My Fraxel experience

As many, I have been troubled by my gigantic facial pores which is a constant unpleasant reminder of my long term struggles against acne since as a teenager. While my acne is getting under better control now, living with enlarged pores is not any better to deal with. Even with makeup on, they dont look great.

In my quest of finding the right and effective treatment, Fraxel was offered to me as a trial one month ago. About one week since after then, I have received a good number of compliments on how my pores are shrunk and how youthful my skin turn to. Yes I absolutely love it!

So I had my 2nd treatment today. While the experience is still fresh, I'd like to write it down for those who are on the fence about doing Fraxel, you might wanna put all these into consideration.

As shown on the picture, I got the 1550nm wavelength, which is for treating enlarged pores and stubborn scars. According to the expert, this fractional laser works by producing thousands of microscopic laser columns that penetrate deep into the layers of skin that stimulate its own natural healing process. The body then produces collagen to replace the damaged skin. The results are more youthful, smoother and healthier appearing skin.

Is it painful?

Personally I have very good pain tolerance level. As being warned it is the 'very aggressive kind of laser' prior to Fraxel treatment, I took oral Codeine 30mg and Arcoxia 120mg, and used topical anesthetic cream all over my face as instructed by my dermatologist. At the beginning, it felt just a little tingling which can be ignored. I started feeling more and more as the roller repeated back onto same area(8 passes in total). And towards the end, the pain was like some hot iron rolling on my face, I was holding my breath each stroke and breathed in quickly inbetween every two strokes. With the distraction therapy kindly provided by the girls, I still teared, embarrassingly... But I survived it. Even requested for a higher setting on my 2nd treatment session :) The amazing result I had from my first session convinced myself the pain is worthwhile. 

What to expect after the treatment?

The pain was almost gone within 5 mins. What I saw in the mirror was a pinkish and swollen face, as shown in the picture above. Not a good look, and the bad news is.. not advisable to put makeup within 24 hours. 

It took 5 days for my skin to recover and looked like skin again, and almost 7 days for all the redness and swelling to disappear completely. 

Post treatment at home?

Here is my regime. Please use as what your dermatologist recommend.

Face wash: Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser

Moisturizer: Avene skin recovery cream

Sunblock: Heliocare ultra gel SPF 90

Avoid sunlight.

Avoid using any products that may cause irritation.

Avoid using abrasive exfoliating scrubs, toners or products contain glycolic acid, or retin A. 

Elevate head when sleeping, so swelling(edema) go off sooner.

Final result?

I was very happy how it brightens and evens up my skin tone, my pores are noticeably smaller in size and doesnot so deep as before the treatment! Generally my skin look so much younger. I will definitely be going for the 3rd session. :)

Product review: Benefit Foaming Face Wash

I am constantly on the hunt for the perfect skin care products, so when the salesgirl introduced me this new face wash from Benefit thru a demo on my hand, I was impressed at its pleasant fragrance, and how rich it lathers up. 

Now I have used it for over one month, would give it a fair review for those who intend to purchase one.

The size of a 5-cent coin of  the product is all I need each time, it lathers it up nicely. Overall it does a decent job in cleansing my face without drying it out. However, on days when I wear waterproof eye makeup or mascara, I'd have to use my makeup remover prior to washing my face. 

The design of the packaging is very cute at first sight. However it is not practical as it is so stiff which makes it difficult to squeeze the product out. Now it is only the 4th week I used it, suppose there are still plenty of product in it, yet I gotta shake really hard to get it out. Thats a chore especially in the morning when I dont have much time to get ready.

I like the fragrance which is refreshing, but it is not essential to me for an everyday facial wash.

Benefit Foaming Face Wash is available in Sephora store, at 35sgd for 127.5g. It is rather pricey for a ok face wash. 

Will I buy it again? No. With this price tag, I personally think there are better options.

HydraFacial treatment

I had the great honor to try this HydraFacial treatment at Dr Pat Yuen's clinic last week, by two lovely ladies Maryanne and Jihua. I enjoyed it as throughout the entire treatment there was no discomfort at all, unlike the traditional facial treatments I had at different beauty salons all these while. I'm sure who have oily to acne-prone skin definitely understand what I mean! Nobody likes the torturing part of 'squeezing' if you have pimples, or sometimes black/white heads on your face...

The instant result I noticed was my skin was SO brightened up and super soft to touch, however I was slightly not convinced as my pores were still looking the same. But miracle happened two hours later. My whole face look so lifted-up, glowing like never before, and my pores shrunk! Truly amazing!

Right now I'm monitoring my skin changes, and the duration of this positive effect. Will update on this again.

And surprised there is a clip on Youtube, for those who might be interested.

Brunch @Tanyoto

I love it when my day is filled with great food good friends and interesting conversations. Speaking of great food, Tanyoto steamboat has it on my top list. I always enjoy its tasty soup base(mala is a must!), extremely fresh ingredients and the nicely complementary dipping sauces. Yum! It is a cool place to dine in with family friends colleagues and all, only not ideal for first date perhaps since it can get a bit messy ;) For those who might wanna give it a try, I suggest purchase the vouchers from Qoo10.sg AKA Gmarket, to enjoy the discounted price which usually ranges from 18.8$-24$, otherwise walk-in price would be 49$ for the same deal.

Zhiwei and I went there for brunch today, she is very fussy when coming to fish, still she commented the fish head was nicely prepped. And my favourite? That'd be fish head, fillet, cuttle fish, crabs, and the very helpful and cute waiter:)

My day ended with a rewarding shopping at Sephora, lotsa beauty products to celebrate for my new job tomorrow.

Till next time, wish me good luck. :)