Aesthetics
Your eyes give you character, convey emotions and is that part of the face that people notice most. The skin area around your eyes is also the thinnest. Age, photo damage, and expressions come together to bring about the effects of aging, especially evident in the area around your eyes.
Various modalities exist for the targeted management of facial aging, they include:
– Botox Injections
– Fillers
– Chemical Skin Peels
– Intense Pulsed Light and Laser Treatments
The procedures will be performed personally by our Medical Director, Dr Chuah Chin Tek, who has been injecting Botox since the 1990s and holds a Diploma in Aesthetic Medicine, awarded by the American Academy of Aesthetic Medicine. He is an accredited Aesthetic Physician, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH) Singapore guidelines.
He also won, by merit, an MOH award to hone his surgical skills (hands-on Fellowship) in the United States, under an MOH "Higher Manpower Development Plan" award.
Botox
Botulinum Toxin injections can treat:
– Forehead frown lines
– Glabellar frown lines
– Crow's feet
– Others
What is Botulinum Toxin (Botox)?
Botox is a purified protein produced by the Clostridium Botulinum bacterium, which reduces the activity of the muscles that cause frown lines between the brows, crow's feet around the eyes, or glabella frown lines.
How does skin age and wrinkle?
How skin ages and wrinkles is a complex process. It isn't just about cellular changes, collagen depletion, hormone loss, damage caused by free radicals, etc. It is a combination of many factors.
The lines that appear between your brows (glabellar lines) actually result from muscle movement and the passage of time. You may have heard the expression "wearing your emotions on your sleeve", but in reality, you wear them on your face. If you're angry or annoyed, for example, you knit your brows together. Underneath your skin, your facial muscles contract, cause a pleating of the overlying skin, and then, as anyone can see, you're frowning.
After years of crinkling and wrinkling, those glabellar lines start to linger longer and can become more pronounced. For women, whose faces tend to be more animated than men's, and whose skin is typically more delicate, these lines may appear exaggerated and more permanent.
The same process is applicable to the formation of Crow’s feet (at the sides of the eyes) and forehead frown lines.
What is the procedure like?
Before the procedure: you'll be seated in a reclining chair, much like in a dentist's office. No anesthesia is required, although your doctor may choose to numb the area with a cold pack or anesthetic cream.
The procedure: your doctor will determine where to administer the injections by examining your ability to move certain muscles in your brow area. The entire Botox injection procedure takes approximately 10 minutes.
After the procedure: there's no recovery time needed. You're ready to get on with your day! The most common side effects, following injection, include temporary eyelid droop and nausea. Localized pain, infection, inflammation, tenderness, swelling, redness, and/or bleeding/bruising may be associated with the injection. Patients with certain neuromuscular disorders such as ALS, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton syndrome may be at increased risk of serious side effects.
Seeing results: within days, you may notice an improvement in the moderate to severe frown lines between your brows that can last up to 4 months. Results may vary.
How often must the procedure be repeated?
You can receive injections with BOTOX up to every 4 months to help you maintain the results. If you discontinue treatment, the frown lines between your brows gradually will look like they did before treatment.
What are the important side effects with this procedure?
The most common side effects following injection include temporary eyelid droop and nausea. Localized pain, infection, inflammation, tenderness, swelling, redness, and/or bleeding/bruising may be associated with the injection. Patients with certain neuromuscular disorders such as ALS, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton syndrome may be at increased risk of serious side effects. Serious heart problems and serious allergic reactions have been reported rarely. If you think you’re having an allergic reaction or other unusual symptoms, such as difficulty swallowing, speaking or breathing, call your doctor immediately.
Fillers
Your skin looks smooth and supple because of collagen and hyaluronic acid. Collagen is a protein that provides your skin with structural support. Hyaluronic Acid is a natural sugar found in all living cells that attracts and binds water, hydrating the skin and giving it volume.
With the passage of time, sunlight exposure and other factors, collagen and hyaluronic acid in your skin diminish, the skin loses structure and volume, and unwelcome lines and wrinkles appear, and the skin looks less full and less tight.
Fillers are crystal-clear, non-animal, biodegradable gel based on a natural substance, called hyaluronic acid, thereby eliminating possible allergic reactions. The gel is injected into the skin in tiny amounts with a very fine needle. The result is instantaneous and produces a long-lasting and natural enhancement, which is gentle and safe to your skin.
Fillers can fill in lines and creases in the skin, and have been used to enhance the cheek and lip volume, and reduce the nasolabial folds.
For patients who do not wish to undergo surgery for the hollows beneath their eyes, fillers can be used to fill up the deficit.
We use a range of fillers and our doctor will only use the filler that will be the safest and yields the best results.
Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)
Short, safe bursts of light emitted from a flash-lamp are used to treat a variety of skin problems in the region around your eyes (the periocular region) or face. They include:
– Pigmentation or brown pigment marks such as freckles or age spots
– Periocular wrinkles
– Acne scars
– Vascular lesions such as thread veins or port wine stains
How does IPL work?
Small, controlled pulses of light are directed to the superficial layers of the skin and selectively absorbed by the target cells (eg. pigment cells called melanocytes for the treatment of periocular pigmentation), converted to heat energy, resulting in destruction of the target cells in a process called selective thermolysis.
How safe is IPL?
A filter ensures than no hazardous ultraviolet (UV) light reaches the skin. A second filter ensures that the wavelengths which only cause heating of water in the skin are removed. Protective glasses should be worn by both operator and client to reduce the risk of side effects in case a shot has accidentally been released.
What should I expect?
Prior to treatment:
– Avoid tanning (sun, solarium orself tanning cream).
– Clean your skin in the treatment area, removing all traces of make-up. If necessary, they will shave the treatment area and ensure that all shaved hair is thoroughly removed (as melanin in the hair will also absorb the light).
Prior to treatment, your doctor will:
– Take photographs of the treatment area for documentation purposes.
– Closely examine the pigmented lesion to be treated to ensure that the lesion is not malignant.
– Apply optical coupling gel.
– Give you goggles to protect your eyes from the bright light used.
– Make a test-shot to determine your response to the treatment.
– Start the treatment.
During the treatment:
– You will feel the applicator being firmly placed against the skin surface.
– You may experience mild discomfort.
– Should you experience anything more intense, please bring it to the attention of your doctor.
After treatment, you should:
– Avoid sun exposure or apply sufficient sun block (SPF > 25) if you have to be exposed to sunlight.
– Depending on the intensity of treatment, you may experience erythema (redness of your skin) or rarely mild flaking (please inform your doctor).