What the finding is, how it is assessed, which treatments address it in London, what will not work, how long results take and what moves the cost.
Usually it is a symptom rather than a diagnosis. Most skin described as sensitive has an impaired barrier, frequently from over-exfoliation, and it recovers when the cause is removed. A proportion has an underlying condition instead: rosacea, eczema, seborrhoeic dermatitis or a contact allergy. Establishing which applies determines whether treatment is possible at all.
Treatments that address this
The word sensitive covers at least four different situations, and they need entirely different management.
Most skin described as sensitive is not sensitive. It is injured, and it recovers when you stop injuring it.
The history does most of the work here, and it needs to be taken properly rather than summarised.
Where an underlying condition is suspected, a medical opinion comes before any cosmetic treatment. Rosacea and facial redness covers the commonest of them.
The first treatment is subtraction, and it is free.
Resurfacing of any depth on actively reactive skin. Peels, needling and energy devices all provoke a controlled inflammatory response, which is the mechanism by which they work. In skin that is already inflamed, that response is neither controlled nor helpful, and in deeper skin tones it is the direct route to post-inflammatory pigmentation.
Sensitive skin ranges bought in response to the symptom. Many are perfectly reasonable products and none of them addresses an underlying rosacea, an allergy or the fact that three acids are still in the routine.
Trialling a new product every few days. Barrier recovery takes weeks, and each new introduction resets the clock and confuses the picture. One change at a time, with an interval, is the only way to learn anything.
Persistent redness with visible vessels, papules and pustules, flushing triggered by heat or alcohol, scaling in the folds of the nose and brows, or an eczematous rash all point to a diagnosis that has medical treatment. That treatment is more effective and considerably cheaper than a course of anything cosmetic.
Barrier recovery takes two to four weeks in most people and longer where the damage has accumulated over months or years. The improvement is usually obvious and is the most cost-effective result described anywhere on this site.
Where an underlying condition is treated medically, timescales follow that condition. Rosacea responds over weeks with maintenance thereafter. Seborrhoeic dermatitis responds quickly and recurs without maintenance.
Durability depends on not repeating the cause. The routine that produced the problem will reproduce it, and the useful output of an assessment here is a written routine with a frequency attached to each active.
This is the one condition on the site where the correct first intervention costs nothing at a clinic, and it is worth knowing that before booking a course.
What skin treatment costs in London covers the general position.
The single most useful screening question is what the practitioner will decline to treat. Someone who will perform a peel on skin that is currently stinging has not understood the problem.
Ask them to take your full routine in writing. Ask what they think the mechanism is. Ask whether they are prepared to refer you for a dermatological opinion, and treat a willingness to do so as a good sign rather than a failure. Ask what the plan is for reintroducing actives, and expect an interval measured in weeks.
The standards to expect from a skin clinic in London sets out the rest.
Most often because the barrier has been impaired, and the commonest cause is a routine that accumulated actives over months. It can also be the first presentation of rosacea, seborrhoeic dermatitis or a contact allergy, which is why the pattern and the timing of the reactions matter as much as the symptom itself.
Two to four weeks in most people, and longer where the damage accumulated over a long period. The recovery requires stopping every active, not reducing them, and reintroducing one at a time afterwards at low frequency.
Once it is settled, yes, and the choice narrows. Gentle hydrating treatments and injected hydration are usually tolerated. Resurfacing of any depth on actively reactive skin is not appropriate and a clinic that offers it should be declined rather than argued with.
No. Persistent redness with visible vessels, papules or flushing triggered by heat and alcohol points towards rosacea, which is a medical diagnosis with medical treatment. Sensitivity is a symptom that can accompany it or occur without it.
It rarely resolves anything on its own, because the problem is usually what was already in the routine rather than what was missing from it. Simplify first, repair the barrier, establish whether there is an underlying diagnosis, and add products back deliberately.
Treatment
A medical condition first and a cosmetic one second. The order matters more here than anywhere.
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The decision
Judge the assessment rather than the equipment. A good clinic names your diagnosis before it names a device, r...
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After treatment
Keep it simple. Gentle cleansing with clean hands, a bland moisturiser, nothing active for around a week, no h...
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Tell us what you are seeing on your skin and how long it has been there. You will get a considered reply setting out which treatments apply to that finding, which do not, and what an assessment would need to establish.
hello@aestheticlaunchlab.comPlease do not send clinical photographs or medical records by email. If something has gone wrong after a treatment, contact the practitioner who treated you, or NHS 111, rather than waiting for a reply here.