Aggressive vs Progressive.

With lots of treatments on the market that promise the world with seemingly miraculous results in super quick time, How do we know what’s the real deal and what’s too good to be true. Read on to learn what considerations you should be making when selecting treatments for your skin.

First- What do we mean by aggressive treatments? This term can be applied to treatments like chemical peels, lasers and microneedling and is generally when the power, percentage or intensity of a treatment is turned up in order to get a quick result. The downside of this (which isn’t always apparent immediately) is the damage it can cause to your skin in the process meaning that months down the line different skin issues can arise. We’ve seen this in clinic time and time again, where a patient has initially had a nice result but later on the skin has become irritated due to the skins barrier becoming compromised and layers becoming detached, leading to breakouts, eczema, dermatitis, rosacea, accelerated ageing and sometimes an increase or even total loss of pigmentation.

Non-aggressive uses less intensity but an accumulative approach meaning it can take longer to get the results. however once the desired result is achieved it can be easily maintained and without any unwanted side effects, the skins barrier remains in-tact and so none of the nasties from the outside world get in and cause problems.

So what should we look out for? Claims that suggest results can be achieved in very few treatments or a matter of weeks are likely to be more aggressive. Ask to see case studies of work and if the results were maintained at 12 months plus. Ask about downtime following the treatment and any potential side effects (there are always some) How well trained and experienced is the practitioner delivering the treatments and are they giving you realistic expectations? Remember skin is a living organ and therefor not an exact science so in reality precise results can never be determined. What is the cost off the treatment? if it seems unusually low this should be a red flag warning.

Sadly when it comes to problematic skin, there are no quick fixes. it takes time and consistency and as the old saying goes if it seems to good to be true, it probably is!