I've been waiting impatiently to write this review. As some of you may know I wasn't gifted with a lot of patience so the wait has been by far the worst part of this process. Funny, you may think, given the name of this treatment. It's also known as S3 or Stimulated Self Serum Skin Therapy. Sounds painful doesn't it and that's before I tell you what it actually entails.
Firstly, a sample of blood is taken from my arm before being put in a centrifuge in order to separate the plasma and platelets from the red blood cells. That first process takes literally four or five minutes and I have to admit that I have had many blood tests over the years but this one was by far and away the most painless. You would think that phlebotomists in hospitals would have it down to a tee with all their practice but I've found that they become blasé and are generally heavy-handed and leave bruises (I bruise very easily). Anyway, stage one was surprisingly quick and painless. Stage two involved re injecting my own plasma back into my face in many minute pin pricks. In a swift and flowing motion Dr Sister had my face covered. The idea being that ones own plasma stimulates DNA repair and hence turns back time! All the goodness that should aid in the replacement of lost collagen and make skin more youthful from within is injected back in painlessly. You don't believe me? Try for yourself.
Well, I thought at least I'd end up looking like a pin cushion for an hour or so afterwards and again I must stress that I have very sensitive skin but when Dr Sister had finished, about fifteen minutes later, he showed me a mirror and nothing had changed. I looked the same! I haven't really mentioned Dr Sister, the man to introduce this ground-breaking anti-ageing treatment into the UK at Beauty Works West yet but he is lovely and put me at ease straight away (not easy as I'm a 'thinker'). More importantly we talked about the procedure and he is passionate about what he does so our shared interest in stem cell technology was not wasted. He was off to a conference in the US to talk about this process to millions of surgeons worldwide. He isn't just in it for a few quid! He has also performed over 500 of these treatments and more interestingly, as we flicked through a few slides from his presentation, he showed me a picture of a client's scar. She had come to him for the aesthetic procedure for her face but he had asked her if he could work on the scar which was years old. Old scars are notoriously impossible to heal as the tissue has hardened but amazingly the Dracula Therapy had an effect on the scar. By introducing the plasma which is rich in growth factors or proteins that then signal to cells to do their jobs more effectively means the skin is stimulated to repair itself. It makes perfect sense really and is the fundamental principle behind the more complicated but still relevant stem cell treatments; a weakened heart can now be injected with stem cells to regenerate the damage. Regenerative medicine is the future as we continue to become immune to antibiotics and traditional medicine fails us.
Anyway wind on a month or so and I'm back from a second treatment (not necessary but I'm greedy and feeling old!) and looking nice and young for my 40th birthday this coming weekend. I keep telling everyone I'm 40 as I'm feeling quite traumatized by it so I'm preempting the pain! As it happens, people are surprised, putting me in my early thirties so that's good news. My face is plump straight after the treatment as you would expect given the serum injected back in (with Lidocaine for added comfort) and now I have the two-week wait. That gives the process enough time to work its magic.
Interestingly, especially for a mother who has just stopped breast-feeding and have a bit of droop going on! - you might like to know that Dr Sister is pioneering in the UK an unbelievable treatment ; '`Dracula Breast Enhancement'. Since macrolane breast injections have been banned in the UK, there is no quick fix alternative to subtle boob jobs! Macrolane injections were touted as just that. Think of them as filler but for breasts. The problem with macrolane was that the procedure involved injecting a very large amount of a very viscous filler into the breast gland itself in order to get a short-term 'boob job' effect. Dr Sister on the other hand will be the first in the UK to use his Dracula Therapy for a breast enhancement effect. Again this can last around one year. A ten minute appointment and a mixture of your own plasma and harmless hyaluronic acid injected carefully along the cleavage line rather than into the gland itself and the results are astounding. I saw the before and after pictures of a patient who he had enhanced. Unbelievable results in just 10 minutes using much less of an alien material, less viscose too but using your own plasma which helps the process along as well as aids longevity. It's brilliant because it's safe!
Anyway, back to the review at hand. I'm now two weeks in after my second treatment. My skin is softer, firmer, less lined. I look less tired. I'm really pleased with the results. My skin is simply rejuvenated. I look less weathered, more fresh of face! So for someone looking for a more natural, less invasive, more cost-effective and certainly more futuristic approach to anti-ageing give Dracula Therapy a try: it can't do what a full facelift can but perhaps just a mini-facelift...! By the way Dracula treatment can be used for the face, hair, hands, decolletage, knees, elbows, tummy tightening and other areas too.