Summer is literally melting us all right now, and it’s time for the annual journey into the unknown of stripping off and stepping out in a swimsuit. Showing every lump and bump.
Watching Love Island doesn’t help confidence levels either.
Diet and exercise seem to take forever, but you can always PAY for that quick fix if you want to look your best on the beach – at any cost! With the UK’s body confidence presumably at an all-time low, it’s not surprising that there’s so much interest in professional treatments, promising to help overcome those bikini hang-ups.
Here are some of the biggest trends in beach body “fixes”, dealing with every issue from excessive sweat to veins and saggy skin
Permanent sweat fix
The Internet throws up some interesting stats – for instance, who would have guessed that searches for ‘excessive sweating’ are up by a third compared to last year?
Dr Tapan Patel of The Phi Clinic in London’s Harley Street reports a surge of interest in MiraDry,the only FDA-cleared treatment for underarm sweat.
“It’s not just from people with clinical hyperhidrosis, it’s also from those who suffer from social sweating, even on a mild level” he comments. “Others simply don’t want to wear deodorant, whether it’s for confidence, convenience, or reducing the chemicals they put on their skin.”
MiraDry uses a hand-held device that delivers thermal energy to the underarms, which are numbed before treatment.
The energy permanently destroys the sweat glands, with an 82% reduction in sweating after one treatment.
Sweating is, of course, a vital bodily function, but the armpits only account for 2% of the body’s sweat glands so the body will still be able to cool itself normally afterwards
MiraDry is available at The Phi Clinicin London and centres nationwide, from £1,495.
Vein issues
Varicose veins don’t exactly fill you with beach body confidence, and as well as being ugly they can be painful precursors to leg ulcers.
This summer, the country’s leading vein centre, The Whiteley Clinic has launched not one but two treatments to help you get lovely vein-free legs.
Professor Mark Whiteleyis the first surgeon in the UK to introduce a walk-in, walk-out treatment that microwaves that varicose vein into oblivion.
The new microwave ablation technique claims to have fewer risks and less cost than traditional radiofrequency or laser, costing around £1.5k per leg.
The clinic has also introduced a unique laser treatment to zap the bruise-like brown stains that often build up around ankles in patients with circulatory problems.
After laser treatment, the mottled skin scabs over and falls off, revealing prettier, healthier skin within a month. The cost of treating these hemosiderin stains is around £300 a session.
The blended boob job
If anyone’s the master of a natural-looking boob job, it’s cosmetic surgeon Patrick Mallucci who has previously scientifically calculated the mathematical proportions of the perfect breast.
His hot trend prediction for bikini bods this year is the ‘blended boob job’, designed to optimise breast quality as well as shape and size. The blended boob job combines implant surgery with non-invasive treatments, such as radiofrequency and Profhilo (hylaluronic acid injections), to recondition an ageing or sun-damaged decollétage.
It doesn’t come cheap though – don’t expect any change from £6,000.
The saggy skin tightener
There’s a lot of interest in Profound, a new skin-tightening treatment that’s just arrived from the States.
It uses radio frequency – delivered deep into the dermis using tiny needles hooked up to a machine – to trick the skin into cranking up its collagen production.
It’s as big news as a non-surgical facelift, and Dr Tatiana is the first to offer it in the UK. She says it’s also effective on any area that needs to be smoothed and tightened, from bingo wings and slack tummies to dimply bums.
The cost of your freshly-ironed body?
From £2,750 for a large area, although the effects of this one-off treatment are meant to be long-lasting.
