For some people, stretchmarks and scars are like a badge of honour, detailing a significant moment in their lives of which they survived – I love this; I love that we are learning to not only accept, but to be proud of what our incredible body can endure, but I also love that in the not-so-distant future, wearing our scars with pride might be a matter of choice due to the advancement in scar healing treatments.
One such treatment is the CryoSkin InTense Treatment for stretch mark reduction and skin rejuvenation at London Cryo, and yes, the treatment uses the power of magnetism to heal and regenerate the skin. The power of magnets have been used in the pharma industry for 20+ years now with great effect, it was only a matter of time before it crept into beauty products; most notably in Swiss beauty brand Réduit which uses magnetic misting to push tiny particles of actives into the skin and hair, dubbed “injectables without needles” for its ability to reach the deeper layers of the skin and achieve miraculous results (see my previous article on Réduit – it’s an absolute game changer!)
Also harnessing the power of magnets is another Swiss brand (the Swiss really do understand advanced skin care!) Doctor-led Meder Beauty (by Dr Tiina Meder); the new formula of best-seller ‘Hydra-Fill Concentrate’ is said to restore the hydration functionality of the skin by more than a decade in just 2 weeks! Meder use the natural principle of magnets via the ionic activity of the Hydra-Fill ingredients to retain moisture on the surface and in the lipid spaces of the keratinous layer – that’s a lot of science to say, your skin looks instantly smoother and hydrated! The instant effects are great, but the long-term rehab for your skin to relearn old skills is phenomenal; the skin of a 50-year-old woman could be functioning like it was when they were 35-38 in just 10-14 days of use! After 1 week I could already vouch for its ability to destroy the tight feeling I sometimes had after the shower, but 2 weeks on I can safely say, I trust the power of Meder for skin rejuvenation! In short; magnets work. Besides that, it is such a pleasure to use – an almost water-like consistency which sinks refreshingly into the skin and doesn’t ‘roll’ off when you apply your makeup on top.
So, back at London Cryo, I had the CryoSkin InTense treatment on old pregnancy stretch marks (14 years old) and a scar from a more recent operation. For me, the pregnancy ones don’t bother me at all – although they did at first! I’d smothered myself in pregnancy serums and balms throughout the entire 9 months of pregnancy and still ended up with what I called 1 and a half tiny stretch marks. ‘Half’ because it was barely noticeable. I moaned and moaned about them, then 3 years later, I became pregnant with my second child and before I barely had a bump, I felt the skin tear – like a ladder in tights! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked in the mirror and saw the red tear, I kept staring and staring at it until the then 3-year-old pointed at it and said, “me no like that!”. Cheers love. But as the years went on, I couldn’t remember a time of them not being there and they no longer bothered me, but I still remained in the camp of “I’d rather they weren’t there”. Ditto the surgical scar, so, I was more than happy to give this treatment a whirl.
The treatment starts with the therapist prepping the area; this feels very similar to microdermabrasion and isn’t painful just a bit scratchy. Next, the all-important amino acids are applied to the skin before an electromagnetic field is created by you holding an insulator and the therapist applying the conductor to your skin to push the amino acids into the scar tissue while simultaneously ‘sucking’ up the skin. The ‘sucking’ of the skin (yes, that is the scientific term for it…) is particularly helpful to old stretch marks and scarring that has dipped inward as the flatter the scar is, the more ‘regular’ the texture appears.
The skin is also heated to a maximum of 39 degrees to stimulate the Type 3 Collagen – this is the collagen which helps with the healing process. After the treatment, the skin will be red for a day or 2 but there is no discomfort at all.
The treatment itself is quick- 25 minutes – but the process is much longer; you should aim to have 1-2 treatments per week and up to 12 treatments in total, plus, the longer the scars have been there, the longer they will take to repair. I noticed this quite clearly comparing the old stretch marks to the newer surgical scar (but I also think a ‘cut’ scar will be more responsive to treatment than a ‘torn’ scar).
The stretch marks initially looked more visible to me because they weren’t dented in anymore so appeared almost wider than before and of course scar tissue has no pigment in it, making a clear contrast to the healthy skin. But, the beauty of this treatment is that it enables pigment to come back into the scar tissue, so eventually, with sun exposure (always stay protected of course) the skin tone evens out and camouflages the scarring! Now, 6 months and 1 holiday later, the stretch marks aren’t invisible, but they certainly aren’t massively noticeable either – you’d be hard pushed to find them on any of my holiday snaps which is a very nice feeling (for me) indeed! An unexpected bonus to the treatment was a reduction in crepiness of the skin in that area too! Based on my own experience, I’d imagine that results will vary quite considerably from person to person; things like the age of the scar, your skin type, your health and whether you generally heal quite well or not will all have an impact on your overall result but for me, it was definitely worth it!
CryoSkin InTense; single session £300, 5 sessions £1250, 10 sessions £2000 www.londoncryo.com
Réduit from £18.90 https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk
Meder HydraFill Concentrate, £115, 30ml www.mederbeauty.com