Freeze Your Way To Perfect Skin

We're not talking sci-fi here... Cryotherapy is an aesthetic and dermatological treatment that blasted on to the scene during the 70's. Applying freezing treatments was traditionally used to calm fevers, sprains, bruising and other muscular injuries. Over time they proved effective when dealing with dermatological conditions including verrucas, acne, birth marks, scars, tumours and melanomas.

Despite what you may have heard, the cold isn't bad for our skin. It leaves us rosy-cheeked, closes pores and slightly tightens skin. How? Cold boosts our circulation, which in turn keeps our skin firm, toned and radiant! And that's only half the story: it decongests bags, drains and soothes the eye contour, perks up worn out skin, soothes sensitive skin, kills pain and helps active ingredients to penetrate the epidermis. And certain old wives' tales work a treat - cold teaspoons to decongest eyes, cold compresses to soothe pain or massaging on cold creams to alleviate tired, heavy legs.

Aesthetic cryotherapy is mainly used to slow down skin ageing. It boosts blood flow, firms up the epidermis, tightens skin tissue and smoothes way lines and wrinkles. Spending 3 minutes in a room that's cooled with liquid nitrogen to a goose-bumping -140 °C helps skin tissue to regenerate, eliminates toxins and stimulates our vasodilatory system. Whether as a salon or dermatological treatment, cryotherapy is taking the anti-ageing world by storm.

Sports professionals have used cryotherapy for ages, as it helps their bodies to quickly recover - ever seen images of athletes plunging their bodies into teeth-chattering -50 to -170°C baths? Salons use probes that boost circulation by blasting our skin with cold air. This sudden drop in temperature creates a thermal shock that in turn stimulates the epidermis.

The results are instant - 'lifted' features alongside firmer, smoother skin. Applying a firming cream to your face and neck completes a cryotherapy session.

There are plenty of 'freezing', toning and firming products that you can use at home - frozen gels, perfumed ice cubes, cold skin sticks, metal tips and face masks that you can keep in the fridge and apply when your complexion needs a tingling pick-me-up.