It was only over a year ago that I visited Dr Kenneth Thean at Ensoul Medical Clinic at home in Singapore, to undergo my first Onda treatment.
Onda is a body-sculpting technology that emits microwaves. The machine can be configured to different settings to produce different effects; there is a setting for disrupting and destroying fat cells, and another for stimulating collagen fibers to tighten the skin and reduce the appearance of cellulite.
At the time, I wanted to treat my flanks as zipping my clothes around the bra area had been a little challenging. However I was advised by Kwee Joo, En Soul’s lead therapist to target cellulite, as Onda is particularly effective in treating it.
Upon closer examination, Kwee Joo said I did not seem to have any cellulite, as hard as she looked at the usual areas such as the hips and thighs. This was of course excellent news for me, but not for long!
Fast forward to last quarter of 2020 on my first visit as a patient to Dr Christina Chea’s clinic in Subang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. This time I wanted to treat my thighs. Although I could fit into my regular trousers just fine, the skin looked loose. I was also a little concerned about old stretchmarks on the tops of my thighs near the hip bones; I could feel their ridges when I ran my fingers over them.
Dr Chea said that while my thighs and buttocks “looked pretty firm” (glad she thought so) she pointed out that I had some cellulite on the backs of my thighs.
“It's rather mild,” she said when she saw the look of horror creeping up on my face.
But, but, but… only the previous year someone said I had no cellulite!
In the treatment room, after taking “before” photos, I changed into a towel and climbed onto the treatment bed tummy down, with my left inner thigh flat against the treatment bed. The clinic assistant began to apply the probe — which had been prepped with contact gel — onto my outer thigh in a circular motion. She repeated the process until the backs and the sides of my thighs had been treated. The treatment was so comfortable that I almost drifted to sleep, if not for the cold contact gel at the beginning of each treatment cycle.
The day after the treatment, the skin on my thighs felt smoother and the ridges from my old stretchmarks felt less pronounced.
But this was not the main reason why I returned to Dr Chea within the week to undergo another session of Onda on my tummy and Dysport Dermalift. Dysport Dermalift is my go-to minimally invasive treatment for reducing wrinkles around my eyes and looking rested and refreshed.
Dr Chea has a way of putting her patients at ease that I have not quite experienced in all my years in the medical aesthetics industry as a communicator, and as a patient.
Like many who seek medical aesthetics treatments, the main reason I went to see her was to correct imperfections, but never once did I feel diminished or put down when she and her clinic assistants were interacting with me.
She and her assistants have a way of drawing attention to a patient’s good features and downplaying his or her imperfections without sounding insincere. I went to see her with a colleague who was there to tackle some stubborn post-natal belly fat and get her dark under-eye circles examined; and we were certainly not expecting to be complimented.
“You have good bone structure, and some filler could help with reducing the dark under-eye circles and bring your cheekbones out more,” she said to my colleague.
To prepare me for the Dysport Dermalift treatment, and only with a strong numbing cream and ice packs, Dr Chea and her clinic assistant took great pains to numb every centimeter of my face so thoroughly, that I did not feel any pain. Not a pinch, not a prick, not an irritable nerve anywhere.
This was easily my seventh or eighth Dysport Dermalift treatment since 2014, and also the most painless one hands down.
Dr Chea calls this her “Special Gao-Gao-Numb”— ask for this if you're planning to undergo any injectable treatments with her, especially if it’s your first time under a needle!
Fast forward to Singapore several weeks later, my trousers slide on and button up more easily and the effects of the Dysport Dermalift treatment have beautifully kicked in, enhancing the Teosyal filler treatment that I underwent with Dr Lam Bee Lan from Ageless Medical!