Sleep .......... Are we getting enough?

Travelling across time zones really messed up my normal sleeping pattern. But, come to think of it, I think I sleep better now compared to before, it is just that the timing is a bit off. Like sleeping early and waking up at 5, then falling asleep again at 8 and waking up at 10. But in terms of hours of sleep and quality of sleep, I think it has improved a lot since my last trip. The main focus is quality of sleep and getting that crucial 7.5 hours daily.

I was a victim of poor sleep hygiene like most workaholic city dwellers are. Plus, the intensity and demands of work previously when I was in the hospital were certainly not feasible. Imagine working from 7am to 5pm the next day. Yes, my houseman days in GHKL were super, the time we spent in the hospital was phenomenal. But we loved our job and our patients so much, most didn't even complain. We took it as part of the training to make us become more apt and precise in our decisions despite being under physical and mental duress. 

However, despite not being on-call anymore for the past couple of years, I found that I had a hard time switching off at night, and I wake up considerably easy. Turning off my phone was becoming an anxiety to me, and my late onset insomnia did not improve. I would wake up in the middle of the night and lie in my bed staring at the ceiling for hours unable to go back to sleep, only to doze off a few minutes before my alarm clock went off. It was draining my energy and causing my focus and concentration to wane. To some extent, I was getting a bit more depresses and irritable.

Many of us do not realise how sleep deprivation affects the body. Some people come to me and brag about sleeping for only 3-4 hours a day and able to function normally. (Are you sure?) Some people think its normal but many studies on human behaviour and sleep have shown that chronically sleeping less than 6 hours a day is detrimental not only to your physical health, but affects you mentally, emotionally and socially. 

So why is it important to get that good night sleep?

1) It affects your mood. 

    Lack of sleep causes irritability, lack of motivation, anxiety and depression.

2) Lack of Sleep makes people more prone to accidents.

    It is one of the leading cause of automobile accidents and occupational hazards.

3) It affects your intelligence and memory.

    Lack of sleep makes you forget things, and reduces your mental alertness to up to 32% if

    sleep deprived to less than 6 hours a day of sleep. It stunts creativity. It affects

    concentration, understanding, rationale thinking and problem solving processes.

4) It affects your sex drive.

    Studies have shown that lack of sleep reduces libido in both man and women. In fact, some studies also shows low levels of testosterone secretion in men deprived of sleep.

     

5) Lack of sleep ages your skin faster.

    Apparently beauty sleeps are not just an excuse to sleep early. People who are deprived of

   sleep for a couple of days have sallow skin and puffy eyes. Chronic sleep loss affects the skin worst    causing dark eye circles, formation of fine wrinkles and dull skin. Lack of sleep causes increase in      cortisol hormone levels that is also involved in the breaking down of collagen. 

6) Losing Sleep can cause you to gain weight.

  Most people believe that sleeping can cause you to be fat but actually the reverse is true.                Depriving yourself of sleep makes you gain more weight. A few studies conducted showed    that  people who lack sleep tend to consume more especially in the awkward hours thus  exceeding the  daily caloric requirements leading to weight gain. This was because lack of    sleep reduces the  secretion of leptin (your satiety hormone) and increases the production of  ghrelin (hunger hormone)  making people who sleep less than 6 hours a day experiencing  more hunger. The worst part is, lack  of sleep makes you crave for high fat and high sugary  foods. I think most people can relate to this.

7) Lack of sleep increases mortality risk.

  If you want to live longer, you should sleep more. As a hyperactive teenager, my dad use to  tell me  this. He wasn't too far from the truth. Studies have linked lack of sleep (i.e. sleeping  less than 6    hours a day) to be associated with increased risk of death to twice the risk  especially cardiovascular.

8) Sleep deprivation is associated to a lot of serious medical problems.

 There are many medical problems related to chronic sleep deprivation:

 a) Hypertension and high blood pressure

 b) Heart disease

 c) Heart Failure

 d) Irregular heart beats - arrythmias

 e) Stroke

 f) Obesity

 g) Diabetes

 h) Depression & other mood disorders

 i) Attention Deficit Disorder

9) It affects relationships.

  If your partner has sleeping issues and is deprived of sleep chronically, long term it will be a challenge for the you to cope especially when he or she has reduce mental performance,  less energy, low mood, lacking of motivation, low libido etc. In fact, he or she may start  influencing you to have reduced sleeping hours leading to your own problems. Your partner's sleep disturbances may disrupt your own sleep too.

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How much sleep should we have in 24 hours?

Most studies agree that an adult between 18-64 years old should try to get 7-9 hours of quality sleep everyday. Here is a beautiful chart courtesy of the National Sleep Foundation on different age groups and sleep recommendations.

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So, if you are sleeping less than the recommended hours, you better start deciding on trying to make more time for sleep. Some people have difficulty in falling to sleep or staying asleep. Others feel like they can sleep but does not have enough good deep sleep and keep waking up. Some people have sleep apnoea issues that causes them to have bad quality of sleep. Some people grind their teeth at night or wake up with muscle cramps. Although it may seem to be common, you should take to your health provider about any sleep disturbances you are experiencing because there are treatments available.

For more information or if you have any questions on sleep, please email to drmmclinic@gmail.com. 

What you should know about fillers......

It has been a while since I wrote anything about fillers. However, recently during one of my socializing events I was faced with a lot of questions regarding fillers and botox. There was a great confusion between the two, still, despite both being very separate and totally different entities in terms of chemical compound and function.

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1. So what Are Fillers?

Fillers are substances you use to fill up areas of your face or body which has underwent volume depletion and is also used to reduce static lines. It can be from any substance like silicone gel, collagen, hyaluronic acid, calcium hydroxypatite, PLLA, PMMA or even biological fillers like heated PRP or fats. The most commonly used in a medical aesthetic practice are the hyaluronic acid fillers which are non-permanent and lasts between 6 months all the way to 24 months depending on how the cross-linking and molecular weight of the filler.

2. Are All Fillers the Same?

Definitely not. Different chemicals form different fillers. Therefore it is really important to know what type of fillers were used on your face. Some may not be reversible. Always ask your doctor what he or she is using. Not only it is good for you to know, but it also helps the subsequent treatments if you require any.

3. If I do not like the filler effect can I remove or change it?

Only Hyaluronic acid fillers can be diluted with hyaluronidase. The other fillers are almost impossible to remove without any surgical intervention. So make sure you know what you are putting under your skin.

4. How much does fillers usually cost?

Fillers are usually quoted by per syringe of usage. An original high-end filler product can cost anywhere from RM 1600-RM 3600 per syringe. Some other lesser brands cost between RM 800- RM 1500 per syringe depending on where it was made and specifications. Anything sold cheaper than that would either be non-original products or maybe expired fillers? Or sometimes the doctor is not so experienced that they give cheaper pricing to practice. Honestly, who would charge super cheap for well trained hands? The training itself requires a lot of money.

5. Does it hurt?

Honestly, any procedure involving needles would hurt to some extent, but depending on the type of filler, some fillers hurt more than the rest. It also depends on whether there is any lidocaine inside the filler that will reduce pain tremendously. Local numbing like creams can be used although it doesn't really make much difference physically (maybe psychologically) and local infusion of lidocaine does help to reduce pain effectively although very specific filler work would be impaired as there is already tissue distortion. You can discuss with your doctor pain management techniques that can make your experience much tolerable. So apparently, you do not need to suffer too much pain for beauty. If, in event the doctor injects and suddenly there is severe pain, please speak up and tell him or her. Severe pain might mean that an artery is being hit, or other crucial vessels, or even allergy to the filler.

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6. What can fillers do for me?

I always tell my patients, imagine fillers are like cement or plasticine. You can create volume which is not there like nose, cheeks or chin. You can redefine areas of your face and make contours, you can even smoothen deep lines. You can redefine your lips to make it more prominent or replenish the younger look. You can put it at your tear trough areas and reduce the sagged eye look and make you look fresher. You can reduce appearance of scars and improve photo angles (if your doctor is really really good). 

7. If I use a good filler, will it guarantee a good effect on me?

A good filler is always recommended to get the best effect. However, the other more important component is the doctor. How good is he/she at creating the effect you want? A lot of people think that filler injecting is just about injecting, but actually it is not. The best filler injectors in the world can put fillers on to a persons face and make him or her look more attractive but at the same time make it look as natural as possible that to most people, it doesn't look like any fillers were done. (Until you compare the before picture).

8. So say that I am interested, how sure can I be safe to do the procedure?

For newbies and virgins, I usually tell them to stick to hyaluronic acid fillers for any work because at least if you do not like it, we can dissolve it or wait for the effect to go off. The other most important thing is how well the doctor is trained because not all doctors are trained to do fillers. In my years of training other doctors practical filler techniques, I notice that even the way a doctor holds the syringe is enough to tell me how experienced they are. It is not the same as blood taking or other hospital procedures. Furthermore, to train the hand to be steady enough to evacuate the product from the syringe equally is quite a task if you are not use to it. To create beautiful natural looking work requires an additional artistic eye to detail which not all doctors have. Furthermore, if any problems from the procedure were to arise, a trained aesthetic physician would know what to do. Beautician filler injectors are the worst because for 1, you do not know what are they really using (they have no access to original medical grade products), 2. They are not trained to understand surgical anatomy or deal with complications, 3rd, if you allow a beautician to inject you, you cannot take any action on to them if the job is not done well, as they are not regulated by law, and you would have committed the first offence of going to a non-professional. Furthermore, there is a science and mathematical equation when we put fillers on to a person's face that is being taught in our training so that you remain looking like a human (and not some weird alien from star trek or some other sci-fi movie).

If you have any more questions on fillers, feel free to contact us at drmmclinic@gmail.com or 03-21106608.

GONG Xi Fa Chai

3 Strands of Hair is All You Need..... Hair Profiler

It is so amazing what technologies can do for us today. I came across this technology a year ago when I was doing a training at my friend's center for thread lifts. It was a semi-invasive procedure where the patient usually needed to be sedated at least to reduce pain. This was when I met the wonderful Dr Radha who introduced me to this new technology from Germany. A hair profiler using Tesla technology that can help scan the hair and read out the information contained in the hair root. 

Initially I was skeptic, but when he explained about how it was done I was excited. In the past, the hair has been used to collect information on people with chronic exposures to certain environment conditions, toxic metals and also it was already used to detect mineral deficiency. And here is a small device that is hooked to a computer and has the capability to do the same in a few minutes. The best part, the analyzed sample is then sent immediately to a server in Germany, and thus you will receive your information in 15-20 minutes.

It took us almost a year to understand the true potential of this device. There was a lot of clinical correlation that had to be used to understand what was going on with the patient. Yes, just by reading the results chart we may be able to understand the deficiencies mention and what to avoid, but sometimes the solution is not just to supplement and avoid, but a more sinister problem that needs further investigations and a few other lifestyle adjustments. You see, the question wasn't about what deficiency you have and what to take, but rather, why were you having this deficiency in the first place? Was it due to nutrition intake, or was it due to a poor absorbing bowel also termed leaky gut, or are your other systems having a pathological disease (or going towards having) that is exhausting your stores? Because of all these questions, continuous doctor training was implemented to teach the doctors how to interpret the results more accurately and save lives. 

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For the patient, it actually gives you more information than doing a blood test. With just 3 strands of hair, we can see nutrient deficiencies for the past 3-6 months, exposures to toxic metals, radiation exposures and also other information that you will not pick up from a blood test. A blood test only gives you the now reading, except for the very few like HBA1c that shows a 3 months picture. To do a blood test for every parameter tested it would cost you a few thousand ringgit, but to do this test its only a few hundred. The main value of doing this test is to get a doctor who is able to intepret and correlate clinically based on the results given, lest it will just be another deficiency avoidance supplementation.

So instead of having to swallow so many different types of vitamins and supplements, at least you know what you really need for your body. The report also comes with some dietary advices that encourages you to take real food instead of pills.

You also get a PDF version of the report that you can read through and understand with some suggestions of dietary changes to make to supplement the deficient nutrients. This is how my report looks like :

Pretty cool huh? It simple, non-invasive and easy. And now I know what type of food or supplements I need to optimize myself.

Interested to try? Don't hesitate to contact us at drmmclinic@gmail.com or whatapps to 0123301585. See you soon.

Swisscelin - Revolutionary Swiss Cell Therapy to Halt Ageing.

I am back to my usual try and tested mode where I try out new products in the market and review them. Today, let's talk about Swisscelin. The first time I came across this product was when I was invited to a Hi-Tea event in Carcosa Sri Negara. It was a lovely event with beautiful setting. The principal from Hong Kong had come down for a soft launch of the product and a beautiful explanation was given by the guest Dr. speaker. Unfortunately, I was running late from my clinic appointment thus I missed out the whole talk. Such a pity.

Luckily, the marketing principle was there and she ran through with me regarding the product and the scientific evidence behind it. I'm not usually the type of person who listen much to marketing sales talks but what caught my interest was that this is perhaps the first supplement that I came across which includes the TAE or telomerase activating enzyme which was discovered in 2008 and the study published in the Journal of Lancet Oncology naming the enzyme TA-65. They won a nobel prize in 2009 and since then more and more studies have been conducted on supplementing this enzymes and its benefits and possible disbenefits. It brings a whole new ball game to the placenta cum stem cell supplementation as this enzyme has been proven to keep the DNA telomere elongated. One of the most accepted cause of ageing is when the cells fail to divide again and this has been seen related to the telomere shortening.

So of course, I was super excited when I read the ingredients. I just had to try the product for myself and see how it fairs. I stopped all supplements and medications during this experiment. There were 30 capsules per box and I religiously took a capsule a day first thing in the morning when I wake up. The capsule is quite big compared to other supplements, but because of the shape and softness, it was easy to swallow. There was a bit of a fishy smell but it was okay. I did not get any indigestion or acid reflux consuming on an empty stomach, but this is entirely on the individual. You can also take the supplement after your breakfast, although for the best absorption I would prefer eating it on an empty stomach.

So how did I fair? Day 1 to 3 was nothing much to shout about except that I had more energy in the morning compared to before. I was having fatigue issues waking up and I was blaming it on my late nights. I also realized that my sleep was deeper eventhough I slept around 5 hours a day. After the 1st week, I noticed my skin changing. It appeared softer and smoother. I also have more energy and was able to wake up fresh every morning. The pigmentation on my face improved, and I did not develop as much post inflammatory hyperpigmentation of my scars compared to previously. Sleep was great. I have enough sleep despite less hours. I even noticed an increase performance when I run every week. In terms of weight, there was no weight gain. Other things like heatiness, not as bad as taking sheep or deer placenta. I looked a lot healthier. In fact after 2 weeks, I did PRP for my face and the results was so much better than before. There was a marked reduction in pigmentation and skin glowed better. During this time, I stopped all other supplements or injections just to see how it goes. I also noticed that I do not have to take coffee first thing in the morning. I am able to delay my coffee till afternoon. I also noticed my mood swings to be less erratic and I was a lot calmer, although there was an increase of libido. But I didn't really go crazy about it. In terms of menses, I did have a early cycle that month, which lasted a little bit longer but otherwise I did not have the usual period cramps , or PMS symptoms I usually do. Even my migraine seem to have taken a holiday. After the 2nd strip I decided to try every other day. I took a capsule every other day to see if the results I obtained reversed since I've only been on it for 20 days. To my greatest pleasure, it didn't and I continued until I finished the last 10 capsules. After I finished the box, I decided to rest for awhile to see how long the effects would wear off. I only started to feel fatigued again after 10 days of completely stopping the supplement.

According to the Company's recommendation, they recommend 2 capsules daily for adults above the age of 40 for 2 months and then monthly until at least another 4 months and it will give the body enough supplement to repair itself. For younger people 1 capsule a day is sufficient unless you want to expedite the skin results. However, this supplement is not cheap and maybe realistically to maintain such expensive regime is not feasible.

Saying so, if cost was not the issue, personally I would be on this supplement for long term since I do beleive it does help to delay a bit of the ageing process the body undergoes. A friend of mine was on the supplement for 5 months and when I did her hair profiler epigenetics screening, she did not show any signs of amino acid depletion or severe aging. And she was 12 years older than me with 3 life births. She looked as fresh and beautiful as ever even without any make up on. Can't wait to start again.

For more information or product enquiry, please email us at drmmclinic@gmail.com or Whatsapp enquiries to +60123301585.

Happy New Year... 2014

Its the start of a new year. Time flies ever so fast. Reminiscing back to the earlier days of running the clinic, how much things have changed. Now, my skills are more than grown, I have started to train other doctors for most of the filler and botulinum toxin techniques. I have a good team, with a strong manager to help manage most of the clinic day to day dealings. We've established the appointment only concept that not only allows you to plan for your appointment, but for us to make the best of your time. My foreign patients love this concept, the locals are still trying to get use to it.

We've made a lot of new allies for this year, and new projects are unveiling. We may have dropped a few, but the aim is to move forward, hence we need to focus on the positives. We have good and loyal patients, we have a lot of new ones too. With the new regulations hopefully Malaysia will be able to compete with its neighbouring countries in terms of Medical Aesthetics more proactively and provide overall great service and good reputation.

Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people who fall prey to beauticians doing injections etc, providing so called professional exclusive services. An overall price comparison, their prices compared to doctor prices are pretty much similar with perhaps a few hundred difference. I have been consulting patients whom have had beautician work done on their face and overall most of them are not happy with the work, but the worst part is you can't remove it, unless of course surgically. And most surgeons would charge a bomb for having to clean up someone else's mess, plus the complications that may arise from the surgery.

So for the start of this new year, I would like to give a take home message to all my readers who may consider improving their looks for this year.

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Let Anyone Else But A Trained Dr Poke A Needle to Your Face

1. The Face is the first thing a person notices when they look at you. Getting fillers or BTA from an untrained hand may make you look weird / disproportionate / abnormal. Every trained medical aesthetic practitioner goes through measurement training and ratio training that allows them to make an educated assessment of your face's needs and amount required. Beauticians only inject base on what they think is pretty but not based on scientific guidelines. What may be pretty to them may not be pretty to anyone else.

2. Beauticians are not taught surgical anatomy. Yes, they may argue, they have anatomy syllabus in their courses but it is very non-specific and mostly related to massage techniques. Even doctors who are not trained in medical aesthetics have issues with face anatomy (I conduct training, I know) and most only know basic. You need a really in depth knowledge of the anatomy of the structures of your face before you can safely poke a needle in it. There are many areas which you cannot inject or even if you did required high level of care. There are reported cases of skin necrosis, granulomas, etc with filler injections even with the most trained hands, what else an untrained hand? And what more a non-medical personnel who doesn't even have the basic.

3. The collagen that beauticians keep saying they are injecting are not 100% collagen. The source is questionable, most are taken from China since its super cheap there and unlikely to be sterile. For those with religious preferences, most collagen for fillers are bovine (cow) or porcine (pig) in origin. We will never use marine sources because of very high allergy rates in humans. Sometimes, they even use human collagen (which I have no idea how they extract). Another issue is that most of the time, liquid silicone is included in the concoction to give it better volume for less usage and for the effect to stay longer (rather permanent). My simplest advice would be to be inquisitive about the product you use - see the packaging, make sure the box and the filler is the same thing, make sure it is sterile, and make sure you can actually read the label on the box.

4. Any break in the skin allows bacteria and viruses to come in and cause a local infection. Doctors are drilled with need for sterility for all procedures even before they graduate. Beauticians and other non-medical injectors are not trained towards sterility. How sure are you that the needle they use has not been used before, how sure are you that their swabs are not expired? What about communicable diseases? How healthy is your injector? You have no idea about their own medical background. Furthermore, if a doctor's procedure gets infected, the doctor can treat and prescribe antibiotics, what can your beautician do besides ask you to seek help from a doctor?

5. Beauticians charge cheaper? On contrary, you may be paying so much more for what they are worth. Most beauticians will charge 5-10 fold of their cost price, whilst most doctors would charge base on the market price for a certain product and their experience. I had one patient who went to a beautician for a nose filler and was charged RM 15K. Luckily she only paid half, but with the amount of money, I told her she could have gotten a proper rhinoplasty done. She was unhappy with the filler work which made her nose look so big that she was depressed. Then she had to spend another RM 6K to remove it from a surgeon and a few more $$ for a proper rhinoplasty. Altogether, she spent almost RM 50K for something that she could have saved if she had consulted a proper doctor to begin with.

The medical aesthetic industry is a very lucrative industry which most Malaysians are starting to realise nowadays. Hence many people will try to grab the opportunity to be in this industry. Its not a bad thing, but personally I feel that you should only sell a skill that you possess and able to handle inclusive of the consultation and complications. Although the government has imposed certain regulations on Medical Aesthetics and Beauticians, however, enforcement in Malaysia is very poor. Because of this, as a consumer, it is your own responsibility to make an informed educated decision when deciding on any procedure. Remember, all medical aesthetic procedures are elective - take your time to do your own research and sleep on it before deciding. If you are not comfortable with the injector, just walk away. Its your face anyway. Hesitation is better than regret.

Happy New Year Peeps!! Look out for more interesting blog entries for this year.

For more information or to contact us directly please call the clinic at 03-21440080 / 014-2233268 or email to us at faceworksclinic@gmail.com. 

Happy Malaysia Day....... 2013

Its 16th of September, Malaysia Day. The Day in history where the whole Malaysia was united i.e. the peninsular, Sarawak & Sabah approximately 50 years ago. It is only recently the country announced the celebration for this day, hence adding an extra public holiday for Malaysia. This country has the most numbers of public holidays in the world. Sometimes I do wonder whether it is beneficial to the country in the long run.

Of late, I have been super busy with so many things and traveling. Towards the year end, usually there will be a lot of conferences and training and other things. This year, my heart is left in Langkawi. The beach, the sun, the sea air - living in KL for most of the part, the change in scenery is welcoming and exhilarating.  Despite the hectic schedule, I did manage to test out a few products which can be ordered through the clinic.


1. Dermaceutic Foamer 15 - Face Wash

I have been trying out the Dermaceutic range on and off and recently, they have changed their formula a bit to suit Asian climates and skin. The in-house peels are marvellous but some of the skincare initially was too rich for our hot and humid weather. Now, they have come up with a new packaging and formulation and I was given the opportunity to try out some of them. This is one of my favourites, the Foamer 15. Foamer 15 is a foaming cleanser with glycolic 15% as an active ingredient. For my skin, it would be ideal since I do have on off oily skin due to my hectic and active lifestyle. It not only helps to strip off excessive oils but it gives you a mild exfoliation to keep your skin looking vibrant and fresh on a daily basis. It has a very clinical smell i.e. no perfumes as the UK standard usually clinical skincare are without any fragrance. It is good for people with oily skin and also those who are slightly more mature. Some people may experience dryness with this foamer, but it is always a must to use moisturisers after washing your face with any type of soap. Personally, I did not experience any dryness. In combination with this foamer, you can opt for other lines of Dermaceutic products such as Hyalceutic or Light Ceutic for mild pigmentation. This range is affordable with each product costing less than RM 200 per bottle. Some products are available in the clinic, but most require pre-order. Ask us today.

2. Aknicare Range

This is a new acne range brought in by Neostrata. It was launched last year, but I only had the opportunity to try it out this year. What attracts me to this product is the different specific range of items it has at very affordable price. The usual face regime would include a cleanser, a lotion and a treatment cream that cost only RM 350 for all three products. The usage on a daily basis is minimal hence would last you 2-3 months. They have conducted few studies on this product and in Singapore, it is recommended as a first line for acne treatment before giving Ro-accutane or doing other more invasive procedures to treat acne. It is hypoallergenic and is suitable even for teenage skin.

My manager has hormonal acne due to change in contraception pills and I guess our set came in just in time. After a week of using the product, most of the redness have disappeared and the formation of new comedomes were significantly less. However, when she skipped 2 sessions, acne started to form again so perhaps it is really like a treatment which requires twice daily application. Otherwise, the skin is less oily and looks clearer. Personally I tried out the spot treatment. I sometimes get spots like these popping up especially if I am highly stressed up.

Its a small bottle which is convenient since you need to apply 6X a day to reduce the acne within 1-2 days. As you can see, it is just the size of your lippy, so it makes carrying it around in your purse minimal hassle. I used it 3X only and the red flaring pimple dried up nicely and went off in 2 days. Definitely keeping this in my purse for emergencies. Initially when you apply the roller onto the acne it does feel a lil bit tingling especially if there is a break in the skin. This range also comes with a back and chest acne care for those who has body acne breakouts. It comes in a spray bottle to ease application, but I still find it difficult to apply onto the back without help. So I've been applying more in the front and I did notice a reduction in acne around the chest area. So now even my chest looks a lot nicer with less congestion. For those curious as to how the system works, here's a hand summary of the mechanism of action. 

For more information about these products, email us at faceworksclinic@gmail.com or call us at 03-21440080 / 014-2233268 or just Like our FB page and send us a PM there.

Miss Universe 2012 is Miss China....

I think my blog roll have collected some cobwebs since I have been super busy with a million and one things to do on a day to day basis. From patients to management issues, to children and bffs jumping off the plan for an unplanned holidays and the so many events after fasting month, oh yes, I have my plate pretty full. 

Anyways, last couple of months Miss Universe World pageant came to an end with Miss China crowned as the Miss Universe World for 2012. She also won the Miss talent award and she is actually the 2nd person from China to win such a title in the whole 61 events in the past. Congratulations to Miss China.

Personally I love watching Miss Universe pageants. I caught the last bit of it recently as they were crowning Miss China. Its a show full of glitz and glamour and not to forget the pretty girls. Looking at each of the girls features, you can see similar traits that signifies beauty - flawless skin and symmetry. Although for these beauty queens it is actually loads of make-up to get the flawless effect. But proper skincare and supplements can also help you achieve that effect. When dealing in the aesthetics world, we need to have a good eye for beauty, and what better way to train yourself than watching and appreciating beauties.

Coming back to Miss China, she is definitely beautiful and talented. But perhaps the more attention is that she is Asian, and yes the Asian look is becoming more appealing to a lot of people. (think K-Pop). Semi slanted big eyes, with dark hair and eye brows, yellow tinged skin, full lips and a high nose. Despite Asians typically having a flatter nose bridge, the advancement of fillers have made it possible for Asian's to have a higher nose bridge thus enhances the look. Skin fairness is often sought by most Asians - seriously I am wondering why Asians are so obsessed in being fair? Hence so many supplements claiming to help improve skin tones and fairness are being sold like hot cakes. My personally opinion on it - I'm cool about it as long as it does not cause any harm. Some skin bleaching products were taken off market due to risk of cancer and other more harmful conditions. Some of the beauty supplements have unknown ingredients so a proper evaluation of their safety is impossible.

Skin fairness depends on a few factors. The first is of course genetics. You cannot expect to be Korean fair if your family comes from a line of dark tanned people. Nor would you get Caucasian pink skin if you were a pure Asian. Some may argue about this, but unless you are an albino, you would be as tan as your parents were. The second factor is of course sun exposure. You cannot expect to be fairer is you are exposed to the sun most of the time. The sun in the equator tend to be most consistent and thus people near the equator tend to be tanner than those living in the Arctic. Vitamin C supplements, glutathione etc are just temporary measures. As long as you take the supplement you can maintain the skin tone. Pretty expensive investment for something unnatural perhaps. But everyone's perception of beauty is different, hence why we hear the proverb beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. So what do you think is beautiful?

September October Promotion....

I remember a senior colleague of mine who whenever he conducts training... he will always tell us, " You know, for every Asian who walks into the clinic, definitely will look better with a nose filler in," Initially I laughed at his remark, but after a few years, I realized he did make sense. Traditionally Asians tend to have a more flatter nose bridge, hence makes the distance between the two eyes more far apart and appear smaller and less attractive. But by inserting a filler at the nose bridge, and even elongating the tip slightly, it helps reduce the distance and automatically makes the face more appealing. The eyes become more obvious and bigger (relatively). Nowadays with advancement of injection techniques, you can even do it as a lunch time procedure without much bruising or even being noticed by your colleagues. But there is a certain accepted norm for Asian nose, thus you need to go to a well trained practitioner in order to get a natural looking  nose. The most common comment you will get from your friends is that, you look different - but most wouldn't realize that you had your nose done unless pointed out or if you really had no bridge at all. The immediate improvement is superb and it really helps with self confidence without feeling fake. Besides, it is only 1 injection away.

Interested to try out our promotion? Do call us at 03-21440080 or email to info@faceworksclinic.com for appointment. See you there.

Chinese New Year Promotion...

Don't Miss our Chinese New Year 2012 promotions. 

Book your appointment today.

For more information call us at 03-21440080 or email to info@faceworksclinic.com 

What's up with Vitamin C?

I have been asked about this question a couple of times, so I've decided to write about it in my blog. A lot of people wanted to know whether Vitamin C actually works.

After going through a few papers and a few professional opinions, this is what I have managed to gather:

Benefits of Vitamin C

1. Reduces fine wrinkles around eyes and mouth.
2. Improve skin hydration.
3. Improve pigmentation appearance and age spots.
4. Improves wound healing through fibroblast stimulation nad migration.
5. Increases capacity of fibroblasts to repair potentially mutagenic DNA lesions.
6. Prevents scurvy.
7. Potent anti-oxidant that protects skin from UVA oxygen radicals.

However bear in mind that:

1. Ascorbic acid or vitamin C is pretty unstable and oxidizes easier when exposed to air.

Because of this, most vitamin C preparations have a pretty short shelf life and usually will change colour after a few months if stabilizing agents are not added in. An oxidized form of vitamin C is sometimes more harmful to skin and may cause sensitivity. An easy tip to keep it stabilize is to keep the bottle sealed tight, away from sunlight and chilled in the fridge.

2. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin whereas the skin is protected by water by our keratinized layer.

Because of this, you need to be very careful when selecting vitamin C creams or gels to ensure that absorption can occur. Look for products which are lipophilic as it will absorb better into the deeper layers of the skin.

3. Topical Vitamin C has shown to have more benefits towards skin health compared to other methods, although oral vitamin C of 1000 mg daily is sufficient to maintain good health and good skin. Never exceed 2000mg daily as this will lead to vitamin C toxicity which gives you an orange discolouration of the skin, and some have reported renal side effects.

So what would I recommend for a good topical vitamin C?

Obagi has just launched its new range of Vitamin C + Hydroquinone 4% for whitening effect. So far I have been using this serum for the past 1 month and have noticed a significant increase in radiance. Recently, they launched another product which replaces the hydroquinone with Arbutin instead, thus making long term usage possible. Although I do admit these serum are not exactly cheap, but one bottle would last you a good 3 months with the benefits of vitamin C and enhanced whitening. There are also topical vitamin C ranges from 5%-20% for those who are looking for only vitamin C.

For more information, contact us at info@faceworksclinic.com or call 03-21440080.