High-tech cosmetic gadgets move from clinic to home

By Ritsuko Ando

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tiffani Bruce, a Walgreen Co employee, had her doubts about the acne-busting gadget called Zeno when her store began selling it two years ago.

A victim of the occasional pimple, she decided to give the slim, handheld device a try, and was pleasantly surprised by results of the "heat shock" treatment that destroys offending bacteria without damaging the skin.

"When you first hear about it you're a bit skeptical," said Bruce, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based drugstore chain. "But it absolutely works. You have to kind of catch it before it's huge, but it works."

Like the FDA-approved Zeno, more and more high-tech cosmetic treatments previously only available through dermatologists and high-end spas are now being sold at drugstores and on the Internet.

Now consumers can zap away unwanted body hair or punish pimples with cellphone-sized gadgets in their own bathrooms. Wrinkle vanishing devices, the ultimate magic wand of cosmetic gadgetry, are also on the horizon, retailers say.

Most of these devices are adjusted from versions used in clinics to lower intensity or temperature, to prevent injuries like burns.

COST EFFECTIVE

"You don't need to go to the doctor's office, so it's much more cost effective," said Neil Sadick, a Park Avenue dermatologist who helped develop the $250 hair remover called no!no! by Radiancy,