What you need to know about vampire facials

Platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP) – some people refer to it as a vampire facial – will give your skin the ultimate boost by generating new skin, helping reduce facial scars, lines, acne spots and tightening – just as a workout would do for your body. It’s simpler than it sounds.

Safety

Dr Sandi Dyonase of Dr Sandi Medical Aesthetics, based in Hyde Park, has kept his rooms open during lockdown and is ensuring the safety of therapists, nurses and patients.

Each patient gets personal protective equipment, which includes booties to cover shoes, a mask and sanitiser stations that don’t involve touching the bottle in six different areas.

All treatment rooms are sanitised before and after each patient, stickers indicate mandatory distancing seating and partitions separate open treatment areas, which makes it safer for everyone.

Dr Sandi Dyonase. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

The treatment

With the current stress of our times reflecting on many faces, you may feel your skin needs a revival. Blood flows quickly when you are active and this facial has the same reaction.

Why the term vampire facial? Dyonase said the vampire facial, or PRP, isn’t as extreme as it’s been made to look.

The first step in the process is to painlessly and quickly withdraw two vials of blood, which are put into a centrifuge machine that spins them around until the blood coagulates into platelets. These are the secret to rejuvenating the skin.

“The body takes well to being healed by its blood. Because these are your platelets, they tend to respond accordingly. Healing is different for everyone because everyone’s blood is different.”

PRP is often used for scar therapy. “When you injure yourself, as in a cut, your blood rushes to the wound to quickly heal it and seal it up. That is what we do with this treatment.”

Centrifuge machine. Picture: iStock

Contrary to exaggerated images of Kim Kardashian with blood all over her face, this is not the case. The PRP is yellowish with no scent.

The last step of the treatment involves combing a glycolic peel with microneedling to get the PRP into the skin. Microneedling is gentle and causes a tiny scratching sensation that is so light it’s almost painless.

Somotolagist Tumi Buthelezi explained: “When dealing with different types of skin its always advisable to not go too deep. Our aim is healing and not an injury.”

Vampire facials have previously got a bad reputation, with people putting up red-faced images. The truth is, after one treatment the face is slightly puffy, but the immediate result may not be dramatic.

The result

Home care involves getting an after-treatment cream that is applied for a few days, keeping skin moisturised and out of the sun, wearing a high SPF sunscreen and not doing any high-impact exercise that will encourage excessive sweating.

The aim is to not dry your skin out too much, although the slight trauma may leave the skin looking injured for a few days. After a few weeks and over the coming months, visible improvements start to show.

Dyonase advocates being patient with the skin and giving it time to heal. Just like a few days after any treatment that involves needles, he will check on his patients to see how their skin is doing.

Picture: Instagram /kimkardashian

“It’s important for people to go to medical professionals for treatments that involve needling because a doctor can deal with any adverse reactions.”

As with most medical treatments, patients are not always honest about their medical history and even with noninvasive medical treatments, the best person to treat any problems that may occur is a fully trained medical professional.

Due to its simple noninvasive nature, PRP has grown in popularity, even as an alternative for people who may use other methods for scarring.

Minimal downtime is an additional reason for the treatment’s popularity and depending on the depth of the needling, skin shedding or peeling can be kept to a minimum. The new and smoother skin is worth a few days of discomfort.

Info

• Address: 1 Townshend Rd, Hyde Park, Sandton, 2196
• Phone: 071-324-1407

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.