Shirley Ballas revealed she has got her confidence back after an intensive course of high-tech beauty treatments totally transformed her appearance.
For the past year, Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley, who turned 64 on 6 September, has been seeing one of the UK's top cosmetic doctors for a series of the latest non-invasive procedures to rejuvenate her face and neck. See the process in the video...
Shirley said: "I have to say that I think these treatments have shaved 30 years off me. It has made me feel so confident and comfortable in my own skin.
"There's a famous Beatles song that goes, 'Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm 64.' Well, I turned 64 last week (6/9/60), and I feel like I've got a new lease of life."
It was a very different story just a couple of years ago when the Wallasey-born World Champion professional dancer felt insecure about her appearance and had even considered having cosmetic surgery.
She said: "When I went into my 60s I was very much considering having a facelift. Back then when I looked in the mirror, I saw dull lifeless sagging skin, I had a lot of pigmentation with sun spots and I had little spider veins on my nose."
Shirley added: "The whole thing about my face made me feel anxious especially because I'm in the public eye more and more these days. Just like anybody, I just want to look the best that I can at my age, but the problem is that when you reach your mid-60s and older, it gets so much harder to keep your skin looking in great shape, and I was keen to find a non-surgical way to revitalise my skin."
Shirley's non-invasive procedure
Over the past 12 months, Shirley has been having appointments with leading aesthetic practitioner Dr Johanna Ward at her clinic near Harley Street for a series of monthly skin-boosting NeoGen nitrogen plasma sessions.
This non-invasive procedure uses super-heated nitrogen gas to rejuvenate the skin from within and achieve a totally natural look.
Dr Ward, who also runs clinics in London and Kent, said: "The NeoGen treatment effectively tricks your skin into boosting levels of collagen and elastin, two of the main structural proteins in your connective tissues that stop our skin from sagging and give us that plump, youthful look.
"Collagen levels start to decline in the late 20s and early 30s, and then drop significantly after 40 and especially during menopause. But levels of collagen can be boosted with NeoGen treatments which create relatively pain-free trauma within the dermis which triggers your body to repair itself with high concentrations of collagen and elastin.
"We have provided six monthly low-energy NeoGen treatments for Shirley this year to continue to boost her collagen levels, and will now do quarterly top-up sessions."
Looking at her before and after pictures, Shirley was astonished at the positive changes to her face, and she said: "Even I'm quite shocked, and I'm hard to please. I would say the biggest improvement for me is the tightening of the jawline and the reduction of the loose skin on the neck and jowls, but also the general skin quality is improved. The NeoGen treatments have got rid of all of the sunspots, red marks and spider veins that I had on my cheeks and nose.
"But generally, the skin looks fresh and dewy, before I had the treatments it was looking grey and tired but now my whole face glows. It's just remarkable to see the difference in such a short space of time."
Since revealing the results of her other procedures last year, Shirley decided to continue having NeoGen treatments and has been seeing Dr Ward roughly every six weeks.
Shirley admits that she has a low pain threshold and with her busy career can't afford to have time off work to recover from treatments.
Shirley was also given Tenplus electrolyte sachets to increase skin hydration before and after treatments as well as G Herbal SKIN supplements, which contain high concentrations of Centella Asiatica and turmeric to help boost results from the treatments.
Post-treatment downtime
Shirley was photographed at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in south-east London, and she said: "I have quite a low tolerance for pain but after they apply the numbing cream it is totally bearable for me and it's no more than a 2 or 3 out of ten in terms of pain."
She added: "I choose to have my treatments on a low energy setting which means that I have almost zero downtime, so my skin might be a little bit red the next day but I can still put my makeup on and I can still go about my work.
"With lower energy treatments you won't see changes overnight but over the course of six months, I could see a huge difference."
Dr Johanna Ward said: "Some clients choose to have higher energy and they generally get their skin rejuvenation results quicker, but there is greater downtime post-treatment, sometimes up to 10 days.
"Shirley's busy work life meant that was not an option for her, so she chose the 'slow and low' option. With low energy you will generally start to see a noticeable difference after a couple of treatments, and major changes after three or four."
The benefit of lower-energy NeoGen treatments is that they have practically no downtime and many clients can cope with having them without using numbing cream. The treatments take about 45 minutes to do a full face, neck and top of the chest.
In total, Shirley had six low-energy NeoGen Plasma treatments this year, and prices with Dr Ward start at £800 for a full face, neck and decollete but there are deals for three treatments for £2,150 and six for £3,850.
Shirley said: "I intend to keep up having the NeoGen treatments for the next year. The results are completely off the chart and phenomenal so 100% I'm going to keep them up. I'm actually quite terrified at the thought of stopping having them."
How Neo-Gen plasma treatments work
NeoGen uses ultra-high radio frequency to convert nitrogen gas into nitrogen plasma. A plasma is an electrically charged gas and the NeoGen handpiece directs this thermal plasma into the layers of the skin.
This creates controlled trauma which then boosts the natural regenerative mechanisms, effectively tricking the skin to boost levels of collagen and elastin which are the building blocks of healthy skin.
As we get older our bodies create less collagen and elastin and our skin loses its elasticity and forms lines, wrinkles and jowls. The NeoGen treatment reverses this by boosting the body's natural defences.
The treatment is also effective in treating acne, including live cystic acne and stretch marks, and can even be used around the sensitive eye area.
It is also less painful than many laser and micro-needling treatments. Downtime for most treatments is less than a day and the rejuvenation effects last for months.
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