Brazilian Beauty

By: Ruth Kerrison
Created on 25th March 2010

Enhance Medical in Cheltenham is one of only four clinics outside London to offer the revolutionary RioBlush carboxy therapy system. Owner Rachael Grey Smart, RGN, explains what makes RioBlush such a standout treatment

The mark of a good aesthetic practitioner, in my opinion, is to have a wide range of tools at their disposable so they can recommend the most effective treatment to deal with a patient's concerns. At Enhance Medical we offer many different aesthetic procedures but one that really stands out in my eyes is RioBlush, a carboxy therapy treatment.

It works by injecting carbon dioxide into the skin for rejuvenation purposes, and to treat scars, stretch marks and even cellulite.

Although RioBlush itself is relatively new in this country, the concept behind it dates back to pre-war times, when carbon dioxide was used in the medical arena. When injected into the skin, carbon dioxide promotes new cell growth, so when a patient had a wound or burn that wouldn't heal with any other treatment, they treated it with carbon dioxide and it worked.

So, like a lot of treatments we now use for cosmetic purposes, carboxy therapy originated as a medical treatment, and when they saw how well it worked to heal wounds, they realised it could also be used to heal stretch marks and to hold back the ageing process.

When the carbon dioxide is introduced into the area, the body's response is to think ‘hang on, there's no oxygen there', and so it rushes oxygen to that site, taking with it all the nutrients to build new elastin, new skin cells and new collagen.

A unique experience
The RioBlush machine comes from Brazil, which is essentially the capital of cosmetic surgery - a lot of the new treatments and techniques we see in this country have originated in Brazil. They've been using RioBlush over there for many years now and have been getting some fabulous results, and now we're seeing the same thing here.

I've been offering the treatment for just over a year now - since late 2008 - and for a long time mine was the only clinic outside London where you could get RioBlush in the UK. I think now there are two or three others, but it is still a very exclusive treatment, and it's so effective that people are prepared to travel a long way to have it.

Total makeover
The thing that really makes RioBlush stand out from all the other cosmetic treatments in this country, as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that you can use it to treat so many problems. Depending on the angle of the needle, you can go slightly deeper into the skin for cellulite and fatty deposits, but around the eye, which is a very sensitive area, you can just put the very tip of the needle just under the surface of the skin.

It's also fantastic to treat crepey, loose skin on the jaw line, neck and décolletage, and it can really help to fade stretch marks, which is great because no other treatment has managed to do that very successfully.

RioBlush is a great treatment to improve cellulite, because along with helping to thicken the skin and build new elastin and collagen, it works because it really improves the circulation to the area, and with cellulite a big part of the problem is caused by poor circulation.

What we're finding is that people are starting off with one area, be it on their face or on their body, getting such great results, and then having other areas treated.

Repeat performance
Like most treatments, you won't necessarily see results after the first treatment session. A lot of my patients have said they did notice a difference in the quality of their skin straightaway, but realistically you need a course of treatments in order to achieve optimal results.

Generally we start people off at six treatments, and then we review them at that point to see if they need some extra on top. Whether you will need to return for a top-up will depend very much on what you've had done - with stretch marks, unless you stretch the skin again you probably won't need to return, but with the anti-ageing treatments, because the ageing process is ongoing you may need to come back for further treatment once or twice a year, just to maintain the results.

Keeping up the good work
Once you've been treated with RioBlush, it is important to do a bit of homework yourself, to get the best out of it. Nothing strenuous, just using a decent moisturiser and making sure you eat well and drink lots of water - I just think it's so important, if you're going to invest money in your face, your body, to do everything you can to prolong the effects of the treatment.

The benefits of RioBlush are almost too many to mention, but in the current financial climate it all boils down to value for money, and also time - because let's face it, time is money. And RioBlush is very affordable, but also hugely effective. And it's so quick, most of my clients are able to just pop in during their lunch hour, and because there's no downtime they can go straight back to work and their colleagues are none the wiser!