Beauty is Pain

Me in my blissful 30s when I totally took my youthful skin for granted.

I was 34 when I noticed my first wrinkle. Up until then, I hadn't given aging much thought. I lived by the beach, drove a convertible, and sunscreen was usually an afterthought. But that day...a harsh realization set in...I had reached my youthful looking peak. The aging process had officially started, and it was all "downhill" from here. I'm not sure why it hadn't occurred to me that, like almost all living creatures, my body would be subject to the aging process. I had even come to terms with my mortality, but the slow decline of my body until that eventual end hadn't really sunk in. For some insane reason, I think I just assumed once I had reached my adult years, my look would remain relatively permanent. But the evidence was there. And it was a sure sign of more to come.

I'd love to say from then on I became committed to all the natural measures of improving the appearance of my skin or at least slowing down the process a little - things like getting better sleep, consuming fewer toxins, reducing stress, avoiding the sun, and drinking more water. Alas, other than making a daily commitment to sunscreen, paying a small fortune for expensive face products, and becoming an avid wearer of hats, I wasn't super disciplined. I had to admit, I LOVED the feeling of the sun on my face. It just made me happy.

Once I reached a point in life where I had a little more disposable income, I started to splurge on the occasional facial, even indulging in some really high-tech treatments at fancy spas. But I didn't do them regularly enough to achieve long-term results. I would have a pretty healthy glow for a week or two, and then my skin would go back to being basically the same.

As I neared my 5th decade and had caught myself in photos looking more haggard than I cared to admit...I was ready to take it up a notch, and had accepted that would require a degree of pain. But as the writer, Libba Bray, reasoned, "Oh, honey, of course, it hurts! Beauty is pain. But you don’t want to look like a troll, do you?”

So on my list of 50 things, I prioritized getting some of those expensive facial treatments I had read about that promised to make my skin look clearer and smoother while reducing age spots and wrinkles. That's a tall order, but I decided to take the plunge and share the journey with you.

I opted to go to a trusted source, Georgia Skin Specialists, a place I had been going to regularly for years to have my body checked for suspicious moles. They had recently expanded to include aesthetic services. After a quick consultation with Celia Parsifal, a certified cosmetic laser practitioner, who heads up their aesthetic services, I landed on doing three sessions of the two following treatments:

MOXI is a laser treatment that promises to brighten skin, even out discoloration, and improve overall tone and texture.

Broadband Light (BBL) is an advanced light therapy treatment that targets pigmentation, redness, and signs of aging, promising to reveal clearer, brighter, and more even-toned skin. It basically sheds (aka burns off) damaged cells to generate new, healthy ones. It can address sunspots, rosacea, freckles, redness, and uneven tone—all issues that I possess.

The cost: Since I purchased a 3-series package of two treatments, I received a slight discount, bringing the grand total to about $3,300...averaging about $550/treatment. You could probably find a place that will do it for less, but I'm not one to penny pinch when it comes to my face.

My experience with getting the actual treatments...

Celia Parsifal, LA, Director of Aesthetics

The aesthetician: Okay, by far, the best part about the entire experience was Celia. Like anyone who has a job where they have to inflict pain and discomfort (think dentists & gynecologists), she has mastered the ability to keep her patients distracted with engaging conversation. She was an absolute delight; someone I could totally see hanging out with. We are close in age, both married with children, and live in the same general area. Given those three factors alone, we had a lot in common (political leanings, sense of humor, worldview, etc.). It definitely made the time go by faster and kept my mind off the pain.

The treatment & the pain: Celia started with BBL to get the more painful treatment over with first. It took about 45 minutes and felt like someone taking a rubber band and snapping it over and over against your skin. Not great...but not the worst pain I've ever felt. It was manageable. I didn't cry and scream out in pain...I like to think I have a fairly high pain tolerance. And Celia did remark that I seemed to handle it really well. But who knows, she probably says that to all her patients. :-)

It was then time for the MOXI treatment. Celia first applied a numbing cream to my face and neck to minimize the discomfort. After it took effect, she spent about 30 minutes "scraping" my face and neck with the MOXI tool. I'm not sure "scraping" is the correct technical term for the procedure, but that was the "sense" I got during the treatment....which fortunately was not nearly as painful as BBL.

The healing: Within an hour after leaving, my face and neck looked and felt like I had a really bad sunburn. Over the next three days, my skin looked ROUGH (way worse than the "haggard look" that served as my initial motivation). The top layers of my skin were clearly responding to the trauma they had just endured and were slowly working their way off my face. It was not pretty...and not a look I'd want to sport at any important outing or event. Something I needed to keep in mind when scheduling my next two appointments. When I did have to go about my day, picking up kids, taking them to activities, grocery shopping, etc., I received weird looks...and almost felt compelled to explain to total strangers that I had just undergone a facial procedure. But I resisted, only sharing with friends who made inquiries, usually assuming I had spent too much time in the sun.

The results: By day five, most of my skin had peeled away, revealing a baby's butt smooth skin underneath. The best results were within the weeks post-healing, when friends would remark on how good my skin looked. For the next few months, I continued to notice that my skin looked brighter, smoother, and overall healthier. I even noticed some age spots were gone, but my wrinkles stayed intact. Did it make me look younger? No. I just looked like a 50-year-old woman who took care of her skin. After a few months, though...my skin started to look similar to what it was before the treatments. Maybe slightly better, but not by much. However, my skin has sustained an overall smoothness, which makes my make-up go on better.

Timing: I had to wait 6-8 weeks between each session, and in some cases, I waited a bit longer so I could time the healing period during a week when I knew I didn't have any significant events to attend. However, I also timed them to take place a couple of weeks before key events where I wanted my skin to look its best. My first session was in August 2024 (right before my trip to Tahiti); the second was in October 2024 (before the holidays); and the last one was in April 2025 (before my wife's national conference, where I got to be her plus-one at several events).

Final take: For regular maintenance, I would consider getting MOXI a couple of times a year, especially before an event where I want to really look my best, like a fun vacation or a black tie gala. It was the least painful, and when I did that treatment separate from the BBL, the aftereffects were not nearly as traumatizing as the BBL. While these types of treatments provide temporary results, I've come to believe that even given all the natural measures we can take to slow down the aging process, it's our genes that play the biggest factor in how our skin ages.