Whole Body

Supernatural Skincare

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I’m not going to lie… I was hoping there would be an actual vampire involved in the Vampire Facial I got at Citron Spa. While there was actual blood sucking (more on that in a second), there weren’t any monsters involved. Unless you count me leaving the spa with my face covered in my own plasma. Maybe you heard rumors of a zombie-looking madwoman in Wayland Square. That was me, and I’m totally okay with that – because the results from my vampire facial were on a whole other (possibly supernatural?) level.

Fair warning: the story I’m about to tell you isn’t for the squeamish. But if you’re into innovative skincare and you aren’t afraid to get a little gruesome, you’re probably going to be fascinated the same way I was. And let’s be honest, you already saw all of this on Kim K’s Instagram. By getting a vampire facial I was literally keeping up with a Kardashian.

The vampire facial is more commonly known as PRP, or platelet-rich plasma replacement. The platelets in question come from your body and are an incredibly high-powered serum that does wonders to smooth fine lines from your face, boost collagen production in your skin, and generally take several years off your appearance. It’s one of a whole regimen of medi-spa services that Citron is now offering, from plumping dermal fillers to wrinkle-releasing neurotoxin injections, by Dr. Larry Thiesen. There aren’t many places in Providence offering a vampire facial, so I was especially excited to try it, Kardashian-following or no.

But there was the whole issue of getting the platelets out of my body. Which – remember my warning? – is a little gross. Dr. Thiesen offered me the option of either using my own blood, from which he’d extract my platelets, or using a high-quality stem cell serum. The results were the same, he explained, but I’m not one to shy away from the ick factor, so I decided to go with my own. He drew a vial, and sent it through the centrifuge twice, until what was left was a golden serum of my own platelet-rich plasma.

Dr. Thiesan and spa owner Christina Allen then spread the serum across my face and used a machine loaded with tiny sharp micro channels (smaller and less painful than needles) to inject it back into my pores. I know how this sounds. Just trust me. It didn’t really hurt during or after the procedure, and it wasn’t really gross, even though I did have to leave the plasma on my face all day, so it could fully penetrate my pores.

The next morning, I washed my face, and I couldn’t believe how my skin felt. It wasn’t just soft. It was velvety. You know how baby skin feels, all silky and new? That’s how I felt. In the next days, I noticed a remarkable change in how quickly my skin was healing from old breakout marks.

In the following weeks, my boosted collagen smoothed out those little lines around my mouth that creeped in over the last year. Christina explained to me that with good skincare upkeep, I could expect the results to last nearly a year. Three weeks post-vampiring, she had me come in for a VI Peel, which is a medical-grade chemical peel that took off all the icky layers of skin and revealed the glowing new me underneath. I did still kind of wish there was a real vampire involved. But feeling like I have the inside track on eternal youth is a close second.

Citron Spa
225 Wayland Avenue • 861-0908

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