in the mood lighting in the salon. Later, in the loo at work applying make-up, I could swear the pigmentation on my cheeks looks lighter.

Facial #5: I had a real “Wow!” moment the morning after this treatment – but it’s going to sound awfully prosaic when I tell you what it was.

Let me explain for the young folks. We older women have an image of our face that’s stuck back in our 30’s, before it all started to head south. Every time we look in the mirror, there’s a split second when we think, “who’s that old bat?” before we realise that, actually, that’s us. No matter how old we get, we never get used to it!

So when I say I looked in the mirror the morning after treatment #5 and recognised myself immediately – it really was a huge deal! I felt like I was looking at a face I haven’t seen for about 10 years.

Sure, I still have wrinkles – but they've shrunk back to the edges of my eyes instead of creeping down my cheeks, and the skin feels firm and resilient instead of papery. I still look a bit sunken under the eyes, but the dark shadows have gone and there’s no puffiness. My double chin is still there, but my jowls have really lifted. What’s really weird is that the pigmentation on my left cheek has gone, but a patch on my chin - which I haven’t seen since I was a teenager – is back! It’s as if the Rejuvalight machine really is winding back the clock.

Facial #6: I mention my “Wow!” moment to my therapist and we speculate this is why some of her clients are thrilled with the results from Rejuvalight, whereas others are less impressed.

A surgical facelift can make you look as young and beautiful as you can afford. All Rejuvalight can do is give you back whatever beauty you had before your skin started to age. If you weren’t happy with the way you looked in your thirties or forties, that may not be enough for you.

In my book, the result is impressive for such a non-invasive treatment and well worth my money and time. But I’m wondering – is my newly youthful appearance a long-term change, or is it going to wear off? The therapist tells me it shouldn’t wear off – in fact, it should go on improving for a few weeks, as the collagen stimulated by the Rejuvalight continues to grow. It’s going to be interesting to see whether that’s true.

Overall, I’m delighted with my Rejuvalight experience. The initial course of treatments took a bit of commitment - but now, I'm told, a once-a-month booster is all I’ll need to maintain my skin – and that’s about the same price as a regular anti-aging facial.

*

All text copyright Marisa Wright. Photo courtesy of Megan on Flickr

Treatment undertaken at Paris Medispa, Level 1, 22 Market Street, Sydney, tel. (02) 9299 4848. The author has no affiliation with the salon, except as a satisfied customer!