DermaGenesis: My Experience - Part 1

Now, I've written this post years ago but never had the courage to publish it until now! It is my experience of a journey to beautify my skin (not that it is super beautiful now! But better lah...) at DermaGenesis (now known as Skin Club @ Menara Hap Seng, Kuala Lumpur). Rather than it being chucked and occupying my laptop's hard disc space, I think it is better for me to share it to all of you..... Enjoy! And please... don't squeal! :P


Disclaimer: "DermaGenesis: My Experience" will be broken up into 3 parts and was written few years back. If you found out any disturbing personalities that may or may not depict the current me, please ignore, as it was written in ignorance. And cherish the present, better me! :D *wink*

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Part 1

27 Dec., 08

I am a person who likes the finer things in life and looking better is not an option, it is a must. And I can tell you that I am fed up with the way my skin looked. It’s oily, red spots all over and numerous scars on it!!!!! Every morning I look into the mirror, I pray to God to grant me a flawless looking skin, 99% if not 100% flawless…..and this prayer had been my routine ever since my 1^st break out when I was form 4, which is 5 years ago. Once in a while I’ll break down and cry and blame God for what skin He gave me! I’ve tried countless products, facials and medications but my problem lingers like a bad smell after you come out from a smoking restaurant. My skin changes like the tide in the sea. It goes from good to bad to worse; then, to slightly better and better and finally became horrible again! I don’t know bout you guys….but for me, there’s 2 things one should never compromise!!! That is 1) Hair. 2) SKIN!

First impression is important…and heck it sure is!!! Come on, the 1^st thing you look when you see somebody is his/her FACE!!! And how can anyone NOT care bout how he/she looks when you bloody know it that face gives such a lasting impression???

Well, today’s blog is about my experience to a well established, quite famous and a little on the high end treatment centre (note that I use treatment NOT facial centre cause it is done by qualified DOCTORS and NOT stupid beauticians) called DermaGenesis. It is located at Desa Sri Hartamas but will be located to a bigger, better, more luxurious building at Menara Hap Seng in Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur. They provide complete skincare solution; total makeover & facial recontouring; facial lines & wrinkle reduction; permanent hair removal; slimming & spot reduction; cellulite reduction; and anti aging & wellness. The programme that I got my enrolled with is Scar reduction programme for my face. DermaGenesis caters for everyone and treatments are customised according to each individual needs. Mine includes 2 Subcision, 3 Fraxal (laser) and 4 Intense Pulse Light (IPL). These are customized to me after a consultation with the doctor as well as the CEO of DermaGenesis, Dr. Morthi. The types of scar I had was quite a few ice-picks, some box scars and mostly rolled-out scars. None of these are hard yet (thank God) so…the treatments mentioned earlier suited me the best.

Subsicion means the doctor will use a very fine needle to break off fibrotic tissue that holds ice-pick scars (reason why scars are depressed, these fibrotic tissues are holding them down). Of course….this will involve pain and bleeding and produce scabs. Which means there is a few days of down time involved. Fraxal is laser….which is used to stimulate collagen synthesis again at the site of scars. While IPL will remove any unsightly pigmentations, marks, minimize pores and shrink sebaceous glands.

Notice there is NO facials involved? As I’ve said, DermaGenesis is NOT a facial centre. In fact, it is an advanced cosmetic procedure centre. Now….I bet some of you are asking bout the price already. Of course, I was waiting for this too when I 1^st went for the consultation. Well…..it may be a little high for those who are on a tight budget but really…..for such advanced treatment, I consider it to be fairly reasonable. Ok ok…..I’ll quit yakking… My programme costs me RM 1760. Hey hey…. don’t go spraying blood on your computer screen now! Listen….. the usual price is at RM 4050! But I was a given a discount (50%!) and a complimentary IPL….so in the end the total amount that I need to pay was RM 1760. I’ve got to admit, it is a huge amount for a student to fork out but then think again….. what I am doing can be considered as part of cosmetic surgery procedure….. and professional doctors are handling your case with state-of-art machines. So, don’t you think it is quite reasonable?

Anyway…I’ve went for my 1^st session today. Subcision….

Went at 1.30pm, started at 1.45pm. The assistant wiped my face with alcohol at 1^st. Then on with local topical anaesthetic. The doctor came in, took pictures of my face (I’ve always wanted to have a before and after picture taken….Hehe…. :P). Wipe my face with antibiotic creams and spirit and on he goes with his needle…

It hurts I tell you…..but it was bearable. Anyone of you been for facials before? It feels like those stupid beauticians picking your pimples all over again. I even let a tear drop. Paiseh….the doctor was like “are you Ok?” and wiped it off for me. Hey…..at least I didn’t scream in pain….I was holding it. During the consultation, he said it will feel like ant bite but heck! It’s nothing like it!!! It just hurts…. But for the name of beauty….I’ve willing to go for it….

Right….so after 20 minutes, he is done with the poking and I was swept again with some alcohol (I think) and more antibiotic creams, in fear of infections due to the open wounds. I thanked the doctor….went out to the restroom. Pee a little….wash my hands and look up into the mirror…………………………………….

*A whole solid minute of silence*

I stare and stared at myself in the mirror…..I LOOK HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!! There were so many cuts here and there and blood are still oozing out!!! I could almost scream right there and then! My heart broke a little and start taking hand towels and dap onto the blood. My face was lacerated! Well….it’s not THAT bad lah. But still I look like I’ve involved in an accident and glass shreds cuts into my face! “How am I going to step out from the toilet???” And what make things worse was….I need to take public transport back to Seremban!!!!!!!!!! Haha…..it was hell I tell you! Thankfully I had my friend with me and he drove me right at Pasar Seni and from there, I dashed to get into the bus and just stay away from the stares of others. I looked like a monster.. and this is probably the worst day of my life. But my friend did consoled me to not think bout it….it is the end result that you want….not the mid progress that looks good. “In the end, your skin will look flawless….and so I trust him and hang on to my face until I got back home.

Of course, my mom was shocked to see all those scabs on my face. I can tell it in her eyes. She was quite disappointed. She came and asked me why does it looked like this….but I assured her it is normal. Poking needles into your face will DEFINITELY cause bleeding and form scabs. My grandma, however, was pretty calmed bout it. She sees through all those scabs and looked at my scars….and say she can see the results! My scars were not as deep anymore! Of course, that made me happy (at last….SOMEthing for me to feel good). My dad was unhappy of course…..even more angry when he knew the amount I paid to get my face done. Sigh…..but it is MY money! I hardly spent so…this is the 1^st time I spend more than RM 300.

I hope I did the right choice by choosing DermaGenesis….will update more on my skin’s condition next time. I’ve got to wait 3 more weeks for the next treatment – Fraxal. And hopefully I won’t look horrible again.

1 Jan., 09

It’s been 5 days now. My face had improved. I notice my scars are improved but of course, some deeper ones are still visible but have been shallower. Those red marks are slowly fading away. I’ve been very impatient these few days. Every morning, the 1^st thing I do, is to look into the mirror looking at my skin’s condition. Sigh…still got red marks. But look at the bright side! They ARE fading. But slowly…. Very slowly… Holidays are almost over. Hope by the day before I head back, my skin is 90% clear.