I am often asked “Can an Aesthetician or Beauty Therapist use a particular product?”

To help clarify this question I have divided procedures and equipment products into “INVASIVE” and “NON INVASIVE” categories (see table below) where “invasive” is clearly the prerogative of Doctors and “non invasive” is clearly accessible to Salons.

Plastic surgery using the scalpel and general anaesthetic is clearly invasive and beauty skin treatment using Sonophoreses is clearly non-invasive.

For more contentious products I have created a third category called “MINIMALLY INVASIVE” and roughly graded products and procedures in all three categories from high end to low end.

When it comes to equipment use, my personal definition of “minimally invasive” is “any technology that is generally non-invasive but has the potential to cause damage in untrained hands.” This definition may be controversial however it is useful in shaping attitudes towards training to ensure that all operators treat safely.

I like the minimally invasive category because it is the area to which aestheticians can aspire with the right training. In addition doctors can hire aestheticians or nurses to use the equipment in this category and expand their range of services. Good results can be achieved by those who do not want to take the plunge and go under the knife. However, when it comes to loose skin, clients should not expect the same results as plastic surgery; at best it can delay the knife.

This raises an interesting dilemma. As in all treatments the first requirement is “do no harm”. On that basis when it comes to Cellulite, fat and firming, which product would you choose if the end result was somewhat similar?:-

a)RF Bulk Heating [eg Thermage, Titan, Elos, Accent etc] which is generally the most painful and is similar to jumping into a microwave oven and “cooking” the fat and cellulite plus everything else indiscriminately.

b)Fractional laser.  [eg Fraxel, Palomar Fractional erbium Laser] which “cooks” small zones thereby reducing the overall damage and thus tricking the body into overall stimulation. No pain or anaesthetic is required if contact cooling is employed

c)Beautytek which does no damage at all but rather stimulates the body at a cellular level causing it to function properly and rid the area of its fat and cellulite. Incidentally Beautytek is the only equipment that will firm breasts.

As a guide, I place beauty treatments and products into the 3 categories as follows:-

INVASIVE -

Sclerotherapy

Erbium 2940 Laser

Aptos Threads

Liposuction

CO2 Ablative Laser

Plastic Surgery

MINIMALY INVASIVE

Mono-polar RF [eg Thermage]

Bi-polar RF [eg Elos]

Leg Vein Yag Laser

Laser Hair Removal

Fractional I.P.L/Laser

I.P.L

Microdermabrasion

Dermal Infusion [eg Silkpeel]

NON INVASIVE

Sonophoreses

Iontophoreses

BeautyTek

Micro-currents

LLLT Leds[eg Omnilux, max7]

LLLT  [eg I-Clear

Endermologie [LPG ]

The most spectacular results will come from the invasive procedures performed by the Plastic Surgeons, however many people want improvement without going under the knife and they will generally select procedures out of the other two categories.

I have placed ATPOS threads and Sclerotherapy at the low end of invasive as these procedures require cosmetic doctors to perform them. The high end of invasive is the province of  Plastic Surgeons.

I have placed bulk heating devices such as Radio Frequency (RF) eg Thermage, Elos, Accent, etc, high on the minimally invasive list because of their potential for damage. By creating underlying scarring, which, it is alleged, reduces vascularity. This, in turn, reduces the ability to heal if later plastic surgery is required. Many clinics are disappointed by these technologies which are over-marketed and under-performing. Dr Julius Garcia (Plastic Surgeon) was quoted in the Wall Street Journal of 15th June 2006 as saying “I have a Thermage (machine) here in my office that I use to hang my clothes on.”

Microdermabrasion is used safely by many aestheticians and beauticians however it is on the low end of the minimally invasive list because it is operator dependant for results and it should not be used on dry skin. It also has the potential to cause uneven abrasion and even scarring. Much safer is Silkpeel Dermal Infusion because it is not operator dependant, treats cooler, and infuses skin-improvement fluids such as hyaluronic acid, hydroquinone, salicylic acid etc at the same time.                                                                                          

Fractional laser or Fractional IPL gives great results on loose skin with a good safety profile.

BeautyTek is an amazing new fat and firming machine that also has astounding results on firming breasts. It is the only Low Level Therapy [LLT} that is computer programmed to know when to stop the treatment. This is important as “more is not better” when it comes to LLT and this has been the shortcoming of low level laser, micro-currents, magnetic field and LEDs etc which put the cells back to sleep if over treated. Beautytek sits in the non invasive category.

The way ahead is Complimentary treatments. eg.

Dermal Infusion prepares the skin and improves any IPL’s performance. Red/Blue light combination therapy, after the IPL, heals the skin, reduces fine line wrinkles, and compliments the anti aging treatment. Nanotechnology after care booster [eg Leorex] completes the picture.

THE END RESULT IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS and it can be done without excessive damage to the skin structure by invasive technologies.

Brian Marshall,

Laser Physics Consultant