As seen in Elle Magazine
For 35 per cent of Australians, acne isn’t something you leave behind as a teenager—along with butterfly clips and an obsession with changing your ringtone—it’s something that spills over into your twenties or crops up in your thirties when you’re least expecting it. Bam! Your adult life. Your supposedly safe skin space.
I’m not talking about the odd hormonal pimple or summer skin breakouts either. I’m talking angry and aggressive acne. A problem I’m recently become reacquainted with.
After struggling with bad skin in my teens, I went on the pill and Roaccutane—the most commonly-prescribed medication for severe acne—and, praise be, everything cleared up. But, earlier this year, I came off the pill—and my skin freaked out.
I began experiencing severe (not a word I use lightly in this context) hormonal breakouts reminiscent of my teenage acne. Desperate to find a lasting skin fix, I’ve visited a slew of facialists, dermatologists and naturopaths—and forked out a fortune on exxy skincare—to try and clear it up over the last six months, but nothing has worked.
So, when I was asked to review Dr. McCaffery’s SGA Acne Treatment at Clearskincare Clinics, I was a little skeptical, but also hopeful desperate.
The premise of the treatment is simple; treat each ‘rogue’ sebaceous gland—ones that produce too much sebum and too many skin cells causing acne—with heat, drying out the faulty glands and preventing the acne cycle from starting again.
The procedure itself takes around 30 minutes. (Side note: the first treatment is free, which is welcome news for any acne sufferers who are emotionally and financially drained at the point of seeking treatment.) To start, a consultant looks at your skin to determine what type of acne you’re suffering from (mine was hormonal), before going over what the treatment entails.
Next, the specialist injects needles into the individual overactive sebaceous glands—don’t worry, it only feels like a tiny prick and only took about 10 minutes all up for me—and then applies an LED light treatment, which is on for 20 minutes, and is designed to kill off any remained bacteria.
It’s all over pretty quickly and there was no pain afterwards. In theory, you can do it on your lunch break, but I’d advise not making any plans post-treatment. My skin was pretty blotchy straight afterwards and, while they do have redness-relief mineral BB cream for you to use, you’re advised not to wear regular makeup until the next day.
I was told not to expect too much (read: instant results) from my initial session and that it would take at least three treatments until I would see results. They also warned me that my breakouts could worsen a day after the treatment and advised me to extract (or pop) any pimple heads if they formed.
I was told to expect to see a change in my skin about 10-14 days after my treatment. I couldn’t say my acne had completely disappeared, but by day five, my skin seemed to have taken a baby step forward. It began to seem less oily in parts, and my breakouts became easier to manage.
When I returned to the clinic for my second batch of SGA, my skin had cleared up so much that a second session wasn’t even needed, which was a massive result. Instead, the technician used the SGA technology to pinpoint some milia I had on my cheekbones, followed by LED light therapy to target some of the acne-causing bacteria under the skin. For people with skin like mine, which is moving out of aggressive acne but still experiencing the odd hormonal breakout, they recommend Pixel session, with intermittent LED light therapy, followed by miso needling later down the track. With just one session, I’ve already experienced fewer breakouts and inflammation, and am confident that clear skin is definitely within reach. Hallelujah.
Before and after: A Clearskincare Clinics client after seven sessions of Dr. McCaffery’s SGA Acne Treatment.
Clearskincare Clinics are Australia’s Largest Acne practice with 45 clinics around Australia. Dr McCaffery’s Acne Treatment is performed by highly trained and experienced acne therapists. The best thing about Dr McCaffery’s Acne Treatment, is that it WORKS for all skin types. And because Dr McCaffery is so passionate about fixing your Acne and Breakouts, she offers you a complimentary Acne Consultation and the chance to try her Acne Treatment for free at any of her 45 clinic locations in Australia and New Zealand.
So start controlling your Acne and Breakouts, and try Dr. McCaffery’s Acne Treatment for Free.
