Dr Lena Fan Shu'en

Lasers help with treating droopy breasts, but it depends on what type of laser is used. Droopy breasts result naturally from aging due to a change in the size, shape and firmness of breasts. It can be accelerated or more pronounced with breastfeeding, post-pregnancy, or after losing some weight. This is because with a reduction in breast volume, breast skin and ligaments that were stretched do not contract back as much due to a loss in elasticity. Laser treatments are able to tighten skin over and around the breast, as well as strengthen breast tissue and ligaments.

Rosacea is a recurring long-term skin condition where episodes of redness and flushing develop, together with dilated blood vessels and occasional pimples. Individuals with rosacea tend to have sensitive skin, and often experience a stinging sensation when exposed to triggers such as heat, sunlight, unsuitable skincare or certain food groups. Thankfully, rosacea can be controlled by avoiding known triggering factors, combined with the use of medical creams and vascular lasers, which shrink blood vessels and reduce redness.

Thank you for your question. After examining the mole and determining it not to be a cause of health concern, laser treatments to remove a facial flat mole include ablative and non-ablative options. CO2 and Er:Yag lasers are both lasers that can remove moles by ablation. Ablative lasers are commonly used to treat moles that are raised, indicating that they grow from deeper layers of the skin.

Thank you for your question. Melasma is a chronic skin pigmentation condition commonly seen in Asian women. It is challenging to control melasma successfully due to its remitting and relapsing course, influenced by factors such as hormones, sun exposure, unsuitable skincare, and heat. There are different treatment options for melasma, depending on its severity. After making lifestyle adjustments to control its triggers, medical grade lightening creams, and the addition of oral medicines when needed, yield good results.

Thank you for your question. How Does Minoxidil Help With Hair Loss? Minoxidil is a topical treatment that is used in individuals with male and female pattern hair loss, also known as androgenetic alopecia. In males, Minoxidil is best used in conjunction with Finasteride. How Does Minoxidil Help With Androgenetic Alopecia? In androgenetic alopecia, hair miniaturisation occurs, whereby matured hair that is thick and pigmented turns into finer and less pigmented ones called vellus hair.

Thank you for your question. What Is The Most Common Cause of Hair Loss? Androgenetic alopecia, also known as male pattern baldness or female pattern baldness, is the most common cause of hair loss in both men and women. It is thought that about 50 percent of Caucasian men aged 50 and above have some degree of hair loss, with this percentage being lower in females. How to Diagnose the Cause of Hair Loss? I would start by taking a complete medical history of hair loss, including the Age of onset The severity of hair loss.

From the photos, there seems to be acne nodules or cysts that have developed. Nodulocystic acne is a more severe form of acne that should be treated as they can lead to permanent facial scarring when infection involves the deeper layers of skin. As Dr Theng has highlighted, anti-inflammatory steroid injections into the nodule or cyst are a form of ‘emergency rescue’ treatment, as it brings about rapid shrinkage and improvement of pain and itch over the area. However, this does not prevent acne from recurring over the same area in future.

Is the laser treatment for PIH the same as for mole removal? Thank you for your question. Lasers used for PIH and mole removal are usually different, but because there is an assortment of lasers in the market, they can sometimes have similar properties. Even so, these similar lasers are applied differently in treating PIH and mole removal. Post-inflammatory pigmentation (PIH) appear as brown spots or patches on your skin, and is due to an overproduction of brown pigment (melanin) in your skin in response to irritation or skin injury.

Thank you for your question. Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is a device that emits a spectrum of light from wavelengths of 400nm to 1200nm with a millisecond pulse duration. Using filters to select for a certain range of wavelengths, an IPL treatment is versatile and improves skin issues such as unwanted hair, superficial blood vessels, pigmentation and acne. Picosecond laser treatment, on the other hand, produces a single wavelength of light with a picosecond pulse duration (one trillionth of a second) and is mostly used to improve pigmentation, and sometimes for acne scarring.

Hello, thank you for your question. Lasers have been used to treat various conditions in the genitalia region. Some examples of these are the removal of growths such as genital warts, lightening of genitalia skin that has darkened, improving mild urinary stress incontinence, as well as tightening lax vaginal walls that have lost elasticity due to childbirth, menopause or ageing. Depending on the condition you are looking to treat as well as your skin type, different lasers can be used which carry different degrees of risk.

Thank you for your question. Darkening of the underarms and inner thighs happen when there is a stimulation of pigment cells in these areas. A common cause is skin irritation. When there is repeated shaving or wearing of tight clothing, skin around that area not only becomes thicker but darker too. Discoloration can also be related to genetics, certain medical conditions, and hormonal changes like those seen in pregnancy. Individuals with darker skin types often find that they are more susceptible to it.

Lasers are a tool mostly used to remove unwanted blemishes on facial skin. I liken laser treatment of facial skin to that of a missile targeting device – targeting the problem selectively with little peripheral damage, in comparison to older techniques of facial skin treatment – chemicals, IPL (broad range of light) which are all much less selective. Hence lasers are a very promising option. A blemish is any acne, discoloured mark, wrinkle, scar, birthmark or pigment on the skin. They come in different shapes and colours, and most are considered to be non-life-threatening.

Thank you for your question and your pictures. From what I can see, you have some enlarged pores, ice pick scars, as well as some box and rolling scars. These blemishes are distinctly different in morphology and will benefit better from different treatments For example, rolling scars benefit more from subcision, and would really have minimal improvement with the TCA CROSS treatment. The TCA CROSS (Chemical Reconstruction Of Skin Scars) technique is an effective way to treat ice pick scars focally by using a strong peeling agent TCA.

Dark eye circles can be hereditary (inborn) or acquired, and usually have one or more causes. Structural causes of dark eye circles happen with a loss of volume in the tear trough, or when bulging eye bags or muscles below the eye cast a shadow on the underlying skin. Pigmentation under the eye arising from sun exposure also contributes to dark eye circles. Most commonly (up to 74% in one study), dark eye circles actually arise from congestion, where there is a pooling of blood within the visible and microscopic vessels below the eye.