life
EQUESTRIAN
FASHION HEALTH & BEAUTY
Photo: Dr Maire Rhatigan - Orchard Cosmetic Skin Centre at St James Clinic
The light fantastic
Light on legs
changes Lora’s life
Orchard Cosmetic Skin Centre at St James Clinic,
68a Upper St James’s Street, Newport
Tel: 01983 822220 www.orchardcosmetic.co.uk
When she was Mayor of Cowes, Lora Wilcox wore trousers
to most functions. She tells Roz Whistance about the
life-changing treatment at the Orchard Cosmetic Skin Centre
that allowed her to show her legs
A last minute invitation would send Lora
Wilcox, then Mayor of Cowes, to the
wardrobe: but she’d almost invariably turn
up in trousers. “I’ve always had hairy arms,
and my legs, well! I’m half Italian, so quite
dark,” she says. “My husband said if I went
on my knees and shuffled up and down I
could sandblast the floorboards!”
Today though, when I meet her in her
boutique in Cowes, Posh Frocks, her legs are
very much on show, and she is irrepressibly
enthusiastic about the treatment which has
transformed her. “I can’t begin to describe
it. I don’t have to buy razors, creams or
potions, and I get my legs out all the time.”
Lora went to the Orchard Cosmetic Skin
Centre where Dr Maire Rhatigan prescribed
a series of Intense Pulsed Light treatments
(IPL). “To be absolutely honest I was
convinced it wouldn’t work,” Lora says. “I’d
tried everything. If I shaved in the morning
I’d have to shave again for an evening
function. If I waxed, the root bulb would still
show up as horrible purple spots, and I often
had to dig out in-growing hairs.”
Dr Rhatigan said IPL was the perfect
treatment for dark-haired Lora. “The light is
absorbed by the pigment in the hair, which
goes into the follicle deep within the skin,
and the heat from the light destroys the
follicle,” she explains, adding that the six
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Article by Roz Whistance
necessary treatments should be a month
apart because all the hairs in the treatment
area might not be visible at the time.”
“What I like about Dr Rhatigan was she
was happy for me to pay for each session.
I didn’t want to pay for the lot because I
didn’t actually think it would work. My
biggest problem was I wasn’t consistent
with regular treatment, because I was always
on holiday and getting brown. It is more
effective if the hair is dark and the skin is
white.”
However, once she attended as Dr Rhatigan
advised, three treatments every six weeks,
Why not take advantage
of our free consultation
and test patch for
permanent reduction
of unwanted hair
with IPL and laser.
We realise this problem
is a cause of huge
distress for a great
many women therefore
we are continuing our
free consultation and
test patch at the clinic
indefinitely. So do
come in and talk to us
about your problem,
we will help you.”
the results were, she says, miraculous. And
she cannot keep the good news to herself.
“If I see a woman with bad facial hair I
have to go and tell her about IPL. I was on
holiday and saw a woman with the stubble
of a full beard. My husband knew what
I was thinking and said ‘don’t you dare!’
But I said ‘I’ve got to. I know what she’s
been through all her life – the teasing, the
embarrassment.‘”
Memories of catty comments from vile
schoolgirls – “chimpanzee”, “ape” – as well
as embarrassment when it came to physical
intimacy – “will he feel the stubble?” – fuel
her determination to spread the word. “I
said to the woman, look at my legs, they
were as bad as your face,” she says. “Now
they are beautifully smooth, there is no
regrowth, and no ingrowing hairs.”
She adds: “Every woman owes it to herself.
One session every six to eight weeks at £125
– well, you waste that sort of money in no
time on shoes, clothes, nothing in particular.
If you can’t afford treatment, I say ask your
husband or brother or girlfriends to give you
vouchers for your birthday.”
“I can’t believe it’s worked, I look at my
legs every day, and I feel them, and I think
wow! Smooth, for the first time since I was
fourteen. I can’t speak highly enough about
it.”
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