Beauty treatments 2.0

20 Sep 2007, ST, Urban

Check out the next generation of cosmetic surgeries and treatments to help you look good

Need an extra hand in looking good? There's plenty of help now that at least 10 new cosmetic surgeries and treatments have hit the market this year.

From water-assisted liposuction to a face-lift that does away with needles completely, technology and beauty have never been more intertwined.

It's good news for people who want to improve their looks with virtually no pain.

Says Dr S. K. Tan, senior medical director of The DRx Clinic: 'With these technological advances, treatments are becoming more effective and comfortable.'

Urban brings you more on five of the latest treatments and procedures.

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Skin needling

What it is: A treatment, done with local anaesthesia, for removing wrinkles, scars and stretch marks. It uses a skin roller that puts tiny pin-point puncture wounds into the dermis (the layer of tissue below skin's outermost layer, the epidermis), which stimulates the production of new collagen and elastin. The production of new collagen continues for 12 months after each treatment, resulting in the development of new skin.

Advantages: It stimulates the dermis without affecting the healthy epidermis, which is not the case with other skin resurfacing techniques such as laser resurfacing or chemical peels. The dermis heals more quickly and there's less structural damage, loss of skin colour or hyperpigmentation on the skin.

Disadvantages: The skin is red and swollen for a day or two and multiple treatments are needed to see improvement in lines and scars.

Cost: $400 to $700
Length of treatment: About 30 minutes

Where: See Medical Aesthetics, 04-19 Delfi Orchard, and Starcap Medical, 04-08 International Building


Acne treatment by photopneumatic therapy

What it is: A treatment for acne of varying degrees of severity, the Photopneumatic Therapy Plus uses a vacuum handpiece to suck out whiteheads, blackheads and other acne lesions. This is followed by a burst of low-intensity light to kill acne-causing bacteria.

Advantages: An alternative to oral medication. It also improves the skin's texture and colour.

Disadvantage: Temporary redness.

Cost: $180
Length of treatment: 45 minutes

Where: The DRx Clinic, 16-01 Tong Building, and The DRx Medispa, 03-52/54 Suntec City Mall


Titan face-lift

What it is: A non-surgical procedure where infrared light is used to heat the skin, causing collagen to contract and resulting in tighter-looking skin. It also stimulates the growth of collagen, giving you long-term tightening of the skin.

Advantages: It is non-invasive with no surgical incisions on the skin needed.

Disadvantages: Complications such as mild blistering or hyperpigmentation may occur.

Cost: $1,400 per treatment, with three treatments every four weeks recommended for best results
Length of treatment: About one hour

Where: Raffles Aesthetics Centre in Raffles Hospital, 585 North Bridge Road


Vaser-assisted high-definition liposculpture

What it is: A body-sculpting treatment that combines the Vaser System Liposelection procedure with a high-definition sculpting technique. The Vaser procedure uses ultrasonic energy to break up fats while the high-definition sculpting technique redistributes fats in the body to create better definition.

Advantages: More refined than liposuction, where fats are only removed. With this system of liposculpture, fats are removed as well as moved from one part of the body to another to alter the patient's body shape.

Disadvantages: The same risks as liposuction, such as prolonged swelling and the removal of too much fat.

Cost: $4,000 and above
Length of treatment: One to six hours

Where: The procedure can be carried out by liposelection-trained and certified doctors in Singapore. Call Gigatt on 6547-1713 for the list of accredited doctors


Water-assisted liposuction

What it is: Previously with liposuction, a hollow tube is inserted into an area of the body such as the thighs or buttocks to remove fat with a suction device.

While previous techniques involved pumping a large quantity of fluids to detach fats which are then removed by suction, water-assisted liposuction uses high-pressure water jets to detach fats while sucking away fat and water at the same time.

Advantages: In previous methods of liposuction, a patient's condition could be assessed only after the procedure. If too much fat was removed, dents or lumps in the patient's skin would have to be corrected by another surgery.

But with water-assisted liposuction, the natural form and contours of the patient's body can be assessed during the procedure. Unevenness and dents in the skin can be caught then, reducing the need for correction.

Disadvantages: Risk of injury to nerves and blood vessels, which will cause bleeding, bruising, swelling and pain, although such risks are less than those in other methods of liposuction.

Cost: $3,000 to $4,000 per area treated
Length of treatment: Two hours

Where: Raffles Aesthetics Centre in Raffles Hospital

Saying no is no solution

20 Sep 2007, ST, Urban

Surgery of any sort is no simple matter. So how do kids and parents make the big decision to go under the knife? NOELLE LOH gleans some wisdom from experts


TEENS

Be certain

Psychologist Koo Shen Lin of Mount Elizabeth Hospital says teens can be a fickle bunch - just check what's been playing on their iPods now to see how fancies come and go. You need to know that plastic surgery is permanent, not something you can change at a whim.

Be reasonable

Knowing how much - or little - a procedure can do for you is important. Doctors will not usually agree to requests that are unrealistic and not beneficial to the patient. You should also have reached developmental and skeletal maturity before considering surgery, points out Dr Ivor Lim of the Plastic and Hand Surgery clinic at Camden Medical Centre.

Know what you are getting into

How you eventually look may be glamorous, but the recovery process isn't necessarily so. Psychologist Koo also points out that teenagers need to be able to know how to deal with their peers' reactions towards them getting cosmetic surgery.


PARENTS

Don't be quick to say no

Plastic surgeon Chua Jun Jin, who runs a clinic at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, points out that children are becoming more knowledgeable about what can be done to enhance their looks. Koo says if you simply put your foot down and forbid surgery, kids may see such outright rejection as a sign of you being too authoritative and distance themselves.

Sit down and talk

Find out the reasons behind the child's desire to get plastic surgery and, together, weigh the pros and cons. After all, experts reckon that plastic surgery can greatly boost self-esteem. It also helps you to assess if your child is mature enough for the procedure.

Seek advice you can trust

Doctors often discover hidden, sad pasts behind patients who come in with cosmetic surgical requests, Dr Lim says. Under all instances, the decision to carry on with the procedure is at the discretion of the surgeon.

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TOP 5 PROCEDURES

CREATING DOUBLE EYELIDS

Popular among Asians, it turns the single eyelid into one with a double fold and is regarded by most as a way of making eyes look bigger and brighter. It involves cutting skin above the eyes to achieve the desired fold, and requires stitches. However, a new scar-free method known as clipping, which involves stitching of the skin to create a fold, has been developed. This process takes about 30 minutes, compared to the cut method that takes up to an hour.

Cost: Between $1,800 and $4,000


NOSE JOB (RHINOPLASTY)

Asians who tend to have less sharp facial features often go for this procedure. It involves re-contouring the nose with a silicone implant to create a higher bridge. Surgeons can also give better definition to the pit of the nose, as well as shave off the sides of the nose to make it look less bulbous. The surgery usually takes between one and two hours.

Cost: Between $4,000 and $7,800


CHIN AUGMENTATION

To give patients a stronger chin, doctors can either insert a silicone implant, which takes up to 40 minutes, or inject a synthetic filler, which takes five minutes, into the chin area. At Dr Woffles Wu's clinic, teenage patients are usually recommended the latter because it lasts only six months and thus acts as a trial to see if they really want the procedure.

Cost: Between $1,700 and $5,800


PINNING BACK EARS

Day surgery that involves shifting the position of the ears to the side of the head so they don't stick out so much. The procedure, which leaves no visible scars or bruising, takes about 30 minutes.

Cost: Between $5,000 and $8,000


REMOVING FACIAL BLEMISHES

Procedures range from removing moles and freckles to the reduction of acne scars. Apart from plastic surgeons, such services are provided by aesthetic medicine practitioners such as the Sloane Clinic in Raffles Place, which uses non-invasive procedures.

Cost: Between $100 and $850 per session

Playing doll

20 Sep 2007, ST, Urban

Once regarded as adults' access to the fountain of youth, plastic surgery is now gaining popularity among baby-faced youths. NOELLE LOH takes a closer look at the phenomenon

In these celebrity-, trend-obsessed times, the seed of desire to look perfect is planted young. Ben (not his real name) is 22 but has already had his nose reduced surgically not once, or twice, but thrice. (see below).

Tired of being teased about his 'Jackie Chan nose', the current undergraduate at the Singapore Institute of Management decided to nip the problem in the bud three years ago when he was just 19.

And there are more like him in this growing phenomenon.

Plastic surgeon Woffles Wu at Camden Medical Centre says teens have been going for plastic surgery as early as 10 years ago, but the trend is now getting more common. He reports that teenagers now form 35 per cent of his patients, up from 15 per cent five years ago. Currently, the average age of his pre-adult patients is 16.

Plastic surgeon Hong Soo Wan, who runs a clinic at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, says he has seen a 5 to 10 per cent rise in the number of patients aged below 18 over his seven years of practice. These patients are mostly between the ages of 16 and 18.

The legal age for patients seeking plastic surgery in Singapore is 21. Those below this age would need parental consent before proceeding.

Surgeon Ivor Lim of the Plastic and Hand Surgery clinic at Camden Medical Centre says his youngest patient to get Botox, a procedure that smoothens out wrinkles and lifts sagging skin, is a 21-year-old girl.

The reasons for teens going plastic vary. Dr Wu has had patients wanting to look like their idols, while plastic surgeon Chua Jun Jin, who runs a clinic at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, says some do it to get better-looking dates.

'Anything you can imagine,' he says.

Such procedures do not come cheap. Parents are shelling out between $3,500 for a double eyelid procedure and $20,000 for breast augmentation.

Dr Wu adds: 'Contrary to the notion that they are a well-heeled bunch, these patients come from all walks of life.'

But before you blacklist this breed of Botox babies as a bunch of superficial squirts, psychologist Koo Shen Lin from Mount Elizabeth Hospital's medical centre says it's not that worrying a trend - so long as the procedure is 'reasonable'.

'People are recognising that plastic surgery has moved away from helping to correct deformities to enhancing beauty,' she says.

'There is nothing wrong in going for plastic surgery at a young age as long as the child knows he wants it and is in a healthy state.'

Besides, she observes, local youths ask for simpler procedures such as the reduction of pore size or the creation of double eyelids, as opposed to those in the West who go for more extreme makeoevers such as breast augmentation.

Indeed, it seems like for every adolescent patient who seeks surgery to feed his vanity, there is another who does so for a better self-image, surgeons say.

Dr Lim recalls how a pre-school boy, brought in by his mother, went from shy to outgoing after removing a large hairy mole on his forehead.

'Plastic surgery is not as frivolous as you think it is. It is also psychological surgery,' he says.

Dr Wu adds that he once defended a 19-year-old boy's request to get a chin augmentation despite fierce opposition from his mother.

'I thought that it was the right thing for him because the disproportion of his face was just so glaring. It would help him psychologically,' he says.

But psychologist Geraldine Tan from the Centre for Effective Living, which provides counselling services, has a word of caution.

'The boost in self-esteem might only be temporary if the root cause of his inferior complex is actually not addressed. Furthermore, parental consent only enforces that the child is not good in whatever he does,' she says.

Housewife Eugenia Chandra, who has three children aged 24, 22 and 17, says it is a definite no for teens below the age of 18 to go for plastic surgery.

'Their facial features and bodies are still developing, and they might not be emotionally mature enough to know what they are getting themselves into,' she says.

To fully understand whether a growing teen would really benefit from a permanent cosmetic procedure calls for a collaborative 'discovery time' between parent and child, says psychologist Koo.

'Parents need to sit down with their kid to go through the pros and cons of going through the surgery,' she says.

'Can the child deal with having a swollen nose for a few weeks? Can he deal with his friends saying that he has got a new nose, for example?'

She recommends that youths go under the knife only when they are in their late teens.

'At that time, their bodies are more fully developed, and they're more likely to be sure of their decision,' she says.

Surgeons agree. They say that it is maturity level, not age, that is the defining criterion.

In fact, Dr Wu is so strict about making sure that his patients know what they're getting into that those below the age of 25 must visit him with their parents.

General manager Mrs Soh, 52, who declines to reveal her full name, is one parent whom experts would probably applaud for not immediately agreeing to her 19-year-old daughter's request for a nose job three years ago.

'I knew she had always wanted one because she has quite a flat nose, but I was worried about spoiling her. You know teens. One day, they are into something and the next, something else,' she says.

But once her daughter hit the age of 21, she gave her consent.

'I saw how my daughter, who'd just started university, has matured and was serious about the surgery,' she adds.

'And now she's always telling me she's eternally grateful for my $5,000 investment.'

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NO MORE JACKIE CHAN

Meeting Ben (not his real name) for the first time, you would never imagine that the 22-year-old once hid himself at home because he was ashamed of his appearance. Energetic and outspoken, he has a lanky frame that he keeps in shape by hitting the gym three to four times a week.

And clearly, he doesn't mind being the focus of attention, judging by his multiple ear piercings.

What's more, his angular face and brooding eyes are features bound to turn a few heads at the clubs.

Yet his looks, and corresponding charisma, did not come naturally. In fact, he openly attributes his attractiveness to three sessions of rhinoplasty he had when he was 19 and fresh out of polytechnic.

'As a kid, I was always teased for my huge nose. My friends would call me Chen Long. When I smiled, the width of my nose was as wide as my mouth,' he says.

Chen Long is the Chinese name of action film star Jackie Chan, who is famous for his big, bulbous nose.

Ben began to toy with the idea of reducing the size of his honker when he entered polytechnic in 2002.

'The people around me were more image- conscious. They would put effort into dressing up because we no longer had to wear uniforms,' he says. 'That was when I realised that looks are important in society in Singapore.'

It was also a time when the teasing started to take a toll on his morale. 'I'd walk with my face slightly tilted down and avoid going out. I also hated being photographed,' he says.

Initially he was 'embarrased' to ask his parents about getting his nose surgically downsized, but his depression and desire got the better of him by 2004. Following the advice of his best friend, he summoned the courage to speak to his mother.

But he had little to fear. His 52-year-old mother says she had always known a day would come when her son would express interest in plastic surgery.

'My son had been a subject of mockery for quite some time by then,' she says. 'I guess the easiest way to solve the problem was corrective surgery.'

His Mum was so supportive that she funded all three of his procedures, which cost about $4,500 in total.

'I never thought my son was ugly, but I knew he had self-confidence issues because of his looks,' she says. 'I wouldn't say that the surgery was necessary, but as long as he's happy, I'm happy.'

Within six months of the first operation, which involved using a laser to shave off excess flesh, he returned twice to the surgeon, thinking that his nose was still too burly.

'Had the doctor not advised me to stop, I would probably have gone back a fourth time,' he says. 'It is addictive. When you look slightly better, you want to look much better. When you are much better, you want to look perfect.'

Three years on, both mother and son agree that his life has moved one step closer to being perfect following his rhinoplasty.

'The most important thing is that he has regained the self-confidence that he lost over the years of mockery,' she says. 'He walks with his head held high again.'

Meanwhile, he admits that he now gets more attention from girls when he is out. He also has the guts to approach people, where once he would not have.

While he keeps his enhanced nose a secret from strangers, he says he will admit to it when asked.

'I am not ashamed of having gone for plastic surgery,' he says. 'Without it, I wouldn't have so much confidence today.'

MakeMeHeal Wants To Interview me!

I just received this email a few days ago from MakeMeHeal. I did my double eyelids surgery last year and posted some before and after photos on the site. But my account was password protected.

And I received the following email. And this was not the first time either. And that led me wondering.....did they send the email to all their users who posted photos on the site or did they really like my results after the surgery that they just had to send such an email?

Anyway, thank you, my double eyelids are very fine now. And i love my eyes! I am getting more atttention from people than ever.

And no, i dun think i want to share any of my before or after photos here.

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We just saw your photo album on Makemeheal.com and want to congratulate you for your results or wish you luck and good healing if you have not yet completed your makeover. We are writing because we thought your story would be inspiring and educational to other members and wanted to feature an interview with you on our website in our News Area. The Plastic Surgery News area of Make Me Heal is the world's biggest news channel on the web for plastic surgery and it is viewed by many people from around the world. We are currently conducting ongoing interviews with members who have compelling stories and believe that stories as yours will be immensely educational and empowering to other people considering similar procedures to those you undertook.

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