Sally Churchward tries facial acupuncture (From Daily Echo)

Sally Churchward tries facial acupuncture

5:01pm Monday 19th December 2011 in Living By Sally Churchward, Senior Feature Writer

IT was only as I was laying on the couch waiting for acupuncturist Dudley Kent to put the first needle in my skin that I really let myself think about what facial acupuncture was going to involve.

It’s not the best point to wonder if you’re really up for having a load of needles put into your face, as well as other points on your body.

Luckily I had nothing to worry about. I could feel the needles but it was no different to the pressure of someone pressing on my skin with their finger.

It was fortunate as I had signed up for a course of cosmetic acupuncture at Ellevisage in Whiteparish on the Wiltshire/Hampshire border.

It is billed as giving your skin a lift with the benefits billed as including the reduction of fine lines and wrinkles, reducing the appearance of eye bags, generally tightening the skin on your face and giving you a more youthful appearance.

The idea is that it’s a far less invasive, more natural alternative to the likes of botox for those looking to delay the effects of time and give their skin a boost.

Dudley has more than 15 years’ experience as an acupuncturist and is a member of the British Acupuncture Council so I felt confident that I was in good hands.

I also noticed that both he and Karen Gunning, who owns Ellevisage and had been raving about the benefits of facial acupuncture, both had really good, healthy looking skin as if they’d just come back from a holiday – which they hadn’t – so I was keen to give it a go myself.

Dudley inserted needles in traditional acupuncture points on my hands and feet as well as over my face.

He also inserted special “Japanese intradermal needles” in some fine lines on my forehead and between my eyebrows.

The idea is that the needles will boost the body’s collagen production as well as microcirculation in the skin, reducing the appearance of lines and giving your skin a healthy glow.

For a while I wasn’t sure if I could see any changes – they’re subtle and develop over time – but a couple of weeks after I had started the treatment a friend was so impressed with how well and refreshed I looked that she booked a course of treatment herself.

As the course of four treatments went on I noticed that my forehead in particular looked different. My skin looks smoother and my lines, while not magically disappearing, have faded. People will typically require between four and eight treatments initially.

Dudley says that after an initial course you need to revisit every four to eight weeks in order to maintain the effects which, as he points out, works out a lot cheaper than many more invasive techniques.

And, of course, for many people besides the cost issue there is the fact that they simply don’t want to have a very invasive technique or have chemicals put into their skin in the interest of beauty.

p A single facial acupuncture session costs £60, a prepaid course of four sessions costs £200 and a prepaid course of ten sessions costs £400. To book an appointment with Dudley at Ellevisage in Whiteparish, call 07724 899833. Visit ellevisage.co.uk and facial-acupuncture.

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