The Acne Struggles Journey -- Part 1 [Updated]
September 05, 2017
Notes: Be aware of this blog
post, as I’ll be sharing the raw images of my serious acne skin. I want to
share my painful past and how the acne worsens to you guys who have met the
same issue with me. I hope that my experience would let the fellow acne
sufferers know that you’re not alone and we shouldn’t give up in searching cure
for it. There might have some point where you would find the images really
disgusting and just leave this post but I still want to thank you guys for
being here to read about my struggles and my journey to get out of this
torturous acne.
I always have oily and acne prone skin, but it wasn't that bad.
When I broke out occasionally,my sensitive skin always leave the scars behind. I can’t accept my skin having such scarring and
some acne. Thus, I decided to try on a skincare.
I’ve tried a skincare line
that contain BHA & AHA as you all know these ingredients are chemical peeling. They’re supposed to
help to reduce acne, yeah they do help in the first few 2 weeks but afterwards
it broke me out A LOT. I’ve broke out 5-8 acne in a week, isn’t it crazy!? Despite
me stopping these products, I continue to break out at least 4 acne a week. I
mean… seriously look at how bad it have cause my skin to become 😓
Well, that was
the time when I was encouraged to look for clinic where I could consult doctor
and get my treatment done. I googled and did lots of reviews and I’ve eventually
landed at The Clifford Clinic. This clinic seems to be specializing in treating acne
skin, after reading a blogger review on this clinic, I’ve gained confidence in them
and I can’t wait to go for consultation and receive my treatment. I ring them
up and set my first consultation date somewhere in early march with my
aesthetic doctor Dr Gerard Ee
I sat in the
consultation room with Dr Gerard having him understanding more on my acne
history and my ranting on these acne housing on my skin over the past few
years, and how bad these acne got back recently. I’m thankful to Dr Gerard
patience and his professional advice. J He advised me to get my treatment using
Agnes to reduce the breakout and then a series of Q-Switch Laser treatment, and
to get the best result I could also get HydraFacial to maintain my skin
cleanliness.
In this post,
I’ll be sharing my process with Agnes treatment, Q-Switch laser and
Hydra-facial over the past few months with Clifford Clinic.
Before we go into the details of the processes after each treatment, here are the sum up of my treatment with Clifford clinic over the past 10 months (April 2017 - Feb 2018)
Before we go into the details of the processes after each treatment, here are the sum up of my treatment with Clifford clinic over the past 10 months (April 2017 - Feb 2018)
What is Agnes treatment?
“One of the latest advancements in acne
treatment is AGNES, which selectively ablates sebaceous glands to cure recalcitrant
acne.
AGNES is commonly used in Korea and Dr
Gerard Ee is the pioneer doctor to introduce AGNES to Singapore.”
As our skin have millions of sebum
glands, AGNES will selectively destroy those individual ‘problematic’ glands,
thus preventing new breakout and provide the long term cure for acne.
For my acne case, Dr Gerard recommend me in getting 1 to 2 treatment for Agnes,
in addition to that, I’ve been using the pimple cream prescribed by him (Clindamycin,
TRetinon cream and several others to keep my acne under control). Now that I’ve
learn what Agnes do and the way to target my acne, my biggest concern is the
cost.
Agnes Treatment’s Cost
This treatment cost range from $800
for partial face to $1500 for full face treatment. Being a student it’s kind of
expensive to me but I decided to invest all I could for my skin thus I took 1
treatment of Agnes for full face.
The therapist applied numbing cream to
my face and set it to do it’s job for about 30 mins before I get my extraction
done by my therapist.
The extraction took quite a while as
my face are infested with acne and blackheads. L
Note: I have low tolerance of pain level.
The next step is where I’m ready to get my Agnes
treatment where I have Dr Gerard doing the treatment for me. He was very caring
where he kept checking if I’m able to tolerate the little needle poking into my
facial sebum glands, well of course I couldn’t. I have really low tolerance for
pain and Dr Gerard injected anaesthetic into both side of my cheeks before I
continue with the treatment.
Here are the image of Dr Gerard focusing on
killing hundreds of my destroyed sebum glands with the needle like looking
equipment, it took him about an hour to finish this process for me. Thank you
Dr Gerard :’)
Agnes Day 2
I went back to Clifford clinic the very next day
to get my follow up treatment for Agnes. There’s no more needle poking
treatment hahaha (Thankfully). On this day, I got to received treatment that
help to sooth my skin prior to the treatment the last day.
My therapist use a radio frequency machine (massaging
looking like device) with gel and antiseptic solution to cleanse my skin.
Other than the slight pain from the serious acne
area, this process was pretty comfortable.
I took some images after the Agnes treatment to
keep a record of my journey throughout this process. Of course, I could see
that my skin got even redder compare to how it was before the treatment, it’s
too scary and disgusted to even look at. At this point of time, I’m really
worry about having more scars or if the acne will re-enact and my main concern
is knowing that I’m going to avoid putting make up for months. Although I am
told not to put make up for ~3 days but I’m just worry that during the process,
foundation might trigger the acne. I picked up my courage and step out of my
door without covering the acne and scars. There’s people who are judging me,
and to be very honest I still suffer from low self-esteem from these acne now. L
Right after the Agnes treatment. (Agnes Day 1)
I’m happy to see the improvement on my skin 2 days
after Agnes treatment, the cheeks were not as red and swollen and the existing
acne flatten down quickly.
This was the 5th day after Agnes treatment,
so happy to see that it got a lot better, aside from the red dots from the acne
itself, there’s no red patches surrounding the acne.
Q-Switch
What is Q-Switch laser?
“Q-switch laser is the ideal lunchtime laser for common
pigmentation and aging problems.
Melasma, freckles and acne scars are common types of hyperpigmentation
that can occur even with good lifestyle and skincare habits.
Q-switch laser has been proven to erase hyperpigmentation
with low downtime.”
How does Q-switched laser treatment work?
“Q-Switch Laser treatment works by generating a high-energy
laser on the affected area. The laser energy pulse breaks down the pigments
into mini-pigments, which is absorbed by the skin, and then destroyed by the
body’s lymphatic system.”
Dr Gerard advise me to go for a series of 10
Q-Switch lasers package, with me having to do this treatment every 2 weeks to
heal my acne scars. Of course, I took up this package, I’ve wanted to go for
laser for such a long time. I really hate the scars on my face and wish that I
could get rid of these ugly red patches as quickly as possible. I couldn’t wait
to try out my Q-switch session with Clifford and see how much my scars lighten
up each time!
1 week later, 30th March, I did my 1st
Q-Switch laser. Like I might have
mention above, I am going to rate about the pain tolerance, I’ve low pain
tolerance and initially I’m not use to how it felt like rubber-band snapping on
my skin but subsequently after a few more session I could get use to it and I
don’t felt the pain as much. I would say that the pain level about 3/10.
Aside from that, I really like how Q-switch laser
are fast and effective treatment. I could see the effect after a few sessions
of treatment. As much as I hope to get baby smooth skin, and that I’m thankful
to how fast I could see the result from this treatment, this treatment doesn’t
help to achieve 100% clear skin. I would expect about 80%++ recovery after
these processes.
How much does Q-switch cost?
I’ll be sharing the cost of Q-Switch together with
Hydra-Facial at the bottom! J
Blue Light Treatment
I’ve also received blue light treatment after my 1st
Q-switch session.
What is Blue Light treatment?
Use of high-intensity, narrow-band blue light to
treat mild to moderate acne. It’s use to treat the acne-causing bacteria that
can form within the sebaceous glands and cause break outs. This treatment is
quick and comfortable.
Upon applying a soothing mask (Omega/Centella
extract), my therapist brought the blue-light generating device over my head
and allow it target the bacteria that causes acne for around 10-15 minutes.
Then she place a mask over my face and continue with the treatment.
The process was really comfortable, totally no
pain and I could felt the warm heat. My skin was totally enjoying this
treatment ^^
Breakout during recovery??
Though I notice some breakout during the recovery
process, Dr Gerard assure me that the journey throughout my healing process
wouldn’t be that smooth and I should be patience with it. I also notice that
the re-enact acne wasn’t as serious as my pre-acne treatment, and this definitely prove that the Agnes treatment is
successful.
Hydra-Facial
HydraFacial uses patented technology to cleanse,
extract, and hydrate our skin. While getting rid of impurities it also uses
super serums that are made with nourishing ingredients to quench skin and creating
an instantly gratifying glow.
How It Works?
CLEANSE + PEEL
Uncover a new layer of skin with gentle exfoliation and relaxing resurfacing.
EXTRACT + HYDRATE
Remove debris from pores with painless suction. Nourish with intense moisturizers that quench skin.
FUSE + PROTECT
Saturate the skin’s surface with antioxidants and peptides to maximize your glow
How much does it cost?
I sign up a package of Hydra
Facial($1000) and Q-Switch($2000), so in total of these 2
treatments cost me $3000. However, different people skin condition varies,
while Dr Gerard recommend me to get these treatment and sessions, yours may be
different J
What I like the most about hydra-facial is how
it’s able to address almost all the skin concerns we have,
- Fine lines + Wrinkles
- Elasticity + Firmness
- Even Tone + Vibrancy
- Skin Texture
- Brown Spots
- Oily + Congested Skin
- Enlarged Pores
I’ve received my first treatment for hydra-facial
on 15 April 2017, along with my second session of Q-Switch.
Uncover a new
Step 1: Cleansing
Step 2: Extraction
Step 3: Hydrates
Step 4: The last step where I have the cold mask
to relax and cool down my skin.
Throughout each session of Hydra-Facial, I got it
cleanse my congested oily skin, while providing anti-oxidant hydration.
15 April 2017 (2nd Q-Switch + 1st
Hydra-Facial)
I could see the significant improve on my acne,
lesser bumps, but again, the annoying reddish scars. As my skin is sensitive,
it took me a few days to 1 week to see the effect of Q-Switch.
25 April 2017. (2nd Q-Switch + 1st
Hydra-Facial)
Again, I took pictures to monitor my skin
condition and the recovery from my facial and lasers. It can be seen clearly
that the amount of redness have decrease a lot and there’s even lesser small
bumps on my skin. Yay!
29 April 2017
I went for my 3rd Q-Switch session,
this time without Hydra-Facial as I’m bound to do the facial every month while
having my laser done every 2 weeks.
27 May 2017
I continue with my Q-Switch treatment 3 weeks
after the 3rd Q-Switch laser session as I’m not feeling well the
week before, so I had my laser done together with my 2nd
Hydra-Facial session
So excited to see the drastic improvement on my
skin! *.*
5 June 2017
5th session of Q-Switch laser and I’m really so glad the
see the improvement each time I’ve done with the treatment!
1 July 2017
6th Q-Switch and 3rd
Hydra-Facial, I’ve slight breakout but again, the journey towards healing of
this acne curse wouldn’t be smooth and all I need are patience.
15 July 2017
Had my 7th Q-Switch laser treatment.
The scarring from the previous breakout has definitely got lighten and I’m
always so happy to see the magic changes Q-Switch did to my skin!
5 August 2017th
8th Q-Switch and 4th
Hydra-Facial
Alright, I’ll end my part 1 of this acne recovery
journey with you guys, I know it’s a super lengthy post and I really hope what
I share could manage to help you guys in some way and again to the acne
sufferer friends, don’t feel dishearten, don’t lose hope and find a way to cure
this nightmare. Thank you for reading, stay tune for the updates to see better recovery!
UPDATES
UPDATES
Hi guys, I'm continuing
my post for my acne treatment with The Clifford Clinic. I went back to Clifford every 2 weeks for laser treatment and
every month for Hydrafacial.
In this update of
the post, I will be sharing about my experience with Clifford clinic for VBeam
laser. I've tried 3 sessions of VBeam laser recommended by Dr Gerard Ee and
then continue maintaining my skin with Q-Switch lasers treatment.
What is VBeam Laser?
The VBeam is a pulsed dye laser, which means
that the laser energy is delivered in pulses and a dye is used to generate laser
beams of different colors. Since the VBeam is used to treat dilated blood
vessels, as in rosacea, it is also called a vascular laser. The target of the
vascular laser is hemoglobin, the red protein in blood cells in the blood
vessels. Skin cells that surround the dilated blood vessels are not damaged.
(Safely treat Rosacea, Spider veins, birthmarks, acne scars, stretch marks,
broken capillaries).
The pain level?
During
the VBeam treatment, i could feel the device spraying cool liquid onto my skin
on each laser pulse, hence rating the treatment 2/10 (it felt like cool zap on
the skin)
Below are some images of the after treatments and recovery process :)
I'm so thankful to receive caring treatment from clifford clinic, seeing how much my skin recovered throughout the time from the beginning really amaze me and i'm glad i didn't give up on finding cure to this torturous and toxic acne prone skin 😌
The Clifford
Clinic
24 Raffles Place
#01-03 Clifford Centre
Singapore 048621
(Exit A from Raffles MRT)
Mon to Fri: 10am to 8pm
Sat: 10 am to 5pm
Sun: Closed
Closed on Sundays and Public
Holidays
Call Us: (65) 6532 2400
Whatsapp: (65) 8318 6332
11 comments
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