Anti Aging Blog

It’s been a busy week for the aesthetics industry with two launches this week.

The first launch on Tuesday was at ION Sky for new laser machine, Clear & Brilliant Laser.  Created by Solta, their new shiny baby attempts to straddle the gap between spa treatments and ablative lasers like the Fraxel (also created by Solta), for people who want all the benefits of a stronger laser without the downtime. It is designed to attract younger patients looking to take control of their ageing process. These consumers would like a more efficacious treatment than their current regimens, but as of yet they do not need the full transformative benefits of a more aggressive laser skin resurfacing procedure. Being one of the first few lucky recipients to try this treatment, I am happy to report that I am now the owner of a refreshed mien with more even skin tone and glow

The second launch was a more intimate affair for UltraShape version 3, hosted by Dr David Loh at Japanese restaurant, Sun With Moon, today. Over a casual lunch, the amicable doctor enlightened us on how his new body sculpting machine uses focused ultrasound to break up stubborn fat desposits accurately, effectively, safely and most importantly, non-invasively. Patients usually report a fat loss of five centimetres after the first treatment. According to Dr Loh, who has years of experience sculpting bodies with liposuction techniques like Vaser, this 3rd generation UltraShape works particularly well on men’s bellies.

To prove his point, we proceeded to his new clinic at Liat Towers, dedicated to UltraShape treatments, to witness the live demo of his treatment on a lucky male attendee of the event. After the 15-minute quickie session, the recipient’s tummy did indeed look flatter!

Men rejoice! Dr Georgia Lee is launching a Men’s Range for her eponymous and highly successful skincare line, DrGL. Stay tuned here for updates…

Apparently so, says Lily Kew, founder of GLOW Aesthetics. And, if you look at this 40-year-old’s taut and glowing skin, it must work! She shares more skin secrets here:

The clichéd answer would be to eat more fruits and veggies, drink more water and consume less salt in foods. However, I am going to share a secret my grandmother has passed down to me. 

Believe it or not, you need to eat pigs’ skin and make sure you shave off the layer of excess fat; just eat the skin itself. You can find this commonly as a key ingredient in kway chap at your local hawker centre. You can also find pigs’ skin at some yong tau foo shops.

Apart from this, another food that contributes to good skin is chicken feet, which you will normally find served as one of many dim sum dishes. Alternatively, if you were to cook chicken feet with red dates, wolfberries and peanuts, I promise this will give you skin that everyone will be envious of.

Another food that will give you good skin is white fungus. I suggest these foods because they are high in collagen and fats. Once consumed; they provide your skin with natural moisture which prevents the formation of wrinkles, and creates a barrier prohibiting UV rays from damaging your skin and thus prevents pigmentation. The collagen gives your skin added firmness.

To read her full article, get a copy of Aesthetics & Beauty Guide December issue, in newstands and petrol kiosks now!

If you suffer from hyperpigmentation (melasma), here are the recommended prescription and over-the-counter treatments:

Treatment:

Hydroquinone (a benzene derivative that fades dark spots)

How it helps:

Bleaches darkened areas by preventing formation of pigment.

How to use it:

Apply twice a day and only to hyperpigmented areas. May be combined with products with AHA or salicylic acids.

Inside scoop:

- Be patient: improvements may take 4 to 8 weeks to become apparent.

- Stop immediately if area becomes darkened.

- Diligent sun prevention is a must to prevent reversal of benefit.

- Give non-prescription forms 2 months to work, if they’re not effective, switch to prescription strength.

Products recommended:

- Over the counter: La-Roche Posay Biomedic Conditioning Gel (2%)

- By prescription: Generic hydroquinone (4%), Tri-Luma, EpiQuin Micro, Lustra or Lustra Ultra

For more information, check out Dr Amy Wechsler’s book, The Mind-Body Connection.

Gold – this glittering metal has been used since ancient times to heal the sick and save lives.  The use of gold in modern medicine began around 1890, when the German bacteriologist Robert Koch discovered that compounds made with gold inhibited growth of the bacillus that caused tuberculosis. Since then, medical uses of gold have expanded greatly. It is used in surgery to patch damaged blood vessels, nerves, bones and membranes. And it is used in the treatment of several forms of cancer. Injection of microscopic gold pellets helps to retard prostate cancer in men. Women with ovarian cancer are treated with colloidal gold. And gold vapor lasers seek out and destroy cancerous cells without harming their healthy neighbors.

The anti-aging benefits of gold can be traced back 5,000 years to Cleopatra, who was said to sleep in a gold face mask every night to enhance the suppleness of her complexion and preserve its natural luminosity. In addition to antioxidant and antimicrobial powers, gold is praised for its purported ability to ward off UV damage, tighten lax skin and reduce the appearance of discoloration. Some believe it can slow the breakdown of elastin, keeping skin firm and taut; other proponents believe gold increases circulation, eliminating toxins from the body and speeding up tissue repair.

Which brings me to the reason why I was up early on a Saturday morning, popping gold-leafed canapes in my mouth…I was invited by La Prairie for the launch of their new Cellular Radiance Emulsion. At the workshop, group training manager of Starasia, Michelle, educated us on the benefits of gold and how their new product, containing this magic ingredient, will help bring radiance and suppleness to dull skin.

Any tai-tai worth her salt will know that La Prairie is known for their anti-aging skincare range made up of luxurious and top of the range ingredients like caviar, platinum and gold. One of their bestsellers is a serum called Cellular Radiance Concentrate Pure Gold under their Radiance Collection, which contains colloidal gold, flecks of gold and liquid crystals to rejuvenate skin. This Cellular Radiance Emulsion SPF30 is the latest add-on to the collection, and a complement to their bestseller.

Testing the products, the gold flecks in the serum were obvious and my hand was instantly “blinged” up when I applied it. Topping it off with the emulsion, there was indeed a radiance to my hand as promised by the products. The texture was a little too rich for my liking upon application but after a while, the slight stickiness went away when the product was fully absorbed.

Besides gold, the emulsion also contains other skin-loving ingredients like a Unique Brightening Complex that contains a patented molecule that brightens the skin and helps prevent age spots from forming, Extract of Silver Vine which blocks almost 100% of carbonylation which is responsible for decreasing light transmission of the skin and Boswellia Extract, a topical anti-irritant to reduce cellular stress, a cause of redness and irritation.

I don’t think that I am going to use the La Prairie products daily as I am quite happy with my current regime. Instead, I am going to save these goodies for special occasions when I need to glow. Or after a particularly rough week. Or perhaps when I am feeling like Cleopatra and soaking in my milk bath…

The Cellular Radiance Concentrate Pure Gold is retailing at $1050, while the Cellular Radiance Emulsion SPF30 is $750. Available at La Prairie counters at Tangs, Metro Paragon, Takashimaya and Robinsons.

Burning our skin, peeling it off, even pricking it with micro-needles – these are just some of the crazy things we do to achieve radiant, youthful skin.

Does Your Skin Need Resurfacing?

Think of your skin as an increasingly well-worn slipcover. Even if you’ve taken really good care of it, life happens – skin texture has gotten rougher here, the color uneven there, and it all looks a little dull and drab. Honestly, it needs replacing.

That’s what resurfacing techniques do. They remove the old, worn, upper layer of skin, and the healing process replaces it with a new layer of fresh, smooth skin. How? With strong lasers, chemicals or needles.

It’s a delicate process, so find an expert  in whatever method suits your needs. Your recovery time from the procedure will depend on the size and depth of the treated area, but the effect can be remarkable. Resurfacing your entire face is not always necessary, and spot treatments can also be very effective. Or you may only need a laser that mainly evens out color irregularities or subtly tightens and refreshes the upper surface.

Look out for my review of my new beauty must-have which involves running needles all over my face (ouch!) but the results are so worth the discomfort! Coming soon on ReviewAntiAging.com

Are you accidentally making yourself older? Check out what these choices are doing to your body:

Choosing organic

We don’t have a problem with choosing organic when it comes to fruit and vegetables. The trouble is when you think “organic” is synonymous with “healthy.” Sorry – organic potato chips are still potato chips and contain aging fat and extra calories.

Just dealing with it

If you tend to treat pain with a stiff upper lip rather than a pill or a doctor visit, it’s like playing catcher without a mitt: It feels lousy. About 75% of pain sufferers do not receive adequate treatment, and if you’re one of them, you’re at risk for depression, irritability, fatigue, and an overall diminished quality of life. Treating pain early – we like to start with RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation of injuries) coupled with an NSAID in pill or patch form – is an important step in regaining your quality of life. Call your doctor right away if it doesn’t get better quickly.

Eating in front of your TV

 If you’re doing TV dinners, chances are high that you’re having fast food or an equally unhealthy hawker equivalent - that’s the most common TV food. And that means you’re getting aging saturated fats in your bloodstream.

Extracted from RealAge.com

Most people slot a beauty treatment a week. Me? Due to lack of time, I am booked out to try four treatments, all in the name of research for my magazine, Aesthetic & Beauty Guide.

Here’s my beauty schedule next week:

Tuesday: Fraxel laser treatment for stretch marks. This treatment has some doctors reporting about 50-75% of positive results within a series of three to five treatments.  It is relatively painless, and there is slight downtime, however, you can expect see an almost instant result, faster than any other treatment that have ever been administered on stretch marks before.

Wednesday: Tattoo removal treatment. Teenage folly has resulted in a number of tattoos that I’d like removed. Can’t wait to check this out…and this only means one thing – more space for new ink!

Friday: PPx for hair removal followed by facial mesotherapy. PPx is reputed to be five times more effective than IPL for hair removal and the latter involves running a series of tiny needles all across the face to improve skin’s texture and tone. Sounds painful but pain is relative to me. In fact, I secretly like pain. Guess I am in the right line then

Pretty hardcore eh? Gosh! I feel like a big-haired Hermes-carrying tai-tai in Beverly Hills…

Planning the new issue of Aesthetics & Beauty Guide (ABG) is always a fun process – I think about all the treatments I want to get, and contact the relevant places for it. Well…that’s part of the process, it’s actually a lot of work as I have to research online and in forums to find out what is new and relevant, then develop topics to cover those themes.

Working for a bi-annual magazine also makes me think way ahead, and considering that July is already mid-year, I’m sure many of you are tired from work and in need of a break. That’s why I decided to make ABG July a wellness issue, covering pampering treatments at spas as well as the latest rejuvenating treatments to revive tired miens. Everybody say ahhhh….

The latest trend now is also about treatments with little or no downtime. With technology advancing at a rapid speed, more super machines are being developed that promises to erase all your problems with no interruption to your hectic social life. Who can afford to stay home for a week these days to recuperate from treatments? We want to zip into the clinic and out to our limousine ready to be whisked to our next soiree!

ABG is still first and foremost an educational guide to the complicated world of laser machines and aesthetic treatments, and with July’s issue, readers can once again look forward to our in-depth treatment reviews and further explanations of even more industry jargon. Fun, fun, fun!

Whatever you put in your pan for dinner tonight, make sure you add a few squeezes of this: lemon juice. A new study shows that marinating meats in lemon juice – or vinegar – can help greatly reduce the production of harmful compounds linked to aging and chronic disease.

Cooking Compounds
All foods — but especially ones derived from animals – contain varying levels of compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). These compounds are known to cause inflammation and may open the door to faster aging. Cooking – especially high-heat methods – increases formation of AGEs. But now new research suggests that marinating foods in an acidic, low-pH liquid – like lemon juice or vinegar – may help slow that formation down significantly. AGEs in beef were cut in half after marinating for an hour – but shorter amounts of time may help, too.

How AGEs Age
Meats and full-fat cheeses contain the most AGEs, followed by fish and eggs – although even fruit, vegetables and whole grains may contain small amounts. Marinating your food is one way to minimise AGEs. Another option: Cook over low, moist heat. Boiling, poaching, steaming, and stewing are all great choices.

Source: Realage.com