Beauty Treatment Meets Halloween Costume: We Try the Vampire Facial
The original 1976 Carrie film. (Photo: United Artists)
I’m all about beauty treatments that double as Halloween costumes. Last year, I went out with a goopy, oxblood-colored manuka honey and activated charcoal mask; it not only made me look like flagrant butcher, but worked to balance my oily skin. Then, a bee stung me on the lip (apparently the bee couldn’t tell the difference between a flower and my pucker) and sent me packing.
This year, I’m upping the ante by getting a Vampire Facial, an in-office treatment in which platelet rich plasma (known as PRP) is drawn from my own blood and put back into my skin by slathering it atop microneedled skin and with injections. The process looks like the stuff of nightmares, but it stimulates collagen and growth factors in the skin to minimize fine lines, gaping pores, and even out skin texture.
Kim Kardashian getting a vampire facial. (Photo: Instagram)
Though PRP has long been used in the sports medicine world to stimulate cartilage repair and bone growth, the trademarked facial procedure, developed by Charles Runels, MD, is being performed by Robert Cohen, MD, a cosmetic surgeon at LA’s Westside Aesthetics who specializes in PRP.
After numbing my face and drawing a vial of blood from my arm, Cohen gets to work poking holes in my complexion with a microneedling device. As he runs 12 vibrating microneedles along the surface of my skin to open up channels in which to feed the PRP, I feel a mild sensation on par with using a cleansing brush on dry skin. Next, he injects my platelets around my eyes, lips, cheeks, and cupids bow. Even with a numbed-up face, I feel the prick of the needle and a warm throbbing sensation on the sensitive skin above my lips. Finally, Cohen uses the last of my platelets to “paint” my face, filling in the holes created by microneedling and stimulating collagen production both at the skin’s surface and beneath.
I leave the office looking like an extra in a horror movie — a look that hangs on until I wash my face. Add a bloodstained dress and a tiara and I become a very convincing Carrie. But even more impressive than my costume will be the fully formed results; Cohen tells me that I’ll best see its benefits —smooth skin, even tone, and a bright complexion — about a month from now, just in time to ward off the inevitable “But are you taking care of yourself?” question at Thanksgiving dinner.
Related:
9 Beauty Icons You Can Easily Be for Halloween
5 Nutritionist-Approved Halloween Treats
Become an Icon for Halloween With Lisa Eldridge’s Makeup Tutorials
