Treatment Information

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Aesthetic clinics sometimes offer a large number of treatments that can be very confusing at first to cosmetic treatment novices. The marketing of these interventions can sometimes exaggerate the possible benefits while downplaying the risks. We take great pride in only offering treatments that we believe are supported by science and evidence, and most importantly, that we would be happy to have done to ourselves. The team at Nunyara are focussed on using the available technology and interventions to help clients achieve their aesthetic goals in an ethical and safe manner, and will not undertake treatments that we believe will not benefit you or carry unnecessary risk. We believe that clients should have a good understanding of how treatments work and the underlying anatomical causes of their aesthetic concerns - having knowledgeable is the key to ensuring clients can make informed choices in relation to their treatments. 

Anti-wrinkle injections are 'scheduled' medications that must be prescribed by a doctor or nurse practitioner after a face to face or Telehealth consultation. These medications fall under several broad groups;

1. agents that relax muscles, reducing the appearance of wrinkles in overlying skin. These are made from a form of botulinum toxin, a chemical found in nature that causes muscle paralysis. 

2. agents that fill areas of volume loss but do not stimulate remodelling or deposition of connective tissue. An example if hyaluronic acid.

3. agents that both fill areas of volume loss and initiate an inflammatory response that encourages the body to create connective tissues such as collagen and elastin

4. agents derived from your own body tissues that stimulate regeneration or fill volume

These devices use high intensity electromagnetic energy to induce skeletal muscle contractions in different groups, such as the abdominal wall, thighs, buttocks, upper arms and pelvic floor. A 30 minute session may induce the equivalent of 10 000 to 30 000 voluntary muscle contractions in a given area. 

This can be very effective for muscle toning and can assist in some forms of incontinence when the pelvic floor is treated, usually by simply sitting on a special chair designed to delivery the EM energy to that area of the body. 

These treatments are well tolerated and are non invasive.  While not intended as a weight loss treatment, when combined with a healthy diet, regular exercise and HIFU treatments, it can tone and improve the appearance of some areas of our bodies that we are often self conscious about. 

High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound uses  sound energy well above the hearing range,  delivered at different depths to heat tiny areas of sub-cutaneous tissue in a network like pattern. As an example, for facial tightening, the target layers are at 3mm and 4.5mm in depth.  Like many treatments that do not either relax muscles or replace lost volume, HIFU cause a controlled type of injury to stimulate a healing and regenerate response.

The focussed sound waves are targeted to heat tiny areas about 1mm in diameter, to around 70 degrees C in a network like pattern.  

Treatments that stimulate the body to produce a regenerative response typically takes weeks to months to produce a notable change. While the skin and fine lines often appear better just after treatment, this is from initial tissue oedema, which you may often see in 'before and after' images.  The real changes take up to 3 months. We encourage clients to take progress photos to monitor their response in the longer term. 

HIFU treatments are non-invasive with minimal to mild discomfort during the procedure. Like all treatments, there are some risks, but this can be greatly reduced by an awareness of the underlying anatomy and the areas of the face and body that cannot be exposed to HIFU energy (eg thyroid, major blood vessels and nerves). 

Platelet Rich Fibrinogen therapy is where specific components and growth factors derived from a clients blood sample are re-injected back into specific areas of the face and body to stimulate tissue regeneration, as an anti-aging therapy. These procedures utilise the profound healing ability of our own blood to stimulate changes in the skin when appropriately concentrated and re-introduced in a sterile manner with either fine needles or micro-needling. Similar procedures have been used for many years dentistry, neurosurgery, sports medicine, orthopaedics and even hair loss. There is very good evidence for its benefits and it is considered safe. When used on the skin for aesthetic purposes, it has been colloquially referred to as a ‘vampire facial’, but of course this is not correct, as no red blood cells are used in the process and the ‘product’  is 100% you. The components of your blood sample used are platelets, fibrinogen, plasma and some leucocytes. PRF is considered a 'second generation' procedure that is more effective than PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma). At Nunyara Aesthetics, our collection and processing procedure is completely additive free and sterile and obtains the most active elements of your own blood for maximum benefit and safety. All of these procedures are performed or directly supervised by our clinic doctor. 

LED therapy can be added to other treatments or used a stand alone treatment. LED therapy is the delivery of different monochromatic wavelengths of visible light (with the exception of infra-red) to the surface of the skin. The depth of penetration is variable, and is dependent on the wavelength used, scatter, spot size and applied power in additional to the individual characteristics of your skin. For example, red light of around 600nm, can penetrate up to a couple of millimetres, whereas blue light around 500nm may only reach a depth of 0.5mm, but this depends on a few variables! There is some good research evidence to suggest the absorption of some wavelengths (particularly red wavelengths) has  beneficial biological effects on the tissue absorbing it (a ‘chromophore’) without causing harm. Blue wavelengths, due to their superficial absorption, are thought to be of benefit for acne like conditions and  rosacea. These are very low risk interventions, with only a few cautions and contraindications. Our doctor is happy to advise if this is suitable for you. 

LED is very different to laser. Lasers use highly focussed light of specific wavelengths of a very short duration for various therapeutic effects. Please see below for more information on laser therapies available at Nunyara. 

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and Broad Based Rejuvenation (BBR) are light based therapies used to treat a range of skin changes, from fine lines and sun damage, to irregular pigment,  acne and some visible superficial blood vessels, called telangiectasia. It can also be used for hair reduction and can improve wound healing after many aesthetic procedures.  IPL technology is very distinct from Laser therapies.  IPL machines produce brief, very intense flashes of non coherent light across a broad  range of wavelengths of the visible spectrum. The light from a xenon arc passes through a sapphire block and onto the skin. If a filter is applied, only certain wavelengths will get though. Depending on the intensity/power and wavelengths allowed to pass, the depth of penetration and type of tissue that absorbs the energy can be adjusted to achieve specific treatment aims. This is referred to as selective photolysis. 

IPL/BBR treatment can address issues in the dermis and epidermis.  It can be very effective for a range of conditions, with short treatment times, but may require several visits

This is the process whereby controlled microtrauma to the epidermis and dermis encourages the body to mobilise its own repair mechanisms, which ultimately includes the production and organisation of collagen by fibroblasts in the skin.  Some devices add a small electric current, radiofrequency energy or ultrasound to the micro-needling process. 

Nunyara utilises a professional quality device for this, called the SkinPen and SkinFuse products for several days after treatment. 

The improvements from micro-needing collagen induction therapy typically requires several treatments, but may continue over several months. These treatments have minimal downtime and have well established safety profiles with minimal risks. 

Microneedling can be made more effective when combined with Platelet Rich Fibrinogen. 

There is evidence that microneedling and PRF may assist with hair loss.  

Plasmalift treatments do not use your 'plasma' (blood product like PRF) but refers to the state of matter referred to more often in physics classes than beauty clinic. 

Plasma in physics is a difficult concept to understand and is considered fourth state of matter, different from solids, liquids and gas. By applying a high voltage, but tiny current, the gas between a plasma probe and the skin becomes 'charged' with some electrons separating from their atoms. This generates a tiny focus of heat that causes local 'sublimation' of a dot of skin. When the probe is touched directly to the skin, energy is transferred, but is is dissipated in a different shape. Think of drilling a tiny narrow well compared to digging out a teardrop shaped hole. 

The effect on the skin is to both ablate some excess tissue and stimulate a strong healing and regenerative response, which continues over several months. This treatment typically leave little dots on the skin (most effective), but can be used in a 'dotless' fashion, but this takes more treatments to achieve the same outcome. 

Photodynamic therapy, or PDT, is a procedure that uses a combination of a topical medication and exposure to a particular amount of light energy of various wavelengths to manage medically diagnosed skin lesions, such as solar keratoses and some superficial skin cancers. 

The treatment is also popular for skin rejuvenation and can be useful for severe acne, psoriasis, rosacea and a few other dermatological conditions. 

The topical medication is absorbed in greater quantities by abnormal cells than healthy nearby skin.   When inside the skin cell, the medication is converted to a photosensitising agent called Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX). This molecule also occurs naturally in our bodies during the production of haemoglobin for our red blood cells, but when accumulated in larger amounts in the skin, it absorbs light energy very effectively and this phenomenon can be used as a therapeutic tool. 

PDT treatment is only effective for pre-cancerous lesions such as solar keratoses (scaly areas) and superficial skin cancers. It cannot be used to treat or prevent melanoma. 

PDT treatment also targets lesions that are invisible to the naked eye adjacent to more visible skin lesions, which is a major advantage over cryotherapy and focal destructive methods. 

Laser, which is an abbreviation of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, is a device that generates a powerful and focussed beam of light energy that is absorbed by certain tissues and tattoo pigments in the skin.  Depending on the target, this laser energy can be used to remove fine blood vessels and pigment, stimulate a regenerative healing response or break down many tattoo pigments. 

Laser light is different in nature to that of IPL or LED, in that it is not only of one wavelength or monochromatic (not unlike LED in this respect), but is 'coherent' and 'directional'. This means that medical lasers produce highly focussed light that can have powerful therapeutic effects. 

The purchase, ownership and use of cosmetic lasers is tightly regulated in Queensland, which reflects the harm that can be done when not used by an appropriately trained and licenced person. 

At Nunyara Aesthetics, we use an Nd-YAG/KTP type laser for tattoo removal, skin rejuvenation and carbon facials. Carbon facials are often combined with post-procedure LED treatments. 

The VeinGogh is a device used to remove tiny blood vessels called telangiectasia or spider veins that occur mainly on the face and legs. While spider veins often develop as part of normal aging in people with a genetic predisposition, they can also be a manifestation of chronic skin conditions such as rosacea or as a consequence of varicose veins on the lower legs, as well as a few medical disorders. They are a very common cosmetic concern that can be challenging to manage. 

Spider veins are not a disorder in themselves, but may indicate other issues within the venous system, particularly in the legs. 

The VeinGogh device is effective for vessels smaller than 0.3 millimetres in diameter. It works by generating pulses of high frequency radiofrequency discharge at the treatment tip. When the needle tip just penetrates the top layers of the skin, it causes a disruption of the vessel walls and localised coagulation within the spider vein. Visible improvement occurs immediately, and should continue to improve as healing occurs.

As a cosmetic treatment, the VeinGogh device is effective for a specific type and size of blood vessel. There are treatments for larger vessels such as sclerotherapy, endogenous radio-frequency ablation and even surgical management for severe varicose veins.