82 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019 best health besthealthmag.ca
BEAUTY ON TRIAL
SHOW OF HANDS
Embarrassed by her “old lady” hands, our editor-in-chief, Beth Thompson,
set out to explore her options. Here’s what she found.
FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, I’VE BEEN OBSESS-
ing over my sunspots – one in particular, partway up,
on the top of my right hand. Despite my daily devotion
to spot correctors, Harriett (yes, I named it) continued
to grow in diameter and darkness. Then she spawned
an evil twin, Hedwig.
Tired of these constant reminders of my sun-wor-
shipping youth, I realized that the time had come for a
new plan: The twins had to go. That’s how I found
myself sitting in Dr. Stephen Mulholland’s Toronto
clinic, SpaMedica, discussing my, as he called it, “mild
case of early old-lady hands.”
I wasn’t upset by his diagnosis. I mean, I basically
concurred. What I wanted to know was, Did I have
options? Plenty, and they are all “south of the scalpel,”
he confirmed, laying out potential treatment plans
while explaining how I wound up with these mitts.
“With time, we all end up with what I call the ‘3D age
effect,’” he said. “Our skin def lates, descends and dete-
riorates.” On our hands, that translates to thin and
veiny skin that is dotted with spots, more formally
known as lentigo.
For mild spots, intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy
would probably take care of them. But for more stub-
born spots like mine, Dr. Mulholland suggested a few
rounds with a PicoSure laser.
“Pico uses powerful short-pulse lasers to reach deep
below the surface of the skin and blast away brown
spots,” he said. “The laser energy breaks up dark spots
into tiny particles that can be naturally eliminated
from the body through the immune system. Treat-
ments can remove dark spots on the face, neck, chest,
hands, arms and legs without harming the surrounding
skin.” Pico is the same treatment used for tattoo
removal, so, yeah, it’s a powerhouse.
Dr. Mulholland also suggested adding Juvéderm
Voluma to the tops of my hands to naturally plump the
skin while smoothing out the veins and tendons that
have become more prominent with age. “We can take 10
years off in 30 minutes,” he said.
Well, OK, then, what are we waiting for?
Dear readers, this is the part of the story where I tellyou that there is pain involved. Thank goodness for
laughing gas (nitrous oxide), which allows you to f loat
above the moment, as it were.
True to his word, the whole thing only took a few
minutes, but I had to hide my hands from public view
for a few weeks, so you need to prepare for that.
But, oh my. The results are lovely. All my veins
receded, all my spots faded. Well, Harriett lingered, but
only as a shadow of her formal self. A couple of addi-
tional Pico zaps finally put an end to her dotty ways.
RIP Harriett.
As for me, I’m glad to finally have hands that look as
young as I feel.HIGH FIVE FOR MAINTENANCE
I’m determined to keep my hands looking soft, bright and protected.
That means using a broad-spectrum SPF everyday in addition to a
few other products.- EVERY MORNING. Moisturize. I love Weleda Skin Food Original
Ultra-Rich Cream, $18, for its combination of sweet almond oil, camo-
mile, pansy and rosemary extracts. - EVERY NIGHT. I apply a layer of Universkin P, $199, a potent se-
rum that’s been custom formulated to target any new spots with ingre-
dients including kojic acid and arbutin. - EVERY WEEK Exfoliate. I double down on exfoliating. First, I ap-
ply a polishing scrub. I like Dermalogica Multivitamin Thermafoliant,
$82, because it refines and enhances skin. I follow this with This Works
Morning Expert Multi-Acid Pads, $50, which help stimulate cell renewal
as well as brighten skin thanks to vitamin B3. bh
Post-Treatment Beth’s final results