You’re over 40, the wrinkles have started to pop up out of nowhere, your eye cream doesn’t seem to work like it used to, you have that tired aging look around your eyes, Botox or other injectables aren’t on your radar for whatever reason, but you’re tired of looking older than you want to.   Sound familiar?

Have you ever had a laser treatment on your skin or considered a home laser treatment?  About a year ago I went to my dermatologist and had some broken capillaries lasered off with amazing results.  It wasn’t as painful as I had anticipated, except the spot right under the nose where the nostril meets the skin above the lip.  Ouch!  So when I was asked if I wanted to try the PaloVia Laser treatment for wrinkles around the eye area, I was up for the challenge.   This is the first FDA cleared, at-home laser clinically proven to reduce fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes. Lasers can stimulate collagen growth below the surface of the skin, plumping up the wrinkles and fine lines.  On a rare occasion I was home from work one day and was watching The Doctors TV show and they were talking about this device.  I was instantly intrigued.

 

 

Above shows the kit contents; the hand-held unit, the pre-treatment gel and the charger.   The box is nice and sturdy, so it stores nicely without worrying about the box falling apart.

The hand-held unit has a LCD screen on the backside of it which indicates the strength of the laser, which is adjustable from low, medium and high.  It also indicates how many applications are remaining on the hand piece before it automatically shuts off for 8 hours.  It resets itself to 25 after every 8 hour period of non-use.   It also indicates the remaining battery strength.   At the bottom of the unit is the purple on/off switch, and below that is where you plug it in to charge the unit.

 

Here you can see the treatment window at the top of the unit.  This is where the laser emits the light when activated.  You can also see a strip that goes around the circumference of the unit.   This lights up blue when the treatment window is in full contact with the skin, indicating that the laser is ready to use.  This flashing light is NOT the laser, but just a “ready” indicator.

When using a home device such as PaloVia, ALWAYS read the instructions carefully before beginning.  Assume nothing in order to be safe.  You don’t want to mess with your skin or your eyes.

I am going to be using this and sharing my results with you throughout the treatment course.   It is recommended that the first 30 days it is used every evening.  After those 30 days maintenance is recommended two-three times as week.   I will update you weekly with images for 4 weeks in a row.   At the end of my 4 weeks, we will be giving away a unit to one lucky Fab Over 40 reader!

Below are my “before” shots and a closeup of the eye area as well.   As you can see, I am not “heavily” wrinkled, I do not have on any skincare treatment (eye cream), any makeup nor have I ever used Botox or any other type of injectable, and these tired eyes will be 49 in a couple of days.   You can see I’m not scrunching my face or forehead to give a false “before” shot.   It’s the real me!  In fact, I think most days my eyes look worse than this!

 

To use, wash and dry your skin.  Then apply a light layer of the PaloVia Pre-treatment Gel around the eye area to be treated.  The treatment process only takes about 3-4 minutes.  They recommend you “map out” a treatment plan so  you don’t overlap the area that is being treated.   Approximately 6-8 areas are lasered, depending on your needs.  Each spot takes 3 seconds for the application and it is recommended that you use the highest strength of light that you can tolerate.  My first day I started on low, but I think I will move up to medium.  I do have an unusually high tolerance for pain, just for reference.

It’s really that easy to use!

Is this expensive?  Yes, it retails for $499.  But, when a single laser treatment at the dermatologist can cost a few hundred dollars, this in the long run is well worth the expense if it works.   I hope you follow along with my progress to see where my results are in one month!