12 Brushfield Street, London E1, www.skinhealthspa.co.uk (020-7655 6920)

Atmosphere and staff: The salon is small and clinical – think dentist rather than beauty salon. The staff are warm, welcoming and professional – white-coated Frances is a former state-registered nurse. Given that your skin is about to be lasered, the medical ambience is deeply reassuring.

Products and treatments: Skin Health Spa is all about medical aesthetics. Our spy, whose legs had entered middle age more or less unscathed save for an ugly road map of thread veins, was attracted by the promise of dramatic results from the lasers and the intense pulsed light (IPL) technology, which destroys the thread veins that can look like small spiders or long bruises. She had a combination of IPL and laser treatment – the latter used to treat the deeper, larger veins.

Be prepared: The treatment is painful. But Frances is brilliant, supplying both a stress ball to squeeze and a steady stream of cheerful conversation which helps you cope with being repeatedly pinged with a rubber band. Leg veins need multiple treatments: our spy had five, at a cost of £600. But it was worth it – this summer she is baring her legs in short skirts for the first time in years.

Highs: Frances.

Lows: The pain.

Marks out of five: Four.

If you have a salon that you either love or hate, e-mail sarah.vine@thetimes.co.uk

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