Turning back time with cutting-edge RF treatments

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

With the ever-increasing need to turn back time and keep looking youthful, anti-ageing and slimming treatments have taken the world by storm over the past couple of years and it is no different here in Colombo, where people are steadily becoming more health-conscious and highly aware of their physical appearances.

Catering to the increasing need within society for such products, the Estheti Centre in Colombo for the first time in Sri Lanka is now offering the absolute latest in slimming and facial firming technology – the TriPollar RF treatment.

The Estheti Centre has been the agent for leading professional skincare brand Sothys in Sri Lanka for the past 25 years and in addition to that, boasts their own skin clinic and showroom focused on a ‘medi-spa’ concept which specialises solely in skin and skin problems.

Priding themselves on treating various skin conditions from acne to pigmentation to ageing, the Estheti Centre’s General Manager and Senior Aesthetician Soraya De Zoysa revealed that since of late, they have noticed that there is a huge demand for anti-ageing products and treatments.

“We have also had a huge demand for slimming and body contouring because you will find that even people who have a beautiful physique, they have certain problem areas that diet and exercise alone cannot reduce,” she further explained.

“For example, it could be the love handles or the tummy area for some people, or their arms or they have a small deposit of fat behind their necks or a double chin so no matter how much of exercise you do, exercise and diet will always slim you for example, you can’t spot reduce with exercise, you will reduce overall.”

Even when it comes to facial firming, De Zoysa pointed out that there is a limit to what a mere cosmetic product can achieve and a normal facial will only be able to give a certain amount of benefits.

Understanding these issues, the Estheti Centre has launched its newest service - the TriPollar RF treatment, a machine that achieves facial firming and slimming with the use of radio frequencies.

With regard to facial firming, the machine using radio waves stimulates the skin’s collagen, really targeting the root of the problem as opposed to just applying something which would only give you a temporary benefit.

De Zoysa explained that as we age, the collagen and elastic fibres are compromised and the rebuilding of new collagen is reduced heavily with the aging process. What the machine does is ideally does is it gives the collagen a bit of a kick start, by breaking it up and stimulating the collagen and fibres which she described as being the ‘cement’ of skin and keeps skin firm, supple and youthful.

With slimming, the machine emits a heat which is penetrated quite deep into the skin and literally melts the fat.

“The reason a lot of slimming treatments don’t work is because they are concentrated on the surface of the skin whereas with this treatment, the success behind it is its ability to penetrate deep and actually heat the fat layer which is quite deep in the skin without doing any damage to the surface,” she elucidated.

The senior aesthetician assured that glycerine is applied to the skin before the treatment which neutralises any electrical current. However, there is no heat generated on the surface of the skin which does away any possibilities of burns and skin discolouration.

She added that there are absolutely no after effects because unlike laser and IPL treatments, which are also used for slimming and firming, the setback they have is that they can only produce a positive result if a client is fair in complexion. With the RF treatment, the machine is colour blind, therefore anyone can benefit from the treatment. Both the facial firming and slimming treatments produce an immediate result, however De Zoysa was quick to clarify that this is not a permanent effect. There is an immediate tightening of the skin which could last up to about four to five hours. In order to lock that result in, one has to undergo a course of six treatments which will be conducted about two weeks apart.

“We’ve already started with the treatments. The only contra-indication to the treatment would be metal implants so if a client has any metal implants, we are unable to do it over that area but other areas can be treated,” she said. “Prices will vary according to areas treated and we offer some very good packages, so for a client who is tying up with us for a course of treatments would get a 15 to 20 per cent discount.”

Pic by Upul Abayasekara