A VISIT TO D.THOMAS CLINIC – LASER MAGICS

Tucked away in a corner of an upmarket residential area in Chelsea, a few roads away from Harrods, is D. Thomas Clinic looking über sleek and professional.

The clinic was founded by facialist Debbie Thomas who first got interested in laser treatments when working at a Harley Street clinic 15 years ago and she is now the queen of lasers!  I had the privilege of attending a Laser Masterclass with Debbie a few months back and was very intrigued by the promising youth-enhancing magic behind laser facials.

Earlier this week, I got my first appointment with Debbie and I am amazed with the treatments as well as the instant results so I had to write up this post! 

A little about my skin

I have oily skin and have suffered from severe cystic acne which has left me with pitted scars.  I also have enlarged pores and quite a few of seborrheic keratosis lesions.  They don’t normally bother me but I have always wished for better skin canvas.  I love using skincare products to mitigate some of the issues but unfortunately there is only so much that these products can do.

Laser Facials 101

Light

Amplification by

Stimulated

Emission of 

Radiation 

The light at the beginning of a laser is like any normal light, yet inside the machine there are different filters which remove wavelengths of light, leaving only one.  This filtered wavelength is concentrated into a precise beam of light which can be used to address specific concerns within the skin.  Each different laser is attracted to and absorbed by different cells within the skin.

There are two basic groups of laser used for cosmetic skin treatment: ablative and non-ablative.

The appointment 

I was taken to a well equipped room full of laser equipments.  My intial thought was how bright and professional the room looks.  Before proceeding further, Debbie wanted to know what my main pet peeves with my skin are as well as getting to know my skin first before tackling everything that I want.

Debbie stressed that in the first treatment she would normally like to hydrate, unblock my pores and study how my skin reacts with treatments.  With the summer months coming up, Debbie doesn’t want to injure my skin too much.  Of course that is the smart approach although I must admit I quietly wanted Debbie to perform her magic on all my skin flaws straight away.

One of my main concerns is some prominent seborrheic keratosis lesions.  I have been contemplating having them removed for a while but since they are on my face I’m a little apprehensive of treatments as well as choosing the right facialist/practitioner.

After removing my makeup, Debbie thoroughly examined my skin.  She observed that my skin is very reactive, it doesn’t like to be touched too much and it becomes red and bumpy fairly quickly.  She mentioned we need to work on the reactivity.

Truly amazing to have treatment that is bespoke and tailored to each individual client!

Here were all the treatments that was hand-picked for my skin:

Clarifying Peel

This is a light peel in preparation for the laser treatment.  I didn’t feel any stinging.  I strictly followed the clinic advice to not use any skin actives 48 hours prior to the appointment.

Extraction 

Gentle squeezing of some white/black heads 

Hydra facial

This helps to clear out impurities, hydrate skin and exfoliate.

Deep layer repair

Debbie used the Fotona laser – Nd:Yag Piano mode and Frac3.  The laser works by imposing controlled damage induced by heat in the deepest layers of the skin which triggers a healing response that results in an uplift of collagen production and improved cellular renewal.

I could definitely feel the heat from this laser but nothing intolerable.  

Redness and pores

Nd:Yag – Fotona laser was used. With this treatment, Porphyrin production is stimulated within the skin to kill bacteria, including the one associated with redness.  Additionally, the oil making sebaceous glands temporarily shrink and strengthening collagen is promoted to make the skin stronger and less sensitive.

You can see little sparkles on the skin where the laser hits.  The laser particles spilt up into little tiny particles and penetrate the skin, they then pick up on the damage areas and force the skin to repair them.

I felt slight prickling sensations during this treatment but it wasn’t painfully.  The laser also picked up on some facial hair so I could smell some burning.

Vein Reduction

Nd:Yag Lesion Removal – Fotona laser was used.  With this treatment, light is absorbed by the red haemoglobin within the blood, then energy builds up quickly turning to heat and cauterising the vein causing it to collapse.  With each laser pulse, you feel a tiny prick but that doesn’t hurt, cold air was blown into the areas to soothe at the same time.  

The veins were visibly removed straightaway as captured by a before and after image below.  Apologies for the extreme (zoomed in) close-ups with no touch ups but I wanted to be as real as possible.

Lesion removal

To remove skin tags, Er:Yag – Fotona laser was used followed by several passes of ND-Yag.

I’m super impressed with this treatment.  No local anaesthetic needed and I felt absolutely no pain!  Debbie carefully and precisely aimed the laser at my seborrheic keratosis lesion and a few minutes later the lesion was completely removed leaving a small open wound.  As I’m writing this post, the wound has dried up and starting to scab over.  My skin is notoriously bad at healing up, always tend to leave pitted scars so I’m hoping this one would heal up nicely. However I’m sure it would still be better than how it looked previously.

Will the lesion come back?  Possibly! Sadly my skin does have the tendency of producing these seborrheic keratosis lesions.  I will update this post if the wound experienced any complications.

Below is another before and after image of the removal.  Be warned, it’s not very pretty but again I wanted to keep it as real as possible so apologies in advance.

Please note that I’ve had the lesions examined by a dermatologist prior to the treatment to confirm that they are not cancerous.

LED light therapy

We finished off with this non-invasive therapy to calm, promote wound healing and skin rejuvenation.

You can check out the video clip of my session at D.Thomas Clinic on my Instagram here.

I truly couldn’t be in better hands.  Debbie is knowledgeable and very gentle.  I love how she explained and reassured me throughout all the treatments.

It is incredible that I was fully relaxed and experienced no pain.  It felt like a pampering session.

For full long-term benefits, you might need a few sessions but immediately after the treatments my skin looked amazingly clear, smooth and youthful.  My seborrheic keratosis is obviously no longer there (BIG YAY!).  On the day of publishing this blog post, my scar has starting to scab over nicely, no infection or pain since the appointment 5 days ago.

Would I go back for more? HELL YES!

For more information about D. Thomas Clinic and available treatments, please visit their website or Instagram.

Please share if you have had any laser experience.

Thank you for being here today!

Much love always,

Sandyxo 

PR appointment with no obligations to review. As always, opinions are my own and unbiased.