So many treatments are advertised as ‘so quick and easy you can fit them in your lunch break’, but is this really true? Do you really have time to get to an appointment, have a treatment and get back to your desk without incurring the wrath of your boss?
Let’s be realistic. Nobody’s slotting a facelift or liposuction in between their daily meetings. To comfortably fit a treatment into your lunch break it needs to last around 30 minutes, maximum. Not only does this give you leeway for travel, prep, and a quick pre- and post-treatment chat with your practitioner but it also leaves you with enough time for the ‘lunch’ part of your break.
To pull together the ultimate list of legitimate lunchtime treatments, we enlisted the help of the experts at selfologi. An innovative digital platform set to transform how you discover, learn about and book cosmetic treatments, selfologi provides authentic and impartial content in Arabic and English in a way that is fun, engaging and easy to understand.
Lunchtime beauty treatments
There are a few things to bear in mind before you dash off to the clinic at 1pm. If it’s your first time undergoing a specific treatment, odds are you’ll need a consultation. Your practitioner will want to run through your medical history, past experiences, and goals. This is a vital part of ensuring you have satisfying (not to mention safe) results.
Phototherapy uses specific wavelengths of different coloured light to reduce oil production, kill bacteria, and boost collagen production and can treat a range of stubborn skin concerns such as eczema, vitiligo, psoriasis, acne scarring, and wrinkles. This only takes 30 minutes but will require you to give up a few of your lunchtimes to see the full impact.
The go-to method for smoothing out fine lines and wrinkles is the very definition of a lunchtime treatment – at least, it is for Botox veterans. In less than 15 minutes, you can zip in and out of a Botox top-up with nothing more than a bit of redness around the injection site.
It’s a slightly different story for first timers. Your practitioner needs to talk through your medical history, how Botox works, and the concerns you’re hoping to treat. Then they’ll decide where to inject, as well as how much Botox you need. This can take over an hour in total, meaning you may need to split the consultation and first session into two lunch breaks.
If you’re a filler newbie, the same rules apply to your first session as Botox. Everyone’s features are different, and everyone has different aesthetic goals. Your practitioner will then choose a type of filler, as well as the number of syringes needed.
After this – and in your subsequent filler appointments – they’ll usually apply some numbing cream, such as lidocaine, to reduce discomfort. This needs to sit for a while (between five or 30 minutes) and can sometimes take longer than actually injecting the filler. Results are instant (but the swelling might make them look slightly exaggerated when you return to your desk).
With multiple injections of vitamins and minerals, mesotherapy can tackle multiple concerns – from wrinkles and dry skin, to cellulite, and hair loss. Anything involving your face or similarly small treatment areas should only take around 30 minutes.
However, the larger the treatment area, the longer the session. This is especially relevant to anyone wanting to target hair loss and cellulite, which can take up to one hour, so might not be lunchtime appropriate.
Steroid shots
If you’re struggling with stubborn cystic acne, steroid shots are a reliable – and quick – solution. Injected directly into each cyst, they deliver a dose of cortisone (a synthetic hormone like cortisol) to reduce inflammation and redness. Dermatologists can administer each shot in a matter of seconds and results start to kick in in a matter of hours, so you might even see results before you leave your desk at the end of the day.
Laser hair removal
Even if you have the most lenient boss in the world, you probably can’t slot a laser hair removal session for the entire body into your lunchtime. This can take up to two hours, while other large areas – such as the legs or chest – generally last just under one hour.
But areas such as the upper lip, chin, armpits, and even bikini, are all small and specific enough that you can squeeze them into sessions under 30 minutes. Your skin might be slightly sore or red afterwards, but it’s more than bearable for an afternoon at your desk.
Profhilo
Dehydrated skin won’t feel the benefits of Profhilo for four to six weeks, but the treatment itself only takes 30 minutes. Several injections of hyaluronic acid are inserted just beneath the barrier, helping skin retain more moisture and stimulate collagen – which, in turn, improves elasticity and volume. Just remember that, as with any injectables, your skin might be red or slightly swollen for a few hours.
Booking your lunchtime beauty treatment
Only minimally invasive treatments (most of which revolve around skin) are quick enough to comfortably squeeze into an hour, but this can still be a huge relief to your schedule. And less stress means better skin, no matter what treatment you opt for.
Sometimes, finding the answers to all your questions isn’t easy as there is not a single comprehensive and trusted source of information for cosmetic treatments online. Hence, selfologi was born, a digital platform where you can find out everything you need to know about cosmetic treatments. It is the only place you can find authentic and original content, in Arabic and English, that has been developed by global industry experts. Starting early 2022, you can also find information on the clinics and practitioners offering these services, and compare them, with user-generated ratings and reviews on-hand to make sure you are making the right choice – for you.
