cosmetic surgery & $1,000

A little over two weeks ago I received a last minute e-mail from a friend inviting me to a night to learn more about the services offered at the Utah Cosmetic Surgery Center. At first I wondered what I could possibly gain from a surgery center, I mean, I am young and don't need any surgery.

Boy was I in for a night of education! First off, the design and decor of the office was just beautiful. Not that, that has anything to do with anything they do, but it has to be noted how stunning that office was. The surgeon at UCS is Dr. Haupt, who is actually one of the top surgeons in the nation. He greeted a group of us along with his staff. I love that he took the time out of his busy schedule to teach us the science behind why certain procedures and products work and what they do for our bodies and skin. I learned they do tons of different things at UCS that are not all surgery related.

He was just an incredibly down to earth guy. One thing he wanted to really educate us on is how we need to start young. No not with plastic surgery, he made a pretty funny Joan Rivers joke actually, but with taking care of our skin! He compared it to going to the gym. How we do all these things for our bodies at the gym to take better care of it, working out muscles and increasing our bodies stamina, but we neglect the healthy of our skin! A lot of young girls are fooled in thinking that they don't need to start doing anything "extra" to help with aging until they are older. I used to be one of them. I learned through a work corporate class that on average the skin starts declining at age twenty five, which means some people start loosing that collagen and elasticity even sooner!

I have no problems with getting older and looking my age. But I also want to look the best I can for my age. It goes beyond beauty, it is also health. For me, my biggest concern has always been sun damage. I have a very light and fair complexion, and the last thing I need is another sunburn. About a year ago I noticed a pretty large sun spot develop under my left eye. My jaw dropped. "Wait a second, I thought, I am only twenty three and I already have a sun spot?!" Yup. Make up wouldn't even cover it. There it was this nasty sun spot there right on my face to remind that my skin had been too damaged by the sun and I was getting older. I can't tell you how much that sun spot has bothered me over the past year. This summer I spent way too much time in the sun, and before I knew it, sun spots and freckles popped up everywhere on my nose and cheeks. I try to be good about sunscreen, but am not as good as I should be when it comes to everyday coverage. Of course I put it on when going out for "big" events in the sun (beach, games, picnic etc.) but what about the sun my face sees every day? I am too fair to not be putting sunscreen on every day, and I should know better.

Now of course at my age I don't need any surgery, in fact I don't know if I ever would even do surgery. However, there are a vast amount of procedures out there that women could be using to help themselves age gracefully that don't require surgery. Ground breaking procedures that honestly, more women should know about and be utilizing.

One of those procedures is a Photo Facial. I had heard about a Photo Facial before and was incredibly curious. That night they went in depth about them. I immediately knew I wanted one. Not just wanted, needed! So what is a Photo Facial? Well it isn't your average relaxing facial you get at a spa. 

"Photofacials are treatments that use laser or intense pulsed light to correct discolorations. Photofacials are for evening the skin tone.  They target the reds and browns in the skin. Photofacials are commonly preformed on the face, neck, decolletage and back of the hands. Photofacials can be preformed anywhere on the body."

What are Photofacials the best for:

Sun spots

Age spots

Liver spots

Melasma (Pregnancy mask)

Hyperpigmentation

Rosacea

Broken capillaries

Blotchy skin

I was mostly concerned with the sun spots I had developed, but I also have some discoloration caused from some hyper-pigmentation and some broken capillaries. I was super nervous because I had never done anything like this before and was told that this procedure was no comfortable. The technician that performed the procedure was wonderful. Her name is Alysha and I was comforted by her thorough knowledge and expertise. She made the experience the best it could be!

There is discomfort associated with the treatment. But to help with that she used a topical anesthetic to help ease pain. The technician will try to make the treatment as tolerable as possible, and Alysha did just that. She used two different lasers and would explain to me what they were doing and how they were working before and during the procedure. The one she used on my forehead hurt a bit, but the one for the rest of the face really wasn't that bad. 

So what exactly does it do? A laser vaporizes the top layers of the skin around your lines and wrinkles, making the surface appear flush with the surrounding skin. Collagen production is also stimulated to make the lines and wrinkles of your skin less deep and noticeable.

What can you expect after the treatment?The patient will be red and experience a sunburn like sensation for the next few hours. Any brown spots the patient has will look immediately darker and become even darker over the next day or two. Most of the redness will subside in less than 24 hours of the treatment. The patient will experience micro-crusting and possibly mild superficial blistering. In 3 to 4 days after the treatment the dark brown will start to flake off. By 7 to 10 days after the treatment the skin will be done flaking and a more even toned, brighter complexion can be noticed. Make-up can be applied immediately following the treatment unless otherwise instructed. All post treatment instruction will be discussed with the laser technician before the patient leaves.

I was really worried about mild blistering or bruising which I had read are rare side effects because my skin is extremely sensitive. However, I am extremely happy to say that I didn't have any of that. My experience was exactly described above. All the redness and swelling were gone within a few hours of the treatment. 

Let me just say the results are well worth a few hours of discomfort! I can't express the joy I had when five days later the nasty old sun spot that had been under my left eye since for over a year was GONE! GONE! You guys, if you struggle with any of the above listed THIS TREATMENT IS FOR YOU! I am a convert to photo facials. With my skin tone and sun damage I get I know I will keep up with these treatments over the years. I only did ONE treatment and this is what the results were. If you have severe sun damage from tanning beds etc. it might take you a few treatments, but like I said, it is all worth it.

In these photos I am wearing no make up, and I have done no editing to them whatsoever. You can see that just after one treatment a significant amount of my sun damage and spots are gone. Not only that, but do you notice how less red I am in my cheeks? Can you see how overall my skin is just clearer and more luminous? I can tell you right now that this is a procedure I will for sure being doing probably many time throughout my lifetime! If you do decide to get this done, I highly recommend taking pictures before and after. While you will notice a difference, there is nothing like seeing it side by side, especially since I am sure we are all used to seeing our faces with make up on. The pictures tell all.

And since you can't see it that well in those pictures, let me show you that pesky sun spot that I could never cover with make up that is now GONE!

I have had a few people tell me they miss my YouTube videos and for whatever reason I am just so dang bad at updating my YouTube channel!  I started my YouTube channel as a review channel, but would love to transition it more into a vlog, and in a sense combine them together. So to start I figured I would document my entire photo facial process. ENJOY!



Now on to the really good part! UCS has been generous enough to offer TWO $500.00 Gift Certificates to go towards any laser treatment that you are interested in. How amazing is that? You guys, really... you want this! If you are too scared, get it for a friend! I am so excited to be teaming up with a big group of talented bloggers to help with this giveaway! So here you go...

a Rafflecopter giveaway