Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2007/January 2008 | Page 75

FASHION, HEALTH & BEAUTY

life

Fashion, Health & Beauty
www.orchardcosmetic.co.uk

Peel and reveal
the real you
Don’t be afraid of acid peels to
correct pigment changes. After
all, Cleopatra owed her beauty to
bathing in lactic acid – asses’ milk
Changes in our skin can
be triggered by all sorts of
factors, but Rachel Mitchell
was perturbed to find her
face had developed a brown,
blotchy appearance. “It was
like a mask, in a butterfly
shape, spreading out from the
bridge of my nose,” she said,
“and it got worse in sunlight.”
Rachel was suffering from
melasma, a condition caused
by a hormonal reaction
to the progesterone in the
contraceptive pill she was
taking. “I dealt with the
medical side by changing to
a different contraceptive pill.
Then I had the aesthetic side
of the condition to deal with.”
She did a bit of research and
went to the Orchard Cosmetic
Skin Centre at the Orchard
Hospital. Máire Rhatigan
prescribed a chemical peel.
“Peels are used to improve
the texture and appearance
of the surface layer of the
skin,” Máire explains. “The
effect of a peel is to remove
the superficial layers of dead
skin which we don’t need,
and which, as we get older
we are less good at shedding,
causing our skin to feel
harder, coarser and dryer.
“There are a number of

levels or depths of peel. You
can deal with the condition
slowly, using a course