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Enjoying the Results of Facial Exfoliation

Facial exfoliation involves removing dead skin cells from the facial skin’s surface. Many people have included this important practice in their skin care regimen because they understand its importance. You can also enjoy exfoliating your skin regularly with professional treatments at Urban Allure in San Francisco, CA. Facial exfoliation provides the following benefits:

Prevents Breakouts

Clogged pores often trap bacteria that can be harmful to the skin. These bacteria can cause painful blemishes and other forms of skin inflammation. If you notice inflammation on your face, you should consider exfoliation. Facial exfoliation will help you eliminate oil and dirt from pores, preventing acne and breakouts.

Improves Texture

Our skin can feel rough or dry sometimes. To revive dry, dull skin, you’ll want to remove dead skin cells. Exfoliation will make your face smoother and more beautiful.

Hides Wrinkles

As you grow older, wrinkles may form on your face. Although you can hide wrinkles with makeup, you’d have to go through a lot of trouble to do so. You also must apply makeup on your face perfectly to avoid magnifying your facial wrinkles. Removing dead cells from your face will help make the wrinkles less obvious.

Resolves Pigmentation

Pigmentation refers to dark patches occurring on the skin. It’s often caused by hormonal changes, aging, and pregnancy. Getting rid of dark patches can help to enhance your appearance. Facial exfoliation breaks up pigmented cells, allowing them to fade. Moreover, it helps the skin to produce healthier cells.

Boosts the Effectiveness of Skin Care Products

Anti-aging creams, moisturizers, and spot treatments are less effective on dull, flaky skin. Facial exfoliation gets rid of debris that builds up on the surface of the skin over time, leaving a smooth, clean surface, which is more receptive to skin care products.

Getting Started with Facial Exfoliation

Whether you need facial exfoliation, infusion, and/or extraction, consider talking to the pros at Urban Allure in San Francisco, CA. Contact us today to book a consultation and learn more about your treatment options.

The Many Benefits of Chemical Peels

Acne scars, hyperpigmentation, and wrinkles are common problems that are faced by most. Some people either learn to deal with these issues or they cover them up with makeup, but what if there was a way you could get rid of these problems altogether? Thanks to Urban Allure in San Francisco and chemical peels, this is now possible.

What are Chemical Peels?

Chemical peels are a skin resurfacing treatment used to improve the appearance of the skin on the face, neck or hands by removing the top layers. The skin that grows back is smoother and younger-looking. This can be done in the comfort of our office as an outpatient procedure.

Chemical peels can be used to treat:

Acne scars
Aging skin
Freckles
Crow’s feet
Hyperpigmentation
Melasma
Scars
Sun-damaged skin
Wrinkles

How Does It Work?

A chemical solution is applied to the skin that causes it to exfoliate and eventually reveal new skin layers. The new, regenerated skin is usually smoother and less wrinkled than the old skin.

What to Expect During the Treatment

When you arrive for your treatment, first your skin will be thoroughly cleaned and prepped to make sure the treated area is free from any oils. Then one or more solutions will be applied to areas of your skin to control the process. The solution is left on your skin for a set amount of time before it is removed and you are able to leave our office.

Are You a Good Candidate?

Ultimately, our skin care professional will let you know if a chemical peel is right for you. However, most people who are interested in these treatments qualify for them. Chemical peels are a perfect way to get rid of those crow’s feet that have been bothering you for years or those sunspots that seem to have appeared overnight. For more information, contact us today at Urban Allure in San Francisco and set up your initial consultation!

Reduce Unwanted Lines with BOTOX Cosmetic in San Francisco

When you are young and your skin looks fresh and healthy, looking at yourself in the mirror is an awesome thing. You are happy with the way that you look, and you are happy with the condition of your skin. Unfortunately, as a person gets older, things start to change. Smooth and healthy skin slowly morphs into skin that is old and full of wrinkles. In times past, the only options that were available for addressing unwanted wrinkling was surgery or ineffective topical creams. Now, San Francisco residents have the option of reducing unwanted lines with BOTOX Cosmetic.

This is a neural modulator. What this term means is that it modulates or controls the way that facial muscle nerves receive or send signals. When BOTOX Cosmetic is injected into an area, the nerves in that area are basically told to stop sending the signals that lead to muscle contractions. This means that while BOTOX Cosmetic is active, your facial muscles will not be making the movements that cause dynamic wrinkles.

This does not mean that BOTOX Cosmetic is going to give you a frozen face. To the contrary, people who have these treatments are able to express a wide range of emotions. What BOTOX Cosmetic does is control the intensity or the severity of muscle contractions.

Controlling muscle contractions is the key to eliminating dynamic wrinkles. Dynamic wrinkles are formed when your facial muscles contract, thereby folding your skin. Over time, the contracting motion of your facial muscles will cause your skin to fold to the point where the creases become permanent. The dynamic wrinkles will be visible on your face even when you are not making a facial expression.

BOTOX Cosmetic is a minimally-invasive treatment. It is administered via an injection. Most people are able to have the treatments without needing any form of anesthesia. The product produces little to no side effects. The vast majority of people are able to leave our office and go back to their everyday activities.

You can reduce unwanted lines with BOTOX Cosmetic. See for yourself how good you look and how great you feel as you recapture your youthful appearance. Contact us today at Urban Allure for a consultation in San Francisco!

Achieve Permanent Hair Reduction with Laser Hair Removal in San Francisco

Many find that shaving with a razor is frustrating, time-consuming, and does not always produce results that are satisfying. However, getting rid of unwanted hair in certain places is necessary. We invite you to consider a better solution. You could achieve permanent hair reduction with laser hair removal at our office in San Francisco.

While you have likely heard of laser hair removal, you may not be familiar with the way it works. When you visit us for a laser hair removal session, we are going to use a laser device that will direct energy at certain areas of your body where you have hair that you would like to have removed. The treatment is very quick. The area the size of a quarter can be treated in just seconds. The energy from the laser is absorbed by the pigmentation in your hair. As it is absorbed, the follicle becomes damaged. This means that it will not produce hair in the future.

It is good for our clients to know that they will need a series of separate treatment sessions in order to get permanent hair reduction. These treatments are spaced at least a couple of weeks apart in an effort to get the best results. Only the hair that is going through an active growth phase will be damaged during the laser treatment session. When multiple sessions are scheduled several weeks apart, this gives us the best chance of treating all of the hair in a particular area.

One misconception that people have about laser hair removal is that they have to let their hair grow out in between their treatment sessions. This has actually made some people in San Francisco quickly dismiss laser hair removal treatments when they think about spending months with unwanted hair growing on obvious parts of their body. However, you are actually encouraged to shave before your treatments with us. There is no embarrassing hair growth between sessions.

If you are not satisfied with the results that you are getting using a razor, waxing kits, or other temporary forms of hair removal, permanent hair reduction with laser hair removal may be the best option for you. Learn more by contacting us today at Urban Allure and scheduling a consultation at our office in San Francisco!

Rejuvenate Your Skin with IPL Treatment in San Francisco

Light energy can be used to improve the appearance of the facial skin. It’s not just lasers that can do the trick. A specialized instrument that pulses special light energy is now being employed as a means to stimulate healthy, collagen-rich skin. Known as intense pulsed light therapy, or IPL, this cosmetic treatment is one of the simplest yet most effective remedies for blotchy, discolored, blemished, or wrinkled facial skin. If any of this sparks your interest, you may want to consider IPL treatments at our office in San Francisco

What IPL Can Correct

IPL treatment works by using light energy that’s absorbed by darker, denser tissues including blemished skin, age spots, darkly scarred tissue, and capillaries. The absorbed energy causes the capillaries to shrink, and it also shrinks collagen. The body responds to this by accelerating the production of more collagen. This helps smooth out fine wrinkles, crow’s feet, and marionette lines, among other things. The procedure also results in less noticeable age spots and other forms of hyperpigmentation. It may even reduce the appearance of melasma, rosacea, liver spots, and freckles.

A Simple Procedure

The skin is coated with a thin layer of cooling gel. The lamp is pressed against the skin surface, and the brief pulse of light sends energy right through the epidermis without harming it. Each pulse lasts only a couple of milliseconds.

We usually schedule a series of treatment sessions at our office in San Francisco. There’s no downtime for the client, making this procedure preferable to more aggressive treatments.

Get Clearer, Better-Looking Skin

At Urban Allure in San Francisco, we serve the entire Bay area and are ready to answer all your questions regarding IPL skin rejuvenation. Contact us today to book a consultation and get started!

Get Smoother Skin with Laser Hair Removal in the Bay Area

You moved to the Bay Area because you wanted to be closer to the water. You like having fun in the sun also. It is something you look forward to every year as the colder weather fades with each passing day. The only problem you face is that you have a lot of body hair that you must shave off before sporting your new swimwear. When you shave your body hair off, your skin does not get nearly as smooth as you would like it to be. To make matters worse, you have this problem of getting razor bumps all over your bikini line. In a word, it is just not very attractive, and you like looking your best even down to the fine details. To keep razor bumps, nicks, cuts and razor scrapes from roughing up your skin, you thought that this year you would try out laser hair removal to see how it would work for you.

The Initial Visit

Since you are a person who believes in getting the best quality service in the Bay Area, you decided to opt to learn more about laser hair removal. It all starts with scheduling a consultation at our office. During the actual treatment, a laser is used to target the hair follicle with a single laser pulse. In fact, it can work over an area the size of a quarter each second. In what seemed like a short time, your armpits and legs may be finished. It’s important to understand, however, that a series of treatment sessions at our office in the Bay Area is typically required in order to achieve the desired results.

Multiple Laser Hair Removal Sessions

While your first laser hair removal treatment session is a great start, it’s crucial to realize that you’ll need to come back for more sessions in the future. The more you have the laser hair removal treatments done, the more effectively they will impair the hair follicles in your skin and prevent hair regrowth. Over the course of multiple treatments, you will notice that your hair is not growing back in as thick or as frequently.

Learn more by scheduling a consultation at Urban Allure in San Francisco. Contact us today to schedule your appointment in the Bay Area!

How Intense Pulsed Light Can Benefit You

One of the newer approaches to skin rejuvenation, intense pulsed light therapy, or IPL, is gaining in popularity because of the simplicity of the treatment and the rapid results it produces. Some people confuse this procedure with laser skin resurfacing, but the instrument used in IPL treatment is somewhat different than a laser. It produces pixelated beams of broadband light, meaning that a number of different wavelengths are emitted.

This allows the dermatologist to customize a treatment for each client, and the concentrated yet gentle light energy pulses trigger a rejuvenation of the skin without the harmful effects of skin cauterization. We encourage you to read on to discover the benefits of IPL treatments and why we prefer this type of photorejuvenation over other means of correcting common age-related skin problems.

Using Light Energy For Skin Treatment

Light is made up of photons, and photons are absorbed by certain materials having a given density and tone. When energy is absorbed by skin tissue, the tissue heats up and is slightly damaged. This is a good thing, because the body will respond by creating healthy replacement tissue.

However, subjecting the skin surface to concentrated light energy is similar to suffering from sunburn. An IPL device doesn’t cause this because it can be calibrated to deliver a combination of wavelengths that pass right through the epidermis and be absorbed deeper down. The skin surface will benefit anyway, because it is in the lower dermal layers than new epidermal tissue is created.

How We Perform The Treatment

We consult with the client and examine the facial features closely. We’re looking at the dynamic wrinkles, acne scars, injury scars, and other forms of hyperpigmentation. This allows us to customize the treatment and schedule the proper number or treatment sessions.

After the skin has been treated with a cooling gel, the IPL instrument is pressed against the surface. Each pulse of the lamp is very brief in duration. The darker, more dense tissues beneath the epidermal layer will absorb the energy and heat up slightly.

This shrinks the collagen in the affected tissues. Strange as it may sound, this results in an increase in collagen production. The heat also shrinks capillaries, and this helps to minimize the appearance of blemishes such as age spots and injury scars.

Gradual Improvement In Skin Texture

After about four treatments, spaced apart by a week or so of healing, the skin becomes more taut and supple. Fine lines become almost invisible thanks to the increased amount of collagen in the skin. Blemishes all but disappear, and age spots are not as dark as they were before the treatment began.

There’s no downtime after IPL treatments. The client can go on with normal activities. However, it’s a good idea to stay out of the sun during the treatment schedule.

No Surgery, No Strange Chemicals

The rising popularity of intense pulsed light therapy is due primarily to the simplicity of the procedure and the fact that the skin isn’t subjected to harsh chemicals. The skin isn’t ablated, meaning that the results are far more predictable. Contact us today to learn more about IPL and how you can benefit from this effective cosmetic skin rejuvenation technique.

Get Longer Lashes with Latisse in San Francisco

When you hear about getting longer lashes, one of the things that you may think about is using false eyelashes. Or something else that might come into your mind is using eyelash extensions. While these things have definitely benefited individuals who have used them, they have their downsides. We are talking about getting longer lashes in a natural way. Latisse can help you to improve the way your eyelashes look. If you live in the San Francisco area, we invite you to our office to learn more.

The first thing that you should know is that Latisse is not a cosmetic treatment. It is not like mascara. You do not apply it to your lashes in the same way that mascara is applied. It is not used to darken or lengthen your eyelashes in the same way that this cosmetic product is designed to improve your eyelashes. Latisse is actually a medication. It is designed to help you to actually grow eyelashes that are longer and thicker. Individuals who use Latisse will also notice their lashes get darker as well. These are usually goals that individuals hope to achieve with false eyelashes, eyelash extensions, and mascara. However, you can get these amazing benefits on your own with this amazing product.

If you regularly use mascara, you know what a hassle it can be. First, it is something that you have to apply every day. In some cases, you actually have to touch it up throughout the day. You may have issues with it clumping on your eyelashes or you may have had the negative experience of having it run if you cry or if you live in a hot environment. If you use waterproof mascara, you know that it is extremely difficult to remove. When you use Latisse, you can say goodbye to your mascara. Your eyelashes are going to look longer, thicker, and darker. However, you can achieve all of these amazing results without the need to apply mascara. And since you no longer have to use mascara, you will not have the same exposure to the harsh chemicals contained in the product.

In order for you to use Latisse in a safe and effective way, you must visit one of our doctors. Since it is a prescription medication, it needs to be applied in a specific way in order for you to get the best results. When you visit our San Francisco office for your first consultation, we will discuss all of the details of how to use Latisse and when you can start seeing benefits from the product.

The great thing about Latisse is that most people out there qualify for this treatment. If you have serious eye issues, you may not qualify. Or if you have other serious health issues, we will discuss these with you when you visit us for your consultation. The majority of healthy individuals out there can start getting longer lashes with Latisse right now. Please contact us today at Urban Allure to schedule your consultation.

Refresh Your Look with Juvederm in San Francisco

Would you describe your facial skin as smooth, soft, and youthful? While everyone would love to use these words to describe their appearance, many cannot do so if they are going to be really truthful. Unfortunately, things like wrinkles, indentations, and sagging skin all cause a person to have an appearance that is anything but perfect. If you would like to refresh your look, Juvederm® may be the right option for you. San Francisco residents are warmly invited to contact us to set up a consultation.

It is very likely that you have heard of Juvederm®. However, you may not completely understand how or why it is used. It is a very popular line of dermal fillers. They have several different products that can be used to help individuals who are dealing with a loss of facial volume, wrinkles, fine lines, and other imperfections that make them feel less than attractive.

Dermal fillers are extremely popular because they are safe, quick, and provide fantastic results. If you have areas of your face that are losing volume because of the aging process, dermal fillers can be injected in order to give you back some of your facial volume and provide just the right amount of lift. They are extremely versatile and benefit your skin in a variety of ways.

As you learn more about dermal fillers, you are going to quickly see that they are based on several different types of ingredients. For example, some are based on collagen. Others are based on synthetic ingredients. Juvederm® is based on hyaluronic acid. This is a substance that your skin naturally produces and it is what helps your skin to hold onto moisture and to look and stay hydrated.

When you visit us in our San Francisco office for Juvederm® treatments, you can expect several different benefits to come from these injections. First, you are going to have a more attractive facial contour. You are going to notice that your skin has more lift and volume and looks smooth. You’ll also notice that the results are natural-looking.

Another benefit that you will enjoy because of Juvederm® treatments is the fact that the hyaluronic acid that is contained in the product is going to bring many benefits to your skin. It is going to help your skin to look moisturized and hydrated. It will help your skin to hold onto water, so it will keep your skin looking fresh and plump.

If you live in the San Francisco area, make an appointment at Urban Allure to find out more information about Juvederm®. Contact us today to book your consultation at our office in San Francisco!

3 Skin Treatment Options at Our Med Spa in San Francisco

Being treated at our med spa in San Francisco is a great way to brighten your complexion and rejuvenate the appearance of your skin so that you appear like a younger and/or better version of yourself. Some patients are baffled at the wide range of treatment options that are available to them, so let’s take a look at just three of the most popular skin treatments we have to offer.

1. Professional Peels

The typical peel can be seen as a simple form of exfoliation; we are able to gently remove only the very outermost layers of skin that is actually composed of dirt and cellular debris. This material is not part of your living skin. Therefore, it acts as a kind of cover over your naturally radiant skin. Once we remove it, the true beauty of your skin can shine forth and brighten your complexion in a very noticeable way.

2. Cosmetic Injectable Treatments

We are proud to offer BOTOX®, which is the go-to treatment at our med spa for anyone in San Francisco dealing with dynamic wrinkles. The treatment basically relaxes the muscles that are responsible for dynamic wrinkles, thus, smoothing the skin above the treatment area.

Dermal fillers have exploded in popularity recently as a way to fight static wrinkles and fill in places that have lost volume as a result of the aging process. This is largely due to the fact that they can offer significant results without the need for incisions that can sometimes cause complications or lengthy downtimes. Most patients are able to resume their normal activities right after their treatment.

3 . Dermalinfusion Skin-Resurfacing Treatment

Dermalinfusion Skin-Resurfacing is an amazing treatment at our med spa that aims to exfoliate your skin and infuse it with helpful substances while also extracting impurities. It helps minimize the appearance of many different skin concerns.

Are you interested in taking advantage of skin treatments at a state-of-the-art med spa? Make an appointment at Urban Allure in San Francisco and learn more about your treatment options. Contact us today to schedule a consultation!