I had been invited by Pearlin to experience an aesthetic beauty treatment at HealthTrends Wellness Clinic. I was offered a choice from 3 procedures and I opted for the Acne Scar Reduction one. On top of that, I was given some special promo prices for you guys, so keep reading!
A prior 'warning'!
Trust me when I say foundation is my friend. I truly don't have good skin and in this entry you are about to see my naked face and also situations where my skin could be slightly aggravated - you'll understand (: So, be warned! As scary as it is, these photos would be necessary to best showcase the procedure etc.Also this entry would be a little long just because there's a lot to mention.
Before I jump into the entry, here's a Before shot of my skin, to show you why I felt I needed the procedure since I haven't actually bared my skin on here before.
Yeap... no perfect skin here!
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The clinic I had gone to, HealthTrends Wellness Clinic is located on the 16th floor of Ngee Ann City (Tower A). They specialize in various health and beauty procedures ranging from ridding acne scars, to wrinkles and even hair removal. You can find out more about their services from their website.
Upon arriving on the 16th floor, the Clinic is to the right of TrueSpa (not the same company!).
Once at the clinic, you will be ushered into a cosy room with couches and a sink. In here you will fill up your profile information and all paperwork that needs filling up/signing.
What's that sink for then? You may ask... Well it's for you to remove your makeup (if you're wearing any, afterall it's Orchard right!) and cleanse your face since your skin has to be clean before they begin the procedures.
Aside from providing makeup remover, cleanser, cotton buds and wipes, they have a headband for you to use as well.
After I was all done with cleaning my face, snapping photos, a very helpful nurse (Rochelle) helped me apply numbing cream over my entire face.
Excuse the comedic expression. The numbing cream is help ensure the patient feels as little discomfort as possible throughout the procedures. The doctor had explained that this numbing cream was specially formulated and is slightly stronger then the typical ones out there.
The cream had to be left on for at least 30 minutes so during this time I had a consultation with the doctor, Dr Ram Nath, to analyze my skin.
That's Dr Ram Nath, he explained the procedures and answered all the questions I had. Rochelle (the nurse) scooted out of the picture, pity! I didn't manage to get a shot of her.
After consultations, Dr Ram Nath explained that my skin condition was not appropriate for the Acne Scar Reduction procedure. That procedure primarily targets and smooths out pitted scars formed by rather severe acne cases. In my case, my concern is pigmentation caused by acne scars and some blocked oil glands. With that, he recommended I try out a different series of treaments, Microdermabrasion, IPL and Chemical Peel.
Once 30 minutes was up, I rinsed off the numbing cream and boy could I feel that my face was numb! No kidding, it was really effective and made washing my face a whole new experience.
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Now I'll be running through each procedure briefly, giving some information of what I know about it, how it felt like etc. There are many dermatology sites that would give you the full rundown of each procedure, I am simply providing a basic one for those who (like me) might not have heard of these before. Also a big thank you to Rochelle (the nurse) for helping me take shots of the procedure when I couldn't use my camera.
Microdermabrasion
The main point of this is to remove the dead outermost surface of the skin. This aids with removing any sun-damaged skin, lessening acne scarring and dark spots on the skin since it lifts the outer most layer. Think of it as shedding off the outer most layer of dead skin via a super exfoliation method. This procedure is also a good prepping step for the rest of the procedures I would receive.
This is the room where the Microdermabrasion was held in.
If my memory serves me well, the machine on the left is the one used for Microdermabrasion.
Microdermabrasion works through light abrasion on the skin with a 'wand' device. I could feel the wand running across my skin but because of the numbing cream, I experienced absolutely no discomfort at all. No pain! Dr Ram Nath mentioned that Microdermabrasion will cause some hatch scratch marks to appear on your skin. This is completely normal, it will heal and go away. It's all part of the down-time of this procedure.
After the Microdermabrasion treatment Rochelle asked me to touch my face and I was shocked at how smooth it felt! No amount of exfoliating with scrubs ever got my skin feeling that smooth!
IPL
The next stop was IPL, abbreviated from Intense Pulse Light. As mentioned in the name, this treatment uses intense pulse light to penetrate the skin and treat several issues. It is most commonly associated with lightening of pigmentation such as freckles, acne scarring (pigmentation kind) and other dark spots on the skin. That aside IPL also helps remove wrinkles from photo-aging. Different skin issues require different frequencies of light to treat and the IPL machine has various light intensities to cater to that. That's the easiest way to sum it up without dragging biology talk in.
I was escorted into a separate room for the IPL procedure.
This is how the monitor of the machine looks, seems like a printer's interface, no?
A superbly cooling cream is applied prior to the IPL treatment. I hardly felt it because of the numbing cream though.
The treatment itself does not hurt (could be the awesome numbing cream), but you will be able to feel a very quick and slight bite. I don't want to make the ant bite reference, like what most moms do, but this is the case. One thing that both Dr Ram Nath and Rochelle mentioned is that patients tend to get a shock from the light instead. Even with protective googles on, and eyes closed you can see a red flash from behind your lids. Just be prepared for it and it's all good.
Chemical Peel
The last procedure was the Chemical Peel. I was a little intrigued with this because of the name but there was no peeling (think blackhead mask removal) within the clinic. Turns out Chemical Peel is done by using a chemical solution consisting of citric acid, glycolic and various other mildly invasive acids to help remove dead skin, expel sebum, reduce acne and promote radiant skin. It also helps with clogged oil glands and removing wrinkled or sun-damaged skin.
This works by applying the chemical solution on your skin for a minimum of 3 hours (the longer you leave it on the better).
The pipe that I am holding is expelling cool air as this procedure actually does cause minor stinging on your skin. The cool air helps to relieve the stinging sensation. It isn't severe, but after going through procedures without feeling anything on your skin, it's a change to feel something!
I'm squinting here to prevent the air from drying my contacts, not from discomfort, it's really not so bad.
The 'peeling' part of this treatment will come a day later as your skin will start to 'shed', very much like how your skin sheds when you get sunburnt. It is advised to not peel these off.
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Right after the treatment my skin looked a tad aggravated. According to Dr Ram Nath, although I did not feel much thanks to the numbing cream, the procedures are quite harsh on the skin. Aside from wearing sunblock religiously and avoiding long sun exposures, I was also told not to engage in facial treatments for a period of a week.
After the treatment was over, I was handed a goodie bag containing some creams beneficial for moisturizing, lessening pigmentation and a brochure.
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As with most aesthetic treatments, there is bound to be some down-time or recovery time. In this case, all three treatments I had done involved down-time. Microdermabrasion causes slight scratch marks, IPL could cause scabbing and Chemical Peels cause peeling in the skin.
How long the down-time is depends on your treatment, and also your own skin. This is how my skin looked the next day.
Scary, I know... but it's all part of the down-time. Now here's a closer look at the scratch marks I was talking about
Right now my skin is still in the midst of healing, so I shall update with Part 2 once it's all healed up! I didn't want to combine it all in one else it would be a super long entry and it would be very belated.
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Now I don't want to make this entry any much longer BUT I have promo prices for you guys!
This promotion is only applicable to those residing in Singapore - since this clinic is in Singapore.
The promotional prices (per session) are as listed:
- Acne Scar reduction - Promo price: $699 per session. (UP $1200)
- Skin Rejuvenation and removal of pigmentation by USA Medlite C6 Laser - Promo price: $215 per session (UP $320)
- Skin Rejuvenation and removal of pigmentation by Rejuvenating Peel by TCA - Promo price: $55 (UP $280)
All you have to do is this:
1. Join HealthTrends on Facebook.
2. Join HealthTrends o Twitter
3. Quote your facebook and twitter usernames when booking your appointment.
The prices are highly reduced and there's no harm in giving these a shot, even a consultation with the doctor would be good to find out how to better your skin. This promotion is valid for 1 month from the date of this blog post.
HealthTrends Wellness Clinic
391A Orchard Road Ngee Ann City Level 16, Tower A
Tel: 6235 0990
Can't wait to update with Part 2 because I don't know how that would turn out either, keep a look out for that. Some exciting stuff would be included in that entry as well (:
Thanks for reading this lengthy entry!
Disclaimer:
Beauty service mentioned in this entry was sponsored - I am not affiliated to them.
All opinions expressed are my own. I am not getting paid for this.
Since its kinda of ur free time now, have a good rest!
hey dear! that was very brave of you to show a 'naked face pic'!
But trust me, you are not alone..my acne too tends congregate around the same area. chin and up to the temples!
can't wait for part 2!