The skin I live in is very blessed. Never have I ever had acne. Never have I ever had mega pores. Never have I ever had rosacea.

Puffed up pride, over. Soz.

What I am ridden with, are genetically (read: ridiculously, unjustly) baggy eyes. Come rain, come shine, 10 hours’ sleep or 1 hours’ sleep, the bags under my eyes are packed to the gills. And they are anything but Chanel bags. Choithrams, more like. A load of spilled over weekly goods.

The idea that concealer will calm down swollen bags is a total fallacy. Listen to me, concealer is a revealer. Don’t highlight the plight! Tired eyes, not so tackled. Ok, I’ll stop now…

However, I’ve never thought to do anything about them. I’ve always had a ‘well-that’s-just-the-way-the-cookie-crumbles” attitude about them. That is until, a non-surgical option came into being.

“Tell me what you don’t like about your face?” said Rebecca Treston. Yes, THE Rebecca Treston – of Dubai London Clinic repute. The UK trained licensed Beauty and Laser Therapist with over 20 years of experience, shot me a cold one right out the gate. I scrunched my face up and before I answered, Rebecca proffered another prompt. “What have you seen on Zoom that you don’t like?”

It was a ‘ding-ding-ding with a knife on a glass’ situation. That’s the question of the year 2020. The huge uptick in Zooming with our nearest, dearest and colleagues, saw a lot of dooming on the facial front, too. It’s like every second of the day is a selfie. What’s worse is I keep looking at myself while trying to pretend that I am in fact interestedly looking at everybody else.

So, I explained my hereditary hang up.

Fotona Smooth Eye was her solution. Before I get into a breakdown of the treatment, let me get a bit techie first. Smooth Eye is a laser (zip, zap, zip) treatment that helps reduce puffiness, brightens, lifts, and removes fine lines around the eyes. The treatment comfortably heats the deeper layers of skin to 42-45°C. Maintaining that temperature for just a few minutes instantly contracts collagen and stimulates fibroblast activity, resulting in firmer, more elastic, smoother skin. The energy from the laser stimulates the production of new collagen and tightens existing collagen.

Anyway, the day came. I was told I would be doing three rounds of the treatment (20 mins each) and it would take effect over the coming weeks and lasts for around six months.

Before the zip, zap, zip happens, I was lathered with a creamy custard numbing cream and waited for 30 minutes. Over time my eye area fell into a tingly trance. Then, Rebecca began the bizz. I’ve never had anything done remotely close to cosmetic work, so this was a kind of a big, huge, massive deal. Maybe I’ve been moralistic about it or maybe I’ve been overwrought. Either way, I bit the bullet and braved the pain for gain.

My body convulsed, willing to the prickliness. It was spiky – especially under the eye. Rebecca’s assistant put her hand on my shoulder and did a little piano playing with her fingers and said: “I did this without the numbing cream.” And then she proffered me two stress balls which, if they were glass, I would have properly shattered with my deathly grip. Around the brow bone, I was far more robust about the sensation.

After the treatment, Rebecca applied some sunscreen and a sesame-scented (literally wanted to lick my temples) cream to ease the redness. Although, there is next to zero downtime with Fotona Smooth Eye. I had a dinner later that night and didn’t need to cover up a thing. I noticed my eye had instantly opened up wider.

Two weeks later I went for another round and same thing – stress balls at the ready. It was after this particular round that I saw a realistic difference from the ‘before’ shot. My upper eyelid seemed to be more held back from hooding itself over – thank you very much!

Look, here’s the lowdown – it’s not going to change your eye shape or obliterate glaring issues but it will reduce a lot of problem spots and let’s be real here, it’s non-invasive. Uber score right there. For the best and most long-lasting results, it’s recommended you do a course of the treatment once every four-six weeks.

Three months later and a total of three sessions under my belt, the treatment woke up my eyes. My eyes have taken on the shapes of plates, like the decorative ones you find mounted on a wall in someone’s house that they’ve accrued over the years from travelling to exotic countries.

Happy. Days. Indeed.

    

The Fotona Smooth Eye treatment costs Dhs3,000 (for three sessions) at Dubai London Clinic, Al Thanya Center.