Category: Skin problems and treatments

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Since celebrities became a ‘thing’ people have always tried to emulate their look, beauty regimes and style. These days with social media and celebrity magazines, we are constantly flooded with the latest pictures of celebrities on holiday, at star studded events and even just walking their dog, which means there’s even more inspiration for us to take from the things they do and use to look so incredible.

You would think every celebrity had the bank balance to opt for the most expensive lotions and potions, and they probably do, but you’d be surprised to know a lot of them have some shockingly cheap and simple beauty routines and products affordable to all of us.

So what are the unusual & cheap celebrity beauty hacks we don’t know about?

Eye Cream As Face Cream

According to the Daily Mail, Beyonce “applies eye cream all over her face instead of using standard moisturiser”. Which actually makes sense, because eye cream is generally lighter and more easily absorbed than standard face cream. Although this is a simple hack, it’s probably not something to follow if your eye cream is expensive – the tubes and tubs are tiny so you’ll look great, but your bank balance will be empty!

Kale

Kale is definitely a big hit at the moment, with people juicing it, steaming it and consuming it in raw salads. It’s the humble superfood that causes everyone and anyone to go ‘Kale Yeah!’. Mr Weatherford, advisor to singer Rhianna and model Karlie Kloss states that “it’s important to nourish the body from within” – (Daily Mail). And it makes sense – true health comes from within, so if you want your skin to naturally glow – eat the right foods.

Mayo Hair Dip

Hair can become extremely brittle at the ends when you don’t have regular trims, or when you colour or bleach it regularly. According to Blake lively her Mum used to – “put oil or mayonnaise on the bottom half of her hair before she would shower. That way, when she would shampoo, the soap wouldn’t strip the bottom of the hair and dry it out, making it brittle.” – (Daily Mail). According to the same article, it’s a tip she still follows today which shows sometimes Mums do know best!

Apple Cider Vinegar Toner

Lots of celebrities will try and be eco-friendly and stick to more natural beauty regimes where possible. They might have access to all the most expensive products, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those products are the best. According to the Daily Mail – “Scarlett Johansson decided to seek a natural way to keep her porcelain skin clear and glowing.”.  Apple cider vinegar might not smell very nice, but it’s only around 80p a bottle from a well known supermarket, and have you seen her skin? Perfection.

Strawberry Teeth Whitening

Catherine Zeta Jones is a home grown beauty from Wales and it looks like her beauty solutions are pretty home grown as well. In a recent Now interview she stated – “‘I love to eat an apple after a meal, just to cleanse my teeth – they always look polished afterwards,If there aren’t any apples in the fruit bowl, a strawberry will suffice.The juice or pulp of strawberries contains malic acid which serves as an astringent and can lighten surface stains.”. – (Daily Mail). So there you have it, save yourself hundreds avoiding laser teeth whitening and nosh on some of Britain’s red dimpled favourites to get that A lister smile!

Ground Coffee

In an interview with Cosmopolitan Halle Berry said that she likes to mix ground coffee and body wash together to create a detoxifying scrub. Although it might sound odd to some, this isn’t actually that crazy. When you drink coffee it is known to cause cellulite but when you apply it directly to the skin, it has the opposite effect as it contains lots of useful antioxidants that help drain the lymphatic system and flush out those pesky dimples.

Loofah Hair Smoother

If you thought straighteners were the only way to get Gwyneth’s poker straight locks, you were wrong. According to the Daily Mail – “Gwyneth’s hairdresser apparently wraps her damp hair around the sponge before blasting it with a hairdryer to tame loose fly-aways.”.

Loo Roll Armpit Mops

One of the worst things that can happen when you go on a night out is you sweat on the journey and start off your evening with ugly sweat patches on your dress. Nobody can walk that look off with confidence. Jessica Biel told Elle – “In the car on my way to premieres and awards shows, I’ll sit with tissue paper under my armpits so I don’t soil the delicate dress fabric.” – (Daily Mail). It’s a novel way to keep sweat ruining your look but we sure don’t fancy catching the number 28 into town with loo roll under our pits!

So there you have it, a few wacky and wonderful beauty hacks from those at the top of their game. Will you be using a loofah to straighten your hair? Or are you planning on dipping your hair in mayo when you get a shower later? We say, do whatever works for you, we love the sound of Halle’s coffee scrub but we’ll be sticking to drinking our Soy Hazelnut Latte for now.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Are you looking for cleaner, clearer, younger looking skin? Then we have the perfect solution for you. Here at Premier Laser we have an incredible new treatment available in our Soho clinic called Skinbreeze, designed to provide our clients with the latest innovative, skin resurfacing technology.

What Is Skinbreeze?

Skinbreeze is a salon based, skin resurfacing treatment that combines LED light therapy, O2 infusion, and Orbital Microdermabrasion. The Orbital Dermabrasion reduces fine lines and blemishes gently and effectively. The LED light therapy neutralises bacteria and reduces redness. And the O2 product infusion increases the skin’s absorption of all the high quality Skinbreeze products used on your skin throughout the treatment. Skinbreeze is a thorough and detailed 3 step treatment using groundbreaking techniques to obtain optimum results.

What Does Skinbreeze Treat?

Skinbreeze is an innovative treatment able to freshen, brighten and smooth all skin types. It can effectively treat or significantly improve:

• Wound healing
• Inflammation of the skin
• Lines and wrinkles
• Acne
• Stretch marks
• Sun damage
• Age spots
• Dry skin

What Are The Benefits Of Skinbreeze?

Skinbreeze has many benefits for all skin types and is a fantastic choice for anyone looking for a significant improvement in the appearance of their skin. The main benefits of the treatment are:

Anti Ageing

Skinbreeze combats the signs of ageing and helps improve under eye dark circles, wrinkles and fine lines

Skin Brightening

Skinbreeze actively brightens your entire complexion, reducing redness, balancing out the overall tone of the skin, reducing discolouration and pigmentation

It’s Needle Free

No need for a needle with Skinbreeze which means it’s a fabulous and effective alternative to cosmetic injections like fillers

Hydration

Skinbreeze hydrates the skin by replenishing any moisture loss

Combatting Sun Damage

Skinbreeze effectively calms, soothes and repairs sun damage

Smoking Lines

Skinbreeze softens smokers lines, improving the common lip lines associated with smoking. The treatment plumps the skin, contributing to fuller looking lips

Hands

Skinbreeze helps diminish age spots on the hands, evens out the skin tone and intensively moisturises hands leaving them looking plumper, smoother and younger looking

A Step By Step Overview

Skinbreeze involves a 3 step treatment which takes approximately 60 minutes in total.

Step 1

Our treatment begins with gentle Orbital Dermabrasion and LED light therapy. We use silicon carbide coated tips which come in three different levels of coarseness depending on your skin type. The orbital microdermabrasion treatment can be used with 20 different speed settings, which means we can tailor its use to the different areas of your skin, and to your skin type ensuring a bespoke treatment and optimum results for your individual needs.

The tips gently exfoliate the skin whilst the blue and red LED lights help the skin recover from the signs of day to day skin damage, ageing and sun damage. The lasers also help stimulate collagen production.

Step 2

Following your Orbital Microdermabrasion treatment we deliver a Skinbreeze serum to your skin using a high pressure O2 infusion technique. The O2 infusion enables the serum to penetrate deeply into the skin, reducing fine lines and wrinkles and producing a firmer, plumper appearance. After this treatment we use an air powered spray gun which delivers a fine mist of hydrating serum to the skin, reviving it, cooling it and refreshing it.

Step 3

The last phase of the treatment is a Skinbreeze Hydro Mask which is placed on the skin for 20 minutes whilst we massage your skin using an orbital ebrasor. The ebrasor gently massages the face encouraging any excess fluids to drain towards the lymph nodes which will reduce any residual puffiness.

If you’re interested in our latest innovative Skinbreeze treatment, please don’t hesitate to give us a call, we’re excited to talk to you about this wonderful new service on offer right now at our Soho clinic.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

As women, we all have certain times of the day we feel our best. Some of us are morning people and simply glow in the AM, some of us are night owls and feel the most energetic of an evening. But regardless of how we feel, when do we look our best?

A poll of a thousand women completed by London Premier Laser showed that women look their best at precisely 10.06AM on a Monday morning. Who knew?

The day we all dread, the start of the working week when we’re still getting over our weekend sins is when we hit our beauty peak. Definitely good to know when we’re morbidly sipping coffee questioning our ‘unorganised chic’ office attire grimacing thinking of the week ahead.

The poll showed that:

• 10.06AM is when we’re most likely to get chatting with colleagues at the start of the week
• Women feel their lowest at 4.05PM on a Thursday
• Between 9AM and 11AM is when we’re at our ‘beauty peak’
• 31 per cent of women consider Monday their favourite day of the week (which shows how many of us love our careers)
• 23 percent of us consider Friday our favourite day of the week (no need for explanation there!)
• 72 percent of women like to ‘hit the ground running’ when it comes to their beauty routine

If you’re not a morning person it might surprise you to see you’re at your most gorgeous around an hour after you start work and your least gorgeous in the afternoon.

But if you think about it, by late afternoon most days you’re probably more than ready to go home, coming down from your afternoon chocolate sugar hit and in need of a makeup refreshment. So it actually makes sense.

And by Thursday afternoon when we feel our lowest, most of us have the weight of the week on our shoulders and the poll shows, that it shows in our face.

If you want to glow all the time and don’t want the time of day to dictate your WOW factor, here are three beauty boosting complexion treatments you could try:

The Vampire Facelift

We’ve all heard about it, but who has actually tried it? Well the vampire facelift has proven to be a popular facial treatments at London Premier Laser , why? Because it’s not as grim as it sounds! It only takes up to an hour, uses your own blood, there’s no recovery time and it can lead to smoother, brighter skin. Quick enough to fit into your lunch break on maybe…Thursday?

Vitamin C Rejuvenation Peel

We know vitamin C is good for us, but did you know it’s 20 times better for your skin applied directly than when you eat it? That’s why the vitamin c rejuvenation peel treatment is so popular. It’s basically a gentle exfoliation treatment from London Premier Laser using pharmaceutical grade Vitamin C, Alpha and Beta Hydroxy Acids and fruit enzymes. Sounds great right? It is! It can help with acne, sensitive skin, dry skin, older skin and even Rosacea. Plus, while it’s doing it’s magic on your skin you get a shoulder and scalp massage thrown in – all in less than an hour. Makes the skin brighter, younger looking, more refreshed and the results last up to 6-8 weeks.

Obagi Blue Peel Radiance

Sound exotic? That’s because it is! The Obagi Blue Peel Radiance is so exotic in fact it could give you that 10.06AM Monday morning feeling all day every day for months! It’s a quick, salicylic acid-based peel available from London Premier Laser and is suitable for all skin types, helps with acne scarring, photodamage, melasma as well as contributing to smoother, younger looking skin. Takes up to an hour, has little to no downtime and results can last up to 4-6 months.

So remember, when you’re feeling your worst after a weekend of fun, when the clock hits 10.06AM you might not feel great, but you look fabulous! Want that 10.06AM feeling all day every day? Consider some facial treatments from London Premier Laser.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Manny Pacquiao if you are reading this then I am sorry but you are not going to find any secret tips or insider knowledge that will help you beat “May-weather” here, well not unless you are about to book a sunny holiday abroad with your 100 million plus earnings from this Saturdays bout.

The Sun has been generously gracing us with her presence this last few weeks and it’s only going to get hotter in May. Us Brits love the Sun and while a lot of other counties take the hot weather for granted we treasure every minute she decides to play out. And why not? The beer gardens fill up, the barbeques come out and everyone wears colourful sunny clothes.

Staying Safe in the Sun

If you are planning to have a bit of a garden party, barbeque or just generally going to spend a lot of time in the sun then you will need to protect yourself from its harmful rays. Prolonged exposure to sunlight can cause:

• Premature ageing of the skin
• Sunburnt skin
• Dryness and itching
• Eye irritation and cataracts
• Bumpy rashes
• Skin cancer

Although many of us know the dangers of sun exposure, we can get a little lazy when it comes to protecting our skin. Some people ironically even choose to expose themselves to the harmful UV rays to make themselves ‘look healthier’.

So what are the best ways to protect yourself?

Cover Up:

One of the easiest things that you can do to protect your skin is to cover up. Although this is usually the opposite of what many people want to do, it is one of the best methods so stay safe.  The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends wearing hats and clothing made of dark, tightly woven materials as these are better at absorbing the harmful UV rays.

Shade

During the hours of 11:00 – 15:00 when the sun is at its hottest it is a good idea to find some shade from time to time just to cool down and get a little cover before venturing back out into the heat.

Sun Cream

Make sure to apply plenty of sun cream, especially to areas that are not often exposed to the sun on a daily basis. It is recommended that you use a SPF of 15 and above, however the higher the SPF the better protection you will have. Make sure to apply a generous coating – not using enough cream can reduce the effectiveness by up to 50%.

Protect Sensitive Areas

As mentioned above it is especially important to protect sensitive regions. It can be easy to forget areas like the tops of ears, nose, top of chest, hairline and even your feet if you are wearing sandals or going barefooted.

Wear Sunglasses

Long term exposure to sunlight can increase your chances of developing cataracts and directly looking at the Sun can permanently scar the retina. Using sunglasses that block out the harmful UV rays is the best way to protect your eyes.

Don’t Get Fooled

Even though you might not be able to see the Sun due to cloud cover don’t be fooled into thinking that you are not in any danger from Sun damage. Ultraviolet rays can just as easily penetrate clouds and cause harm to your skin.

Remember if you don’t want to look like you have gone 12 rounds with the likes of Mayweather and Pacquiao then make sure to take the necessary precautions above in order to stay safe in the sun.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

For those who suffer with them, ingrown hairs can be an uncomfortable, unsightly nightmare. Ingrown hairs occur when a normal hair, growing from any area of the body that’s commonly shaved, such as legs, armpits or the pubic area, curls back around and grows back into the skin.

This produces red spots, which can become infected and sore, and not only are they itchy, they’re unattractive too.

Often common in people with curly, coarse or wiry hair, the cause tends to be an accumulation of dead skin cells blocking the follicle, and corrupting the angle at which hair grows. Shaved hairs are coarser and sharper too, so much more likely to re-enter the skin. As a result, many choose to prevent ingrown hairs long term by using laser hair removal and ditching the razor.

So what can you do if you’re plagued by ingrown hairs? Follow these steps and you’ll never look back.

1. Exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate!

Because the most common cause of ingrown hairs is a build up of skin particles blocking hair growth, the most effective way of preventing them is to exfoliate the skin properly. Remove those dead skin cells and you’ll tackle the root of the problem quickly.

2. Bring the hairs out with a hot compress

It’s no good preventing ingrown hairs if you’ve got a few causing problems already. To rid yourself of existing ingrown hairs, you need to bring them to the surface of the skin, and the best method is using a hot compress. Use a washcloth and press it against the affected area, and continue for a few minutes. The hair will start to surface, and then you can remove it with tweezers.

3. Be careful with your tweezers

Tweezers are precise and incredibly useful, but there’s a particular method required. Some ingrown hairs already break the surface of the skin, but make sure there’s enough to get hold of, the tweezers are sterilized before you go near broken skin with them, and don’t try to dig for it. Infection is a common problem with ingrown hairs and tweezers can make matters worse when used improperly.

4. Apply some aloe vera

If your skin is already irritated, red and itchy, some aloe vera gel applied twice a day can work wonders. Aloe vera’s properties are particularly good for burns and skin problems, and some even claim that it’s preventative.

5. Medicate it!

Some common medications are also particularly effective. Aspirin contains salicylic acid, which helps to exfoliate the skin, but, of course, it’s no good taking it orally. Crush a few tablets, combine with oil and apply to the areas that are affected. If you do this regularly, it can treat the problem pretty effectively.

On top of this, acne medication such as benzoyl peroxide can alleviate infected areas, as they’re much the same as spots. They’ll take the swelling down and make them much less painful too. Benzoyl peroxide is available as a cream or gel from chemists, but, as the name suggests, it has bleaching properties so be careful of your clothes, and try not to use it too often, as it’s usually very concentrated.

6. And finally…egg membrane?

This one’s a bit of an odd one, but for people really suffering from ingrown hairs, it can’t hurt to try. The inside of an egg shell has a smooth membrane on it that can be peeled off, and not only has it been found to help cuts heal, and bring out blackheads, it can also bring ingrown hairs with it when applied to the skin and left to dry.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] What Makes A Tattoo Permanent?

Think about this for a while, what actually makes tattoos permanent and not easy to remove unless you have expensive lasers?

You could be forgiven for thinking that the reason has something to do with the depth in which the ink is deposited into the skin, but as you are about to discover things are not quite that simple.

In actual fact the microscopic war between your immune system and the dye is what actually enables tattoos to take up a permanent residency under your skin.

When someone gets a tattoo it acts as a sort of infection and this “infection” is attacked by the body’s immune system resulting in a sequence of events that enable the tattoo to happily stay put, evading your body’s defensive system.

The Human Skin Cycle

To better understand how tattoos work we will take a little detour and briefly explain how the human bodies largest organ, the skin, repairs and regenerates itself.

Your skin is made up of several layers with the very top layer that you can see on the outside being the epidermis.

The epidermis is composed of cells that are made of keratin. In case you have never heard of keratin it is a hard, strong substance that also makes up your hair and nails.

The individual cells of these are known as keratinocytes and these grow at the lowest level of the epidermis which is fused with the second layer of skin called the dermis. The keratinocytes push up their way from the bottom until they finally reach the top where they die and then break away.

As old cells die and are shedded from the skin new keratinocytes are ready to take their place completing a full cycle which takes roughly around a month.

Back To Tattoos

Something doesn’t seem quite right here, if our skin replaces itself every month or so why does the tattoo remain? Put simply they do not shed as the ink is deposited in the dermis layer of the skin, underneath the epidermis which has the monthly shed cycle. This helps explain why tattoos don’t shed away but not why they are permanent.

Tattoo needles work by punching their way through the epidermis at 50 to 3,000 times a minute, depositing the ink deep into the dermis. The dermis is composed of collagen fibres, nerves, glands and blood vessels – every time the needle penetrates the skin it causes a wound that alerts the immune system cells to the source of the damaged skin to begin repair efforts and to decrease inflammation. It is this process that is responsible for the permanent nature of tattoos.

Stage 1: The Clean Up Process

Specialised cells named Macrophages are sent in to “digest” the ink in an attempt to clean up the inflammatory mess. Some of these cells travel back to the lymph nodes full of ink while others remain in the dermis. As these cells have no way of disposing of the ink the pigment stays in the remaining Macrophages and can be visible though the skin. Other ink particles that are left are engulfed by dermal calls that are called fibroblasts.

Stage 2: Epidermal Regeneration

When the tattoo needle injects ink into the dermis, the ink is also deposited in the epidermis as well. However as the skin heals itself from the puncture wounds caused by the tattoo needle, the epidermal cells are shed and are then replaced by new skin cells, that are dye free. This process usually takes around 2-4 weeks for full epidermal regeneration.

Stage 3: The Death Of Replacement Of Dermal Cells

Unlike the epidermis cells the dermal cells remain in place until they die. They are then absorbed, ink included, by new and younger cells nearby resulting in the tattoo staying put.

Stage 4: The Fight To The End

The tattoo will slowly fade over time as the immune system is locked in a constant battle to remove the alien pigment from the body. Although the immune system is forever passively trying to remove the tattoo its ability to do so dramatically diminishes after the first round of macrophages.

Animated Video:

Please watch this video by Ted Ed which animates the process described above:

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The Golden Rules Of Getting A Tattoo

Getting your first tattoo can be a very exciting time, but be warned, make sure you have given the decision some serious thought before you go ahead and get inked.

Just like all the people who are in love with there skins etchings, there are also thousands of people who are starring at their tattoos and wondering why they ever had them done.

Never let anyone tell you that you should not get a tattoo as it is a personal choice BUT make sure that choice is the right one.

Do your homework, speak to a few people who have had tattoos and visit some tattoo parlours in your local area before you let the excitement take control and do something which you may regret later on in life.

However saying that if you do decided to get a tattoo then take into consideration these golden rules:

1) Colour 

Do you want a black and white tattoo or are you looking at getting one with colour? This may not sound like such an important question but later on down the line it could be. With the Laser Tattoo Removal treatment works it can remove black tattoos very effectively but some colours such as green and blue can be very difficult to erase.

2) Avoid Names

It may seem like a romantic gesture at the time to get your girlfriends name inked onto your arm but what happens 2 years down the line when you decide to split up. Sure you can always try and find a new girlfriend with the same name but wouldn’t it have been easier to have never got it done in the first place?

3) Work

Tattoos have become more common and as a result become more socially acceptable. However there sill remains the stigma in the workplace, especially if you have some kind of tribal tattoo that takes up half of your face. If you want to get a tattoo think hard about its location. Making sure it can be easily hidden will make applying for that new job a lot easier.