Healing Acne: a personal skin journey

Our beautiful client, Chantal, shares the details of her personal journey into skin wellness. After trying everything to naturally heal her acne, from clean eating to even seeing an acupuncturist, Chantal saw no change in her skin until she began her skin journey with us…

I first met Leelah and Maryan at a work meeting earlier this year and was immediately taken by their gentle warmth, care and passion for holistic wellness.

For about 6 months I’d been suffering from acne for the first time in my adult life due to hormonal imbalance. It was heartbreaking. I’d tried EVERYTHING to naturally heal my acne, I practiced clean eating, completely cut out caffeine and limited my alcohol intake, regularly exercised, drank LOTS of water, used natural skincare, took herbs, supplements and even saw an acupuncturist. Still, my skin didn’t improve.

So naturally, when Leelah told me she could improve my skin in 3 months, I was skeptical yet eager to try.

THE BEGINNING OF MY JOURNEY

St.Skin were very careful not to overwhelm me at the start of my journey, which I appreciated. They started me on enzyme and vitamin enriched skincare products slowly, never asking me to buy something before taking it home to try first. Within 2 - 4 weeks of using the prescribed skincare and committing to twice weekly LED and extraction sessions, I noticed my skin’s inflammation had calmed down, my redness had reduced and I was producing no new lesions. This was a quick win after 6 months of no change.

LED & EXTRACTIONS

Over the next 2 months I committed to weekly LED and extraction sessions to keep the breakouts at bay. Unlike most skin clinics, St.Skin will do an entire session of extractions, which means they eliminate pimples and milia by squeezing them out of the hair follicle where blemishes love to live. What I learnt, is that there are only two ways for acne or blemishes to be resolved, via extraction or reabsorption into the body. The issue with reabsorption is that when your hormones change or you become stressed, eat too much sugar or don’t get enough sleep - those pimples can reappear. So when I experienced hormonal changes and my problem areas flared up, St.Skin was there to stop them in their tracks. It was incredible how much improvement I received from LED and extractions alone.   

During this time I was also prescribed a natural supplement called Osmosis Environmental Detox. It contains a compound called DIM, which is derived from cruciferous vegetables and helps balance and detox estrogenic toxins in the body, restoring natural hormone levels. I felt this supplement, used in conjunction with regular LED and extraction sessions, was an absolute game changer. I no longer produced large, painful, cystic blemishes and my skin health was improving dramatically.

PHOTO REJUVENATION & RESURFACING LASER

When my skin was ready, St.Skin prescribed laser and IPL Photo-Rejuvenation, which uses light to prompt the skin to heal itself. This helped to reduce the redness from my acne scars and I noticed a difference within about two weeks of my first session.

A few weeks later, I was booked in for my first session of Resurfacing Laser, which eliminates scars, pigmentation, wrinkles, enlarged pores and prompts damaged hair follicles to repair themselves. This is one of the more aggressive treatments on the menu, but definitely the most effective. Thanks to numbing cream it was only painful for the first few hours following the session and the pain felt more like heat than anything else - like sunburn! Resurfacing can cause your skin to purge during the healing phase, so I experienced about two weeks of minor blemishes post treatment that I stayed on top of with extractions and LED.

After my first resurfacing session my skin continued to improve dramatically over the next few months. I felt more youthful, my skin tone was more even and soft, my scarring and pigmentation began to erase and my blemish areas were basically reprogrammed so that the damaged follicles no longer produced the same pimples month in, month out. Following this treatment, I truly felt I was in acne remission.  

MAINTENANCE

After having my first laser resurfacing session, I continued to see St.Skin once a week to once every two weeks for extractions and LED sessions. Three months later, I had another laser resurfacing treatment and my skin healed so much faster due to it being stronger from all of my treatment over the past 6 months. I literally feel like I have regained years. My fine wrinkles have resolved and my acne scars and dark pigmentation have erased significantly.

6 months later, I now wear nothing but a light layer mineral powder and feel confident, comfortable and pain free in my own skin again. The great news is my skin will continue to improve following my recent resurfacing treatment and I’ll continue doing my weekly / fortnightly LED sessions to assist the rejuvenation. I am beyond grateful to Leelah, Maryan and their team at St.Skin for taking such brilliant care of me. I would recommend St.Skin to anyone who has a lingering skin condition, or would like to improve the overall health of their skin. They are so educated, insightful and holistic in their approach to skin wellness and I couldn’t be more happy with my skin.

Best wishes on your skin journey,

Chantal