Blast blemishes with the new CryoPen at Edinburgh salon Womankind

It can deal with a myriad of marks

Womankind

As the saying goes, age doesn’t come on its own.

It often brings with it some weird-looking blemishes - keratosis, sun spots, age spots, skin tags.

Once you’re over 40, like me, you may as well just rub Pritt-Stick on yourself, then roll around in a bowl of raisins.

When I was asked if I wanted to visit Stockbridge’s new branch of beauty salon Womankind, in order to try their new CryoPen treatment, at first I wondered what I could get removed, then I couldn’t stop finding new splotches.

The ones that bothered me the most were probably a couple of seborrheic keratosis on the side of my face. Although men get them too, these are rather glamorously known as granny warts, and are usually caused by sun damage. I also have some tiny skin tags on one side of my neck, where my bag strap tends to rub. It looks a bit like I’ve been eating biscuits, and the crumbs have accumulated in my clavicle.

Obviously, if you have any mole or spot that you’re worried about, and are not sure what it is, you should be visiting your GP before thinking about getting any sort of treatment like this. Womankind can treat benign lesions from 1mm to 10mm in size, using their CryoPen gadget, which essentially just freezes them off with nitrous oxide, or as they say, their “linear compression cooling technology”.

All I really wanted to know is, would it hurt?

No, it just feels strange, said this salon’s lovely and very reassuring therapist, Neiva.

After I’ve filled out the consultation form, she examines the marks under a light, then sets to work. The blue pen is gently pressed to my skin, and there’s a crackling feeling, like a physical manifestation of radio static. It doesn’t hurt at all. Phew. The process only takes minutes, and Neiva tells me what to expect once I leave.

I’m to avoid heat and exercise for a day or two, and the marks should gradually develop a crust (yuck) and go dark, before falling off.

That’s exactly what happens. After two weeks, they suggest a follow up appointment to see if they need any further treatment.

Anyway, I am very excited to be slightly less blemished than before.

I’m also ready to blast whatever other lovely surprises that age has in store for me.

CryoPen, £50 for one to three small lesions (less than 2mm), or £10 per lesion thereafter, price on consultation for larger areas Womankind at Charlie Miller, 118 Raeburn Place, Edinburgh (0131 332 4040, www.womankindbeauty.co.uk)