Read on to find out…
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Pigmentation
Pigmentation; Suzanne Scott, ELLE Beauty Writer
I have always had very pale, Irish colouring and I suppose if it wasn’t for the spattering of freckles over my shoulders my skin could probably be called porcelain. As it is my skin is milky white and freckle-free pretty much all over except on my shoulders which makes summer tank tops a no-go area. My friends tell me that they hardly notice them whereas whenever I see them I am always reminded of a particularly bad case of sunburn I had when I was in my early teens.
Now in my 28th year I have come to accept my colouring and slather on the factor 50 at even the merest hint of sunshine. It’s not that I can’t tan, it just takes a burn to get there and I don’t want to risk the wrinkles or the cancer. It was a different story when I was younger while holidaying in Greece with my parents I plainly ignored my mum’s attempts to cocoon me in sun cream and instead chose to stay in the swimming pool, in blistering heat from sun rise to sun set. The result wasn’t pretty, a nasty case of heat stroke, a lot of vomiting, a VERY painful burn and equally painful and very unattractive blistering. The freckles and uneven pigmentation is result of my sheer stupidity. So in my quest to right a wrong I booked in to see Dr Berkowitz at Wimpole Aesthetics.
After examining my shoulders, praising my current obsession with SPF and chiding my previous aversion to it, he made an appointment for me to see him again in three weeks time when he will use a laser to target the freckles, which will heat them from the inside out and make them shrivel up and drop off. In the mean time he gave me a strong skin brightening serum to use every night over my shoulders. The serum helps minimise the immediate hyper pigmentation which normally comes about after a laser treatment.
Visit Wimpole Aesthetics’ website...
Teeth
Uneven teeth; Georgia Collins, ELLE Deputy Beauty Editor
Ever since I was young I‘ve hated my teeth. When the full set of my adult teeth emerged, I recall hating the way the front four stuck out at odd angles with large gaps in between. When all my friends were getting braces aged 15 I remember feeling jealous that in a year or so they would all have a cookie-cutter perfect smile.
My own dentist flatly refused to give me treatment because he didn’t think it necessary, and my mother never pushed it, relieved I suppose at the prospect of avoiding expensive dentistry.
I was forever told they ‘weren’t that bad’ but once it was in my head it niggled and niggled and I soon stopped smiling properly, convinced that people were staring at my crooked teeth. It’s a feeling that’s plagued me into adulthood and, fed up with always hiding a toothy grin behind my hand, I’ve decided to tackle it.
At 29 I’m stupidly too vain to get fixed braces, but after a little research have found that the Invisalign procedure ought to help straighten and re align my wonky set, and with minimum fuss, impact and effort. Using clear retainers made from moulds of my teeth, they are re shaped and structured over a course of a few months until they’re back in alignment.
After deciding to have my treatment at the Harley Street Dental Studio with Dr Adam Thorne, I’m now a few months in and things are looking promising.
Read more about Invisalign here…
http://www.invisalign.com/Pages/default.aspx
Acne
Teenage skin in my twenties; Amy Lawrenson, ELLEuk.com Beauty Writer
I have bad skin; I also have a habit of picking. Combined it’s a bit of a disaster for my complexion. After years of trying over-the-counter lotions and potions, enough is enough. It’s time to call on a dermatologist to sort my skin out once and for all.
So I book a consultation with Cosmetic Dermatologist Dr Sam Bunting on Harley Street. She tells me that while 85% of teenagers experience acne, a surprisingly high 50% is still suffering in their twenties and thirties. I didn’t have spots until I moved to London, so I’m determined to get back the clear complexion I had before.
Mild acne can often be cured by using a carefully selected cocktail of over-the-counter products (more on that next time).
As my acne is more than mild, over the next month I’ll be combining skincare from La Roche Posay, Avene and Cetaphil (Dr Bunting approved over-the-counter brands) with a prescription of antibiotics and creams - Differin (a retinoid cream) and Duac (to kill bacteria). So as not to ruin all my hard work I'm stripping back my oversize make-up bag and relying on Vichy Dermablend foundation, £19, which is non-comodogenic (so it won't make my spots worse) and doctor approved - you can get it prescribed on the NHS.
I’ve been warned my acne could get worse before it gets better, I’ll keep you posted…
Click here to visit Dr Sam Bunting’s website…
Excess Weight
Excess weight around the middle; Emma Smith, ELLE and ELLEuk.com Beauty Director
Here's the inconvenient truth I would like to ignore, but unfortunately with a wedding on the horizon (eight weeks to be exact) I can't: after a certain age, I would say 27, 28, it is no longer easy to shift weight, especially around the midriff area. And I love food, it is the centrepiece of my day, and thinking of depriving myself is quite frankly as disagreeable to me as my dog finds visiting the vet.
So it's time to grab the bull by the horns so to speak and man up to years and years of a lukewarm commitment to exercise and aversion to diet.
I'm calling in the big guns: James Duigan's Flat Stomach Fast will be my dietary bible; Bodyism founder and all round super star trainer Dalton Wong will be putting me through my paces; while a series of waist shrinking treatments from Mama Mio, which promise to get the circumference down as much as an inch, should do the rest.
So, I suppose it's time to put the almond croissant from Pret-a-Manger down (oh how I will miss you) and get started.
Clean & Lean Flat Tummy Fast! By James Duigan at amazon.co.uk
Visit the Bodyism website…
http://www.bodyism.com/
Click here for all Mama Mio products and treatments
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