INTENSE PULSED LIGHT
Shizuka, 133 E. 58th St., Ste. 512
212-644-7400

Intense pulsed light has been used for a while to remove unwanted hair and diminish spider veins, but its latest role is as a skin rejuvenator. The light works like a laser, targeting cells beneath the skin’s surface and stimulating them so that they produce new collagen. The result can be fewer wrinkles, less-visible lines, firmer-looking skin. IPL can also go after broken capillaries, sun damage, and age spots. The after-effects, which include a few days of discoloration, aren’t particularly lovely, but they’re balanced by the prospect of rediscovering your 18-year-old skin. When done in conjunction with one of Shizuka’s thorough, gentle facials and a soothing foot massage, what could be a fairly clinical procedure becomes a pleasant beauty treatment (75-minute IPL facial, $200 to $250).