Featured in Beauty Biz Year 15, Issue 2.
Whether it be due to excess sebum, stress, medication, diet or hormones, acne is a pain! A pain to manage and to treat, not just for the client, but also for the therapist. I would have to say it is one of the most challenging skin conditions to manage because it requires a holistic approach that also heavily involves client commitment and long-term perseverance to having treatments in clinic as well as doing the right thing outside of the clinic too.
Acne affects more than 85% of Australians at some stage throughout their life, with increased flare-ups and inflammation seen during the last 2 years. Possibly because of the increase in stress levels and or mask wearing, either way the problem is real and so many therapists’ want to know the best way to manage acne and the scars left, with the various aesthetic devices on the market. As I mentioned, a holistic approach is required: diet and supplements (very good idea to collaborate with a gut-health professional, or at least be aware of what your clients should look out for in their diet... something that will be covered in my upcoming Acne Workshop).
High quality and active skincare is a great way to help manage acne - clean, nourish, hydrate, and protect. By using topicals that will deeply cleanse and exfoliate the skin without irritating it, (such as the Skindividual Phyto-Active Multi-action exfoliant), other active can be better absorbed and penetrate where required, in the dermis. There are so many active ingredients and topicals to help with managing acne, but one of the most important ones, apart from a good hydrator and Sun protection, is an excellent liposomally encapsulated Retinaldehyde (Vitamin A). Retinaldehyde will not only regulate the production of sebum, but will also increase cellular turnover, repair damaged DNA, strengthen capillaries and allow the skin to synthesise collagen to help with remodelling and stimulating the production of collagen - especially when used prior to any aesthetic treatment, and the good news is - it doesn’t cause photosensitivity!
I’m going to focus your attention on aesthetic treatments that you can provide to your clients to help manage their acne and effectively treat both superficial and deep acne scarring:
Light Therapy
Blue Light LED is a brilliant for acne, it’s non-thermal and can be used on most skin types safely. Light absorption leads to photo-excitation of porphyrins and the subsequent release of singlet oxygen and reactive free radicals that have bactericidal effects on P. acnes.
Longer wavelengths, such as red LED (633nm) can be used alongside other aesthetic treatments, to help enhance results by increasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), AKA cellular energy in the mitochondria. By increasing ATP - wound healing increases by 50% and fibroblast production is increased by 155%. Whereas, infra-red brings about anti-inflammatory properties by influencing cytokine release from macrophages, and for post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH). LED really should be a non-negotiable when performing any aesthetic treatment!
Laser
Radio Frequency
Micro-Needling
Plasma Fibroblast
Microdermabrasion
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