Cosmetic Acupuncture may sound like a new phase of beauty though interestingly enough, it is steeped deep within the ancient practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The origins of cosmetic acupuncture were inspired by the desires of Chinese Emperors to maintain beauty and grace using a natural approach. This is still apparent now as men and women strive to build and maintain a healthy glowing complexion.
Cosmetic Acupuncture is holistic skincare from the inside out. It is simply just an extension of body acupuncture, bringing the body into a more relaxed, organic state and offering a positive change on your overall health. It is completely natural, is not painful (always the first question asked!) and can literally change the shape of your face. These petite powerful Acupuncture needles are very influential in softening tension around the jaw, mouth, around and between the eyes and brow. As you lessen the appearance of fine lines, you’ll see an improvement in skin tone and elasticity. Whilst these tiny pins work their magic on your face, your entire body benefits from hormonal balance, stress relief and energy boosting. This in turn, smooths out skin, stimulates collagen and maintains hydration to keep skin blossoming.
Cosmetic acupuncture moves to teach women how to be themselves with acceptance of the flaws, marks, scars, and furrows. The central goal is to create balance because that feels good and building beauty can equate with confidence and self-worth. How you feel about yourself and present to the world bolsters pride. Even in one treatment, you can see varying changes in the skin – reduced redness, fading of lines, brighter complexion and a plumping of skin. Long term improvements require patience. Skin takes 28 days for new collagen to be produced, thus, momentum is necessary to stimulate the body’s own natural healing mechanisms to revitalise blood, improve collagen production, stimulate elastin and balance hormones. Favourable results are achieved with 6-10 treatments as a minimum which includes improving your overall health in the process.
In this current climate of ageless beauty, you can enhance your features with several forms of injectables. Botox is the most common injectable. As a neuromodulator, it weakens and paralyses facial muscles. It is specific for frown lines, forehead wrinkles and around the eyes. There are also dermal fillers injected under the skin to give volume and support. While both methods use needles and target facial muscles to reduce wrinkles, beauty Acupuncture is quite different from Botox.
Here’s a comparison:
BOTOX
- Gives instant results, with a treatment lasting only a few minutes and little to no downtime.
- Temporarily smooths out wrinkles giving you a line free shiny appearance. Botox is not permanent though, lasting around 3 months, meaning follow up treatments are required to maintain results.
- Side effects could produce an allergic reaction, pain and swelling. Rarely, there can be nausea, headaches, dropping, loss of speech, and respiratory tract issues.
- Botox (& fillers) can actually cause more aging and blockages to your blood and lymph flow. Your skin may look younger for a few weeks though it won’t improve the quality of your skin.
- Botox paralyses facial muscles thus you lose the ability to have expressions. This can be unfortunate if you are left with a constant frown or unable to make certain faces. It can greatly impact babies/children as it will leave you unreadable and them confused and emotionally blank to deciphering non-verbal communication.
COSMETIC ACUPUNCTURE
- It’s holistic and natural, is not drug based or toxic.
- Known side effects include a glowing complexion, tighter, brighter skin, and feeling utterly relaxed. On rare occasions you may experience a small bruise or maybe redness which diminishes in a day or so.
- It’s complementary to other beauty treatments including a great skin care routine, facials, Botox, fillers, and micro-needling.
- Cosmetic acupuncture treatments build upon each other providing a more natural radiant glow as you reduce wrinkles and smooth and enhance features & your skin. In addition, it will improve overall health and wellness. Recognise that results can take time though you will definitely have a beautiful glow after your first session.
- It’s certainly not a quick fix and a session takes around 45 minutes. Meanwhile, as those little needles do their work, you unwind and bliss out.
Cosmetic/beauty Acupuncture is so much more than an alternative to Botox and fillers. Especially when clients getting this specialised treatment can see outcomes on their face such as:
- Glowing, brighter skin
- Hydrated complexion
- Reduce fine lines & wrinkles
- Target puffiness
- Tighten a chin
- Sculpt a jaw line
- Improve sagging skin
- Soften the ingrained lines/face
- Work on uneven pigmentation
- Treat all forms of acne
- Lift droopy eyelids
- Enhance lips
- Scar reduction
- Treat problem skin e.g. rosacea, eczema, psoriasis
- Ease frown lines
- Define cheekbones
In the name of beauty and holistic health, a few tiny sharp objects really don’t seem that much, does it?
This Blog was written by Dr Nicole Pawley.