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sheila I feature THERAPY Flash Kapow! It's time to zap away pigmentation, fine lines and sagging skin TEXT: Kristen Watts I t's astounding how the effects of time creep up on you. One minute, you're applying foundation to a face that's as smooth as a baby's backside and wondering why everyone else is fussing over moisturiser and serums. And then, in what feels like a heartbeat, you've noticed the baddies have taken you by stealth. Lines have formed around your eyes and there's that uneven skin tone you've heard older women complaining about. Before you've even had time to say "book me in for botox", you find fine fissures forming around your once perky pout and then shock, horror your whole face has dropped resulting in jowls that share an uncanny resemblance to those you loathe on your mother's face. Time to call in the beauty super heros. Don't worry, I hear what you are saying. Botox is great but too much and you risk losing the ability to scowl at misbehaving children or show delight when your husband comes home unexpectedly with flowers. (Ok the latter may never happen, but still, it would be nice to express happiness with sincerity.) Believe it or not, the answer to many of your problems could be as simple as flash, zap, light fantastic. It's been around since the late 1950s and you probably started hearing about its widespread use for beauty therapy about a decade when it was unaffordable and results were questionable. But according to Maryann Rowan, senior medical aesthetician at Assure Medispa, laser and IPL has improved dramatically since the 1950s. And its applications have also broadened. THE PERSON administering the treatment is "Be careful to ENSURE QUALIFIED & experienced" FULLY "Both laser and IPL treatments are now available for the skin," she says. "Across the full range of machines, it is possible to treat red and brown pigmentation, scarring, for example following trauma or acne, broken veins and capillaries, tattoo removal, wrinkles and skin laxity. Leg veins are also treatable," she says. Intense Pulsed Light therapy or IPL as it is commonly known, treats a range of skin and age-related beauty problems. In the hands of an experienced and trained operator, these days results can be quite spectacular, but disaster can strike easily when lesser-quality machines are used by technicians who are not properly qualified to operate them. I mportantly, a properly trained technician with a great machine will be able to achieve maximum results and when you are looking at between $300 and $500 for a full face treatment of IPL – you want your money to buy results. "anyone considering having IPL or laser treatment must be careful to ensure the person administering the treatment is fully qualified and experienced," Maryann says. "Dangers include hypopigmentation, hyperpigmentation, burns (and therefore scarring) and infection – particularly with ablative lasers which remove the top layer of the skin." Maryann says a medical grade machine will deliver reliable, accurate results. "When treating your skin, this is obviously paramount," she says. "Medical grade machines are usually SHEILA JULY 2012 81