The aesthetics tweaks women are doing in secret

Besides getting fit and upping self-care routines, more women are optimising their time away from the office to do minimally invasive treatments.

We’ve noticed a few trends in the last year, all thanks to people staying in more, from selfcare rituals (hello, daily masking) to baking (how is your sourdough starter doing?). Here’s another: More women are visiting their aesthetics doctors to work on their skin and faces.

We’re not just talking about simple laser treatments and medi-facials, but eyebag removal surgery, ablative lasers, and even Vaser liposuction – treatments that require some recovery time.

The rise in this trend, says Dr Shenthilkumar Naidu (known as Dr Shens to his patients), medical director of Shens Clinic, is due to patients not needing to take leave to recover, since they are working from home.

Mandatory mask-wear has played a part too, hiding posttreatment effects, such as redness, and swelling around the cheeks or lower face.

I would know. In the last six months, I’ve left the doctor’s clinic post-laser, looking like I have a really bad sunburn. My doctor has a freer rein on the laser intensity as he knows I’m staying put at home. And the effects are hidden behind my mask and sunnies.

I’ve also had friends tell me that, in the past, they wouldn’t be able to complete a course of laser treatments because they couldn’t afford to have their faces flushed and peeling when meeting clients, or their work trips made followups difficult.

Besides lasers, Dr Low Chai Ling, medical director of SW1 Clinic, says injectable treatments can also be easily done during WFH. “We’ve seen people coming in for botulinum toxin for frown lines and crow’s feet, as there is now more focus on the upper face, thanks to mask-wear in public.”

Micro-injections from treatments like Rejuran skin booster or botulinum toxin can sometimes leave pinprick marks on the face, but Dr Low says such telltale signs can be covered with light makeup during video calls.

Surgical treatments with low downtime have also become popular. “More patients have been doing bigger procedures like breast augmentation and Vaser liposuction without much hesitation, because they can easily conceal their body or any swelling, at Zoom meetings, says Dr Naidu.

Similarly, both Dr Wong Chin Ho, medical director of W Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and Dr Low say they’ve seen an increase in the demand for transformational face procedures, such as eyebag removal, double eyelid surgery and nose jobs (rhinoplasty), in their clinics.

If you’re worried that your colleagues might suspect something, there are concealing tricks you can use. Dr Low advises scheduling treatments at the end of the day, to allow most of the swelling or redness to dissipate by the next morning.

Even if these are still present, Dr Wong says you can sit in a dimly lit area on your virtual calls or wear thick-rimmed glasses to hide swelling and bruising around the eyes ( just say you have an eye infection).

Dr Low says working from home also makes it easier to adhere to post-treatment restrictions, like staying out of the sun after a laser treatment, and not having to worry about covering up with makeup when you head to the office. This helps you get optimal results from your treatment.

Overall, Dr Wong says WFH has “created a more stress-free environment to promote more rapid healing”, and that having a flexible schedule also allows you to head into the doctor’s office for post-operative treatments like lowlevel lasers and LED light therapy to speed up recovery, if needed.