Introducing: An At-Home Alternative to a Fraxel!

Ever wondered how celebrities have such perfect skin? Even though you know they’re hopping on and off airplanes, working ’til the wee hours on set, smoking like chimneys and wearing truckloads of heavy makeup? (All things that would turn the average person’s face dull, dry and covered in zits within a hot minute.)

For the most part, no, they’re not born with perfect complexions. Don’t be silly! They work at it. And thank God for the likes of Kim Kardashian, who is willing to fill us in on her beauty secrets.

The beauty revealed the secret to her porcelain, pore-free complexion: she gets Fraxel. Kim said in an interview with Oprah: ‘I’m like, girls, you should go get a Fraxel laser on your face. I’m really open about telling all my friends and my sisters what the best treatments are.’

Fraxel is the brand name of a laser skin resurfacing treatment that you get at the dermatologist’s or plastic surgeon’s office, and it works by delivering tiny holes of heat deep into the skin. The heat wipes out dead and damaged skin cells and stimulates new collagen formation, but because it’s happening only through the small columns, the surrounding skin is left intact—meaning there’s no downtime. Back in the day, resurfacing meant burning all your skin off at once and then waiting weeks for it to heal. Fun times! How many treatments you need depends on your skin type and condition; it can dramatically even out your skin tone, erase pigmentation, smooth fine lines and wrinkles, minimise pores and even fade scars.

The downside is that it costs a pretty penny, gulp. So unless you’re Kim K, it’s a big investment. So you can understand our excitement at the first at-home alternative!

An at-home alternative to Fraxel

Tria Skin Rejuvenating Laser – 2950 AED. OMG, it’s a handheld device that lets you do the same kind of thing at home.

Based on the same technology as professional fractionated laser treatments: it delivers light that creates microscopic injuries in the skin, triggering the elimination of damaged cells and the production of new collagen. Obviously, they can’t make it as potent as the office kind (otherwise you could hurt yourself), but the benefit is that you can DIY… again and again and again.

The device is approved for use on the cheeks, chin and forehead plus around the eyes and mouth. It’s safe for all skin tones, but can’t be used on skin that contains permanent makeup or skin that is tattooed, infected, burned or cut (ouchie).

The Benefits

You can expect to see visible improvement in skin texture after just two weeks of daily use (once per day). There are three settings; depending on whether you use Low, Medium or High, each session takes between two to 10 minutes. That’s not a lot of time at all, right?

The best results come after a full eight-week course of treatment (they recommend eight weeks on, four weeks off) and get better the longer you use it. A few weeks after the eight-week mark, you’re should start seeing improvements in discolouration and fine lines and wrinkles.

The Tria Skin Rejuvenating Laser is available from Bloomingdales, Harvey Nichols and Citruss TV and is priced at AED 2950. For more information please visit www.triabeauty.com