This 2-Hour Skin Treatment is the Ultimate Spring Reboot—and It’s Going Viral

THIS ARTICLE APPEARED ON VOGUE | MARCH 30, 2018
BY ZOE RUFFNER

Photographed by Kim Andreolli, Vogue, September 1997

“I had two big issues smacking me in the face,” remembers wellness specialist Stefanie DiLibero, reflecting on the double whammy skin concerns that sparked Instagram’s most-buzzed-about new anti-aging treatment. “Adult acne, which was kind of humiliating, and the prospect of turning 40.” On the hunt for a nonsurgical fix and coming up shorthanded, DiLibero ultimately took matters into her own hands with a therapeutic protocol taken from mentor Shellie Goldstein’s AcuFacial facelift. The resulting two-hour transformative experience merges the inside-out benefits of acupuncture with the kind of cutting-edge technology one might find in a top Manhattan dermatologist’s office. It has since become her calling card—drawing dozens of fresh-faced industry stars like Sofía Sanchez de Betak to her practice, Gotham Wellness.

DiLibero’s 360-degree holistic approach stems from a firm belief that the first signs of aging are more than skin deep. “Someone might come in for wrinkles and sagging and think that’s all there is to it, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” says DiLibero, who begins every session with a discussion about the client’s lifestyle: sleep and stress, emotions and energy—“internal issues that manifest externally.” With the problem areas pinpointed, she then performs a round of circulation-boosting microcurrent before inserting a handful of needles that start at the feet and move all the way up to the crown of the head. “The facial needles do double duty,” adds DiLibero, citing their ability to target the root causes of imbalances as well as their less-than-desirable visual effects through stimulation.

What follows next is a modern menu customized for the client’s needs: inflammation-reducing LED light therapy, antibacterial oxygen blasts, and even depuffing facial cupping (which, unlike its bodily counterpart, leaves no telltale purplish marks). “I don’t believe in one size fits all,” says DiLibero of her multifaceted—and effective!—approach. After all, if the two-hour Technicolor treatment is ripe for Instagram, consider the post-session snap of a lit-from-within, lifted complexion pure social media gold.