I try: BroadBand Light treatment at Clinic 1

In over twenty years of writing about beauty, I’ve had a lot of treatments that have come with the tag “lunchtime” – lunchtime facials, lunchtime peels, lunchtime makeovers and more. Inevitably, they fall into two categories – ones that do very little but let you return to work looking a bit glow-y for a day or two, and those that are high performance but leave you looking like you most definitely have had something ‘done’. That is until a few weeks ago when I visited Clinic 1 on College Hill in Ponsonby for a BBL BroadBand Light treatment, which delivered serious results (for my skin type at least) - with next to no downtime. And yes, it came in well under 40 minutes, leaving me with enough time to grab lunch on the way back to my office and check my emails.
One of the first clinics in New Zealand to offer BBL BroadBand Light treatment, Clinic 1 is unabashedly chic and my therapist, Sophie was an absolute wonder when it came to skin knowledge and answering even my most tricky questions. I felt in great hands from the get go, which is so important when you’re dealing with any sort of skin issues and maybe not initially feeling your best. I hadn’t heard of BBL before but soon learned that it’s been called the ”Rolls Royce of IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) treatments”, which previously was all that was on offer locally. The most advanced phototherapy device on the market, BBL is essentially a next generation light-based treatment with ground-breaking clinical evidence when it comes to changing the skin at a molecular level. And anywhere on the face and body.

Clinic 1

But onto the important question: what skin conditions can it help with? Sun damage (photoaging), sun spots, age spots, hyperpigmentation, freckles, melasma, birth marks, redness, rosacea, small blood vessels, broken capillaries, acne, skin laxity… and the list goes on. It is also completely customisable depending on your skin type and what you’d like to tackle/achieve, and BBL is also the only treatment that is capable of functionally changing the expression of genes in aged skin cells, as proved by a study from Stanford University. This makes it powerful enough to literally ‘reverse’ early signs of ageing as well as targeting skin issues, and those used to more painful procedures will love that it features state-of-the-art cooling features and comes with minimal pain and downtime. I felt very little throughout my treatment targeting redness, sun damage and fine lines, and left without makeup – although if you do feel the need to cover up, you can do so immediately after with no disruption to the healing process.
As with many a transformative beauty procedure, the number of treatments required will vary from patient to patient, and the team at Clinic 1 will personalise a treatment plan based on what you want to achieve. Even one treatment is beneficial, but a series of treatments is usually recommended and I can’t wait for my next one.
The beautiful beauty destination also offers a raft of other options, such as facials, microneedling and even injectables, so if you’re looking to work on your skin health as we head into the silly season and the new year, I highly recommend you pay Clinic 1 a visit. Did I mention the clinic premises is also incredibly serene and really rather chic? Even better!

Main photo by Fleur Kaan on Unsplash, an abridged version of this story first appeared in Ponsonby News.