Author: Tracey McAlpine
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It’s the eve of my 52nd birthday and I’ve just given myself the first dose of Philips ReAura Laser skin rejuvenation.

Philips have kindly supplied a ReAura to put through its paces over an 8 week period.

I will tell you exactly how I found the device to use, what it really feels like on my skin, what reactions I have to it, and whether it delivers results.

The ReAura comes packed into a zipped case complete with charging unit, cleaning cloth and brush.  The box also contains ReAura Laser Performance Gel and Laser Aftercare Complex, a comprehensive well illustrated booklet and DVD.  I read the booklet from cover to cover before using the ReAura and then re-read it before starting.  I must confess I didn’t watch the DVD until after my first treatment.

Thankfully I remembered to charge the unit, as it’s cordless and needs charging for several hours before use.

Firstly you need to start on a clean face without any moisturiser.  I started working on my face in three zones, right hand side, and then left, followed by my forehead.  I smoothed a small dollop of performance gel to each zone, and switched on the laser.  The advice is to use it on setting two or three; one is for practice and three with give optimum results.

The trick with the ReAura is to keep contact with the skin at all times, and to move slowly in vertical and horizontal lines, carefully making sure you glide the unit close to the area you’ve just worked on.  When you get it right the unit hums and emits a green light, this is purely to show you it’s working, the red light shows you have good skin contact.  As you move the unit slowly over your skin you can feel very slight prickles, if you have ever used a TENS machine it’s very similar to that.  You do hear the occasional crackle and you soon find the right angle to keep contact.

The cheeks and chin are really easy, the bony areas above your eyes are trickier, and around your nose downright difficult.  Although the unit is comfortable to hold you can’t keep contact with your nose.  When you complete a zone a tone tells you to move to the next, the unit shuts down for 4 seconds while you reposition.

You need to be patient; it will take about ten minutes to complete each zone, so 30 minutes in total for the face.  Although Philips tells you to concentrate on one area at a time, I couldn’t resist doing my neck as well, all or nothing for me.

My face started to take on a lovely shade of pink, which actually looked a lot healthier than it did when I started.  After washing off the gel with cold water and applying the aftercare complex – to keep the skin hydrated – laser treatment can dry out the skin; There was a slight tingling and warmth, not burning up or uncomfortable.  Each zone stopped tingling about 10 minutes after treatment.  Although my skin still looked quite pink and I could clearly see where I had used the laser, as I had white eyes, and I had failed to really hit the area above my top lip. 

My skin felt calm, had little heat and looked slightly plump and refreshed.

I found it quite difficult to use the My ReAura website that Philips had recommended; I completed a skin assessment and saved it,and then couldn’t get back to this assessment so gave up out of frustration.

I now have to wait at least 48 hours before I carry out my next treatment.

Details of how the ReAura works and where you can purchase here.