The Echo2 company Web site says its system was devised by John Gardner, a specialist in overseeing medical oxygen therapy. Echo stands for exfoliation, cleansing, hydration and oxygenation. Then,'' she says, ''I put the vitamins into an activator, that's the fluid we put into the sprayer or nozzle, to mix with O2 and put it onto the skin. The solution has 87 vitamins, minerals, enzymes and amino acids, including magnesium, sodium, gold and silver, copper, iron, calcium - all the things your skin has in it. It looks like the periodic table.'' Using oxygen as a cosmetic treatment has its roots in hyperbaric medicine, a field that has been growing steadily over the past two decades.
Patients breathe pure oxygen while they're in chambers that are hyperbaric, or pressurized.
The procedure is used to treat decompression sickness in divers and help speed healing of severe burns, certain wounds that aren't healing and other conditions. Whether the principle can work in a facial has not been proved. Enthusiasts say this new twist on facials is revitalizing, relaxing, speeds up cell regeneration, stimulates circulation, and even kills bacteria. Solis says she's well aware that oxygen facials have their detractors but says she has seen the benefits to her clients and can see the skin hydrating, or ''plumping up,'' as she works. They used to say that vitamins applied to skin couldn't do anything, either.