Dermaqueen - a solution for hydration.....

Finally, a quiet Sunday I can sit and write my blog. I know I owe my readers a lot of entries, hopefully before month end, I will be able to write up all of them. Today, I'm going to write on Dermaqueen. It took me awhile to write this entry because I was trying to decide how I felt about this treatment. 

Nowadays, a lot of people are looking for more solutions for their skin besides lasers and IPLs although there are some die hard fans of these procedures. The reason is because now we realize that there are a lot of complications with energy based procedures especially for Asian skin type IV or V i.e. burns, scarring, post-inflammatory pigmentation and also the fast recurrence of pigmentation post procedure. The other issue that most doctors worry about is trying to get the patient to abstain from sunlight for 3 months to avoid complications which in a country of 12 hours hot blazing sun is pretty difficult. Yes, we do advise sunblock but most people only use sunblock when they plan to leave the house only, and apply it once in the morning. (Seriously, you need to reapply every 2-4 hours for sunblock and 6-8 hours for sunscreen). Another issue post-laser/IPL is dryness of the skin and loss of hydration due to high heat procedure which can be tackled with religious application of a good lipophilic moisturizer but there is always a group with severe dryness that requires more intervention.There are also a group of patients on retinoid acid creams or Obagi which have persistent dryness until you can see cracking and fine wrinkles appearing. And not to forget the peri and postmenopausal women who have generalized dryness due to hormonal issues, despite using vitamin E oils and taking evening primrose still have problems.

That is why they came up with the Dermaqueen system. So what is Dermaqueen? Dermaqueen is a procedure that you can do to improve hydration of your skin as it delivers hydrating solutions/brightening solution and even non-cross link HA intradermally and this helps to give you instant hydration. It uses fine needles and a vacuum assisted device and plants the desired solution into the mid dermis. The good thing about this system is that it is preprogrammed to deliver an accurate dose at the accurate site. The only thing that makes people worry is the needles part. But nowadays with better lignocaine creams to numb the the face, the procedure is almost painless. Added with the vacuum suction allows doses to be delivered accurately into the skin with just a slight pricking sensation.

Its a pretty short procedure and takes about 20-30 minutes to do. In terms of downtime, although it claims to have no downtime, I would still say that it will depend on your skin and what solution you are using, so normally I'd advise patients to have 1 day off for the first time and see how long it takes to recover. As for myself, There was only  minimal needle prick marks on my face, and not much pain. It disappeared after 1-2 days. For those who have tendency for bruising or rosacea issues, yes, you may bruise but it can be covered with concealer and it will depend on your own system how long you would bruise.

So what is is good for? Mainly hydration and brightening. We use peptides solution from Dermaheal which is an established product from Korea and has been in the market for the past 3 years. I love Dermaheal as the results are fascinating and almost instant. The only thing about this system is that you will need more than 1 session. They recommend 3-6 sessions done weekly for best results and then maintenance every 3-6 months afterwards.The major complaint will be the cost of the treatment. At the moment 1 session is between RM 900-RM 2000 depending on solutions used. Some even argue say, why not I do laser instead. But the function of this treatment is different i.e. it is more for hydration of the skin and overall rejuvenation.

Other functions of Dermaqueen are as follows:

Other functions not included in the table is also Breast rejuvenation which helps sagging breasts that has loss the upper volume and also hand rejuvenation to make your hands look as young as your face. So what can you expect from this treatment?

Reduction in melasma - I think this was after 6 sessions

This one used non-cross-link HA mixed with peptides after 8 sessions

Rejuvenation of hands - 1 session with non-cross link HA

Pore reduction and skin tone improvement - this was after 1 session.

 I've met this guy. This was after 6 sessions of using Dermaqueen with hair restoration peptides. Although still a bit bald, but there is improvement in hair texture and volume.

So my take on Dermaqueen? I think this is a good alternative to doing Laser treatment for texture issues and for pigmentation improvement. It also helps those who have very dry skin to improve the hydration. The only setback is the cost as 6 treatments can set you back to around 10K but it does solve certain issues with more comfort and less complications.

Interested? Please contact the clinic at 03-21440080 or email us at info@faceworksclinic.com for appointment.

Mother's Day Promotion....

     Last week we had a nice event in Faceworks Clinic for Mother's Day. Although it was a week earlier, but the thought that counts and we had a good turn up of guests. You can see pictures on our Facebook Faceworks Clinic Page - http://www.facebook.com/FaceworksClinic (Do like our page if you could :) ). It was a wonderful event. I gave a talk on medical aesthetics and what we can do with the current technology and medical advancement that we have. Mr Terry from Dermaqueen gave an interesting overview about our latest service called Dermaqueen, and Mrs Nazli gave a nice talk and short demo on Nutrilite organic nutrition as an important supplement to keep healthy. Then we had the nice delicious home cooked variety buffet. I personally made the marinara and buffalo wings. Whilst we had Kak Nora prepare some traditional lontong. Kak Nora is excellent with traditional menus and she even had some of the AFC chefs come down to learn her recipes. (Yes, if you want to try her cooking or learn you can ask me how to contact her). Bite Size kitchen prepared the colourful and beautiful muffins. (Thank you Ayu) and Mrs Haze prepared the delightful Tiramisu. (Yes, she also takes orders for her cakes). Dessert was delightful with Mr Belo's puddings that was delivered by Mr Belo himself - Neatly placed puddings for any occasion. As usual, Faceworks Clinic Events have the most wonderful palatable tastes, so it is definitely an event worth going to.

     After most of the guest indulged the food, we had a lip filler demo with Juvederm Ultra XC - the new range of hyaluronic acid filler with lidocaine to reduce pain, bruising and swelling. Our model was very brave, as she did not request for any nerve block, just some numbing cream, but with the new XC, you do not really need any nerve blocks since pain is reduced up to 70% compared to the previous fillers without lidocaine. And the best part is that it is already infused in the gel so that the filler does not get diluted and hence the efficacy of the filler remains the same. So say bye bye to painful lip fillers, because that is the thing of the past.

     I also demonstrated Obagi Blue Radiance Peel which gives instant radiance and evening of skin tone even after 1 application. We applied a complete 4 layers on the Model (a different one) and he was able to tolerate the pain (scored around 6 and improving to 0 over 5 minutes). We then left it on for 15 minutes, and applied a soothing mask afterwards for another 15 minutes to reduce any redness. Instantly after the procedure he looked more refreshed (well, who wouldn't after a nice 15 mins of lying with a mask and lavender pillows on the eyes in a dim room). I called him a few days later and he said he was okay, with minimal skin peeling but looking a lot more refreshed, with even skin tone and less oily compared to before. Yes, the Obagi blue peel radiance although is very good, does have a social down time of around 3-5 days, so I would normally tell my patient to do it on a social clear calender. It only takes 20 minutes to do anyway, so you can run in during lunch time. You only start peeling during day 2 onwards.

     The last demo was the highlight of the day, i.e. the Dermaqueen Demo. I had one of my friends as Demo i.e. Mr Ed (The Nutrilite guy). We numbed his face for 30 minutes and did the treatment on his face. There was a slight tingling sensation, with a pain score of maximum 2 - merely negligible. You can see pictures of him on our Faceworks Clinic Facebook Page. Immediately after the procedure, he felt his skin feel so hydrated and lifted. I met him yesterday and today and he looked fairer with better skin tone and he still feels the hydrating effect. He also noticed that his pores appeared smaller and because his skin is tighter, he looks better. Not bad for a guy who just went through a swimming marathon. (Which was why he got so tanned in the first place). For those interested to try this treatment out, we are giving a 1st trial special price of RM 1080/=. (Normal price RM 1800/++ session). 

Overall, the event was a definite success. A lot of my guests were impressed by the instant results from the demos, and of course the wonderful food. We had fun, and I hope my guests had fun too. Thank you so much to all my suppliers who helped sponsor goodies for my guests, and thank you to all my guests who came till the final hour. Thank you also to all my food providers for the wonderful food. Can't wait for the next event.

Well, for those who missed it, these are the promotions that we launched that day.

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