As a firm believer in regular facials to keep my skin looking youthful and refreshed, I had never felt brave enough, until last week, to try what I saw as a more radical treatment – a pumpkin peel!  I was rather nervous about my appointment, picturing my face as I had seen people after peels on TV programmes – very red and sore with great sloughs of dead skin hanging off!

After a consultation – it is important that you haven’t had any sun exposure in the couple of weeks before the peel – to review my health and medical history, the 45 minute treatment began.  First of all my face was thoroughly cleansed and then “primed”. Then the pumpkin peel resurfacer was applied and left to exfoliate. This product was left on my face for 10 minutes, though this can be less if you have sensitive skin. All the time the product was on my skin, my therapist, Lauren, checked carefully for any signs of irritation or redness. She asked frequently where my level of discomfort was – on a scale of 1-10; I never got above about 4! It was nowhere near as uncomfortable as I was expecting!

The treatment can make you feel hot and if that happens you can be cooled down with a fan. Again not a problem for me, but I am used to menopausal hot flushes!

Once the product was removed, I was thrilled with the result. My skin looked radiant and there was no redness or peeling skin. Lauren gave me aftercare advice, in particular the need to avoid sun exposure and to use SPF 30 daily – no problem for me as I spend a lot of time outside and always use SPF 50 anyway.

I can highly recommend this treatment. It certainly isn’t relaxing but the results are definitely worth the slight discomfort involved. It is an ideal anti-ageing treatment but is also used to treat acne and hyper-pigmentation.