Billed as a ‘red carpet’ treatment to achieve glowing skin, skin hydrators are growing in popularity – here is all you need to know about the on-trend ‘tweakment’
From a humble facial to dermal fillers there’s a plethora of beauty and skin treatments on offer to give you that coveted lit-from-within glow this autumn.
The latest treatment promising to give skin a new lease of life is skin hydrators. A cosmetic treatment designed to deliver deep-skin hydration that people are starting to rave about. Less permanent than other types of injection-based treatments, skin hydrators do as they say on the tin, hydrate the skin from the inside out, giving the skin a fresher, smoother appearance.
“The reason skin-hydration treatments are becoming so popular is mostly because they’re completely safe and non-invasive with minimal downtime and are recommended for any individual over 18,” says aesthetic expert, Sharon King RN NIP MSc and one of the UK’s top aesthetics practitioners.
Here, Sharon who is also part of the product development team at UTH Aesthetics explains more about the latest aesthetic ‘tweakment’ that people are turning to for younger, healthier looking skin.
What are skin hydrators?
Their main aim is to provide supreme hydration for skin, from within. Sharon begins: “On a more scientific level, hydrators alter the skin’s ageing process by bringing back hyaluronic acid into the skin. When injected, the hyaluronic acid molecules start to absorb water up to 200 times their weight, giving hydration to the skin from inside out. “With added and advanced hydration, the skin looks plumper, brighter, and more youthful. At the same time, hydrators refresh collagen production once injected, giving long term, anti-ageing effects. “Having a skin booster will give the skin a ‘red carpet’ glow.”
Practitioners like Sharon are seeing a boom of clients enquiring about hydrators in the lead up to big events, whether that’s a wedding, a birthday or even now in the lead up to Christmas party season.
Sharon added: “The perfect time to start the treatment is six weeks before an event, and then a follow up treatment three weeks before. Your skin will then look its very best. It lasts on average up to six months, depending on how many treatments you have. I use UTH Hydrate for my clients.”
Where can you have skin hydrators?
Surprisingly, it’s not just the face as a whole that can benefit from a hydration boost. Sharon continues: “In terms of where individuals can have skin hydrators, there are a lot of areas where it can be beneficial. Above the top lip is quite a good example. It’s a good alternative to laser treatment on the fine lines above on the top lip because it’s somewhere where, if you use normal fillers, the lip can protrude, and the result is that it ends up looking a bit ‘trout-like’.
“It’s also quite good for lines at the top of the cheeks. Some older ladies will get feathery lines, that creep down across the lower cheek. The aim is to soften those lines without adding volume.
“Some people shy away from wrinkle relaxing injections such as Botox, especially for the fine lines around the eyes, like the crows’ feet. Skin hydrators can be a good alternative here – they won’t work in the same way as Botox, which will only work on lines of expression, but it will improve the appearance of wrinkles in the area.
“Skin hydrators don’t stop the muscle action that causes the wrinkle in the same way that Botox does, but they can act as complementary therapy to Botox. Sometimes putting in some skin hydrators can just soften the lines and the Botox will be more preventative.
Sharon explained that larger surface areas such as the neck and decolletage are also good to treat, “These areas are often neglected but they often very easily give away someone’s age, especially if there has been a lot of sun damage over the years.”
What is the treatment?
Skin hydrator treatments involve micro-injections of the soft gel-like substance into the skin. Practitioners use a very thin filler, like UTH Hydrate, which is scattered across the face (or other chosen areas – neck, chest, or hands) via multiple microinjections to create tissue hydration without affecting the face’s contour.
Sharon continued: “Your practitioner will generally inject skin hydrators more superficially than other dermal fillers.
“There are a couple of different techniques that your practitioner may use for skin hydrators – they may just do it in a traditional way with a cannula and run very fine lines across the entire area. Some practitioners will use a technique that creates microdroplets, so, for example in the top lip, they might get a smaller needle and do lots of tiny little droplets because the product will naturally spread out. If the practitioner is injecting at the right depth, that’s quite an easy way to ensure a large surface area is treated and it’s not particularly uncomfortable.”
Finer details
Skin hydrators are available in most skin or aesthetics clinics across the country and experts are recommending three treatments in total at around £250 per treatment. Down time is minimal – with many opting for appointments during their lunch hour.
Sharon ends with some advice: “Whatever level of skin treatment you are going for whether it’s hydrators or more in-depth procedures, make sure the practitioner can easily share the safety profile of the product being used, including complication rates, as well as what’s in the product.
“Also, make sure you do your research on a practitioner if you have not visited one before. Seek someone who is medically trained and experienced in skin treatments and preferably a member of an organisation such as ACE Group, JCCP, BACN or BCAM.”