How time flies and it’s already halfway through 2012. Has this transformational year been special for you? For me, I embarked on some major life changes and felt a calling to attain a higher spiritual connection – which I am doing via my daily yoga sessions, meditation as well as an escape to a spiritual village in Bali.

Still on the transformational note, technology these days have enabled us to pretty much change anything we don’t like about ourselves physically, without going under the knife. We reveal all the various ways you can turn back time in our De-Ageing Special – showcasing over 20 treatments to make you brand new and erase years off your face and body! We also assign our very lucky writer, Kristen, to a head-to-toe makeover with top aesthetic doctor, Dr Elias Tam. Follow her transformation, starting from this issue and over the next four issues of ABG!

And, speaking of change, we have some very exciting announcements to make – ABG will be going quarterly from next year onwards and we are also bringing the experts closer to you with ABG Insights – a series of workshops organised by us.

Here’s to looking good inside and out! Enjoy the issue

Grab a copy of ABG at:

- Kinokuniya

- Times

- Giant

- Buzz

- MPH

- Popular

- Carrefour

- Newsstands

- NTUC

- Esso and Caltex petrol stations

“Ageing is optional” – This is the tagline of newly-opened aesthetic clinic, DERMACARE™ Aesthetic & Laser Clinic, which prides itself on three values – safety, results and luxury.

Located on the fifth floor of ION Orchard, this urban retreat is perfectly catered for sophisticated clients who can be dropped off directly outside its entrance, allowing them immense convenience and privacy in accessing the clinic. Be pampered the moment you enter the clinic by their in-house concierge, where you will wait in the plush private lounge and be served refreshing beverages such as juices, organic teas, including Bird’s Nest! You will also be handed your personal iPad where you can browse the web or check out DERMACARE™’s very own app which showcases all their treatments and you can even watch videos of their procedures in this interactive app.

DERMACARE™ Aesthetic & Laser Clinic offers a comprehensive range of aesthetic, slimming and luxury facial treatments – from HydraFacials to Ultherapy, to cater to your every discerning need – marrying medical expertise with the highest standards of quality and unparalleled luxurious pampering.

DERMACARE™ Aesthetic & Laser Clinic is located at #05-05, ION Orchard. For more information, visit www.dermacare.com.sg and “Like” their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DermacareAesthetic.

Find out the latest anti aging and aesthetic treatments that will make you beautiful here. See you there!

After toiling for two months and subjecting my face and body to countless treatments in the name of work, the 3rd issue of Aesthetics & Beauty Guide (July) is done and will be out end of this month!

From in-depth reviews of the latest body slimming procedures to amazing new facial treatments that rejuvenate without any downtime, ABG July will serve to be your beauty bible to the world of advanced aesthetic technology.

Look out for it at all news-stands, petrol kiosks and the back of Mercedes Premier cabs soon!

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!

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.

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

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…

Get your copy now before it’s sold out (yes that’s what happened for the last issue!). What you’ll find inside:

Aesthetics 101

-       Top 10 Aesthetic Treatments & Plastic Surgeries

-       Aesthetic Tips: How to find a suitable doctor

Imperfections Special

-       Whatever your problem or budget, there’s a treatment here for you.

Laser Genesis - A non-ablative solution for younger-looking, glowing skin.

Fraxel Dual - Get rid of pigmentation faster with this new laser.

Revlite – Treat melasma and other pigmentation with this gentle laser.

Matrix IR – Smooth away wrinkles without downtime with the revolutionary elōs fractional technology.

Ask The Dermatologist

-       Dr Ang Chee Beng talks about laser treatments and how they can help improve skin.

Breast Fillers - Get shapelier breasts without surgery.

LPG - Knead and roll your way to a slimmer body.

Indiba - This treatment uses heat to burn off fats.

Beauty

-       Beauty Chat: With entrepreneur Merry Riana

-       Tried & Tested!  YouTube Guru Sarah Chaudhry and her top five beauty picks.

-       Ask The Beauty Expert: We get beauty and health tips from Lily Kew, founder of Glow Spa.

-       Acne Away! Top 8 grooming tips for men.

-       Ask The Beauty Queen: All your fashion and beauty woes answered.

Anti Aging Special

-       All About Fillers with Dr David Loh

-       New Face Lift: Sculptra: Find out about a new collagen treatment that will help put back what time has taken out.

Lifestyle and Wellness

 Hydrafacial – A cutting-edge technology in non-laser skin resurfacing for clearer  and more beautiful skin.

Cool Sculpt – Latest non-invasive procedure to selectively reduce fat in problem areas using a patented cooling technology.

PPx Pro  - Photopneumatic Profusion (PPx Pro ^TM) is five times safer, faster and more effective in treating acne, eradicating pigmentation and removing unwanted hair.

Exercise

-       Power Plate Workout: Shape up faster and more efficiently with this workout of the stars!

Ask The Plastic Surgeon

-       Find out how you can reverse signs of aging with facial rejuvenation by Dr Marco Faria Correa

5 Minutes With…

-       Dr Joyce Lim: This skincare doyenne talks about pigmentation and her solutions to skin imperfections.

Ask The Dentist

-       Dr Edward Liew from St Andrews Dental Surgeons clues us in on how to have a perfect smile.

Ask The Lasik Surgeon

-       Q&A with Dr Steve Seah from Optimax Lasik Centre

Industry Happenings

-       A sneak preview into the latest products and machines for all your beauty concerns.

What’s In The News: Cosmeceutical Skincare, Latisse, UltraShape 3, Vaginal Resurfacing

Excites!

Now you can!

Check out this entertaining software that lets you try out breast augmentation, rhinoplasty and other procedures for free before you take that major decision.

Or just give yourself a virtual plastic surgery makeover just for a laugh!

Plastic fantastic! Download free makeover software here:

http://www.plasticsurgeryguide.com/download.html