Yoohoo! I’ve got something good to share with you guys – I know at times, certain bloggers may seem to be endorsing certain treatments/places/products just for monetary benefits, but trust me, none of that here. I have personally put my face at (somewhat) risk, and found CNP Skin Clinic to be one of the best I’ve tried, which is why I’m sharing it with y’all. I started with something small like the Scaling and Polishing Facial Treatment, and I’ve undergone it at least 5x so far (with good results!).
Just last week, I visited CNP’s new clinic at Yangjae station, and tried out – get ready for this – Pore Shrinking Treatment as well as a V-line Lifting Laser Treatment. That’s right baybehs, yours truly has finally managed to shrink her enlarged sebum-producing pores and tightened that jawline for a more V-shaped silhouette (versus the old U-shaped one).YAYYYYYYY.
If you’re interested in visiting CNP, here are the directions to their new clinic.
CNP, Yangjae Main Centre
3rd Fl, SK Hub Primo building, 240 Gangnamdaero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul Korea
Operating Hours
Weekdays : 11:00 ~ 20:00 / Lunch : 13:00 ~ 14:00
Saturday : 09:00 ~ 17:00 / Lunch : 13:00 ~ 13:30Contact number
+82-2-3463-2400
International email address
[email protected]Website
http://www.cnpskin.com/eng/
Alight at Yangjae Station (along the Orange Line/Line 3)
Head for Exits 3/4 – the overhead signs should help
I chanced upon this pillar that gave pretty clear directions
Exits 3 and 4 are side by side, so head up this way
The bane of my existence – stairs. Especially in Korea. Ladies, take note – this is probably why their girls there all have such lovely legs – nonstop stairmaster day in and day out. I think my motivation for lugging my big carcass up all the stairs in Korea comes from shopping, and in this case, good skin. hah.
There are 3 “exits” once you reach the top of the stairs – one to the left (exit 3), one to the right (exit 4) and one straight ahead (which I’m guessing leads into one of the malls/buildings?). I wasn’t too sure about this, so I opted to head up to the street level instead. Will try out the underground passage way the next time I head there :D
Coming out from either Exits 3 or 4 will lead you to this building – look for the orange signage of CNP on the side of the building.
Ta-dah~ you’re at SK Plaza. Head on in!
Not particularly the most lively of buildings- in fact, it seems pretty dead, but I’m guessing because it’s mostly offices/clinics instead of a shopping mall. I took the escalator up to 2nd floor…
… and for some strange reason, there’s no escalator to the 3rd level, so I had to switch to the lifts.
Once you step out of the lift, this is what you see – notice the orange signage in the back? Head towards it and turn right.
Ta-dah! You’re here!
Like woah – this is a major upgrade from the previous clinic. Don’t get me wrong – the previous clinic was pretty decent (welcoming and cheerful), but this one is kinda classier and more elegant.
Multiple enclaves in the waiting area (so you don’t have to sit awkwardly with strangers) where you can view the videos on the various types of treatments as well as browse their catalogues/booklets
Apologies for mysterious floating head – blame it on the freshly-boomzed hair :D Here I am with my doctor, Doctor Kim who speaks decent English and is a really gentle and sweet doctor. P.S: Notice her perfect skin?
This time round, she prescribed 3 treatments for me:
1. Scaling & Polishing: To declog, decongest (basically to remove all the gunk from the face) as well as to smoothen the surface
2. Pore Shrinking Treatment (Intracel): To shrink the icky enlarged pores on the cheeks as well as the nose
3. V-Line Lifting Laser (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Lifting): To tighten and firm the saggy jowls and create that V-shaped jawline
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And off I go! First up – to the changing / locker / wash area. It’s an upgraded and prettier version of the previous clinic in terms of aesthetics, but still provides everything you need, from hairdryers to hair ties and sprays, and even contact lens containers and solution.
The door leads to Narnia – I wish. It actually leads to the locker room.
The previous clinic had lockers that were positioned next to your treatment bed (which was in a room of 6 beds), but this one has a centralised locker area. And check it out – it even has a numerical locking system PLUS a choice of phone-charging system! The one with the Apple logo is (duh) for Apple iPhone users while the other ones are for Android users. This is on the basis that you will leave your phone in there (like normal human beings do), but since I’m a nomophobe (no-mobile phobia), I brought my phone along on my treatment. Plus, I had to take all these photos, yes?
The new and improved treatment rooms – it’s now 2 per room vs the previous 4 (6?) per room. Although I initially found it weird to have my extraction done while squirming quietly for fear of my next-bed-neighbour mocking my lack of a pain threshold, I’ve actually come to get used to having several people in the room with me. Now, I just feel sorta lonely~~~ muahaha. Weird, I know. Even the therapist laughed when I told her that.
A rather clinical (almost surgical) looking trolley of equipment ready to give me soft and smooth skin!
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Treatment 1: Scaling & Polishing
And hence, commences the Scaling and Polishing Treatment - except this time I finally managed to capture the extraction process. It still is a painful process, but it always, always, always leaves my skin so smooth and soft for days after.
Voila! Me immediately after the Scaling & Polishing – there are definitely some minor red splotches from the extraction, but it more or less looks decent (‘cept for the dark eye circles :( )
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Preparation for the Pore Shrinking / V-Line Laser Lifting Treatment
Like most aesthetics treatments, you will need to slather on a chunk of numbing cream to prep your skin beforehand. Here I am, looking like I just tried to eat the belly of the Marshmallow Man.
This was left to set for about 20-30 minutes (I can’t be sure – I dozed off so peacefully)
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Treatment 2: V-Line Lifting Laser (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Lifting)
Now here’s where the treatment starts. I don’t have any photos cos my eyes were covered to protect them, so you’ll have to rely solely on my story-telling skills to get the gist.
There wasn’t any rest time between the two treatments, but the doctor first started with the V-Line Lifting treatment. The official name of the treatment is known as High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Lifting.
- What is High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Lifting? My layman understanding – Emitting some sort of waves (could be heat, could be sound waves, I’m really not sure) deep into the skin to stimulate it into awakening, and therefore regaining its tautness and firmness.
Note: This is just for graphical illustration – it may or may not be the same machine used at CNP, but it essentially shows you that the waves are emitted deeper into the skin.
- How High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Lifting feels: To put it simply – severe static. It’s kinda like Thor from the Avengers repeatedly summoning bolts of lightning deep into your skin to punish you for thinking Loki is cuter (which is totally the truth anyways). I’m guessing the reason why the doctor started with this treatment is so that your skin is still freshly numbed (aka more immune to the impending pain). It’s not particularly painful to the point where it’s unbearable, but it’s more of the startling zap-zappppp per shot combined with the heat that makes this slightly uncomfortable. You can literally feel it zapping deeper into the skin. However, the doctor was super gentle and sweet – everytime she was about to do it, she’d go “here we go~ pyong~!”
This lasted for about 20-30 mins (not particularly sure since time seems to pass slower when you’re feeling uncomfortable), and was done along the entire jawline as well as the lower part of the cheeks. I did squirm and yelp slightly (no shame there) since I have a low pain threshold. It didn’t bring any tears to my eyes though.
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Treatment 3: Pore Shrinking (Intracel)
Next up was the Pore Shrinking treatment.
- What is Intracel? Again, I’m no scientist so don’t take my word for it, but my layman understanding of the Pore Shrinkage treatment (that’s done via Intracel) – you puncture the skin with many super fine needles to stimulate the skin into regeneration (and therefore closing the gaps of the enlarged pores). See picture below for a graphical illustration.
Based on my Google skills, this should be the machine head that was used on me – I can’t be entirely sure cos my eyes were closed, but you get the gist. The machine head is pretty small, so you can expect many “shots’ of this.
- How Intracel feels: Now I know this looks pretty scary and painful, but surprisingly, it’s not. It’s more of a solid pressure – kinda like someone pressing a wooden block against your skin trying to push you out of the way. To pierce your skin, there will be more pressure against your skin – but at any time, there wasn’t much pain. It’s kinda like using a stapler – you put it in position, and then you press down to dispense the pointy bits (but for Intracel, the pointy bits come out of the skin). After a while, I just started thinking “ok, are we done yetttt?”
This lasted for about 10-20 minutes or so, and definitely drew some blood (cos I opened my eyes at the end and saw the nurse putting away some blood-stained tissues). It’s not the major gushing type though. It was done mainly on the cheeks and parts of the nose where there were enlarged pores.
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Ok, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it and say you’ll be able to look fabulous on the day itself – this is how I looked immediately after the treatment.
Most of the redness was located on the cheeks from the Intracel, forehead spots were from the extraction from the Scaling & Polishing (apparently my bangs are doing a great job of cultivating its own colony of gross ickiness on the forehead). There wasn’t much redness/marks from the V-Line Lifting Treatment (in fact, you can see the immediately tightness omg!).
- Post-Treatment Care: No facial cleansing (not even with water) for 24 hours after the treatments. With the exception of abstaining from alcohol, there are no dietary restrictions (I pigged out on the super spicy Korean noodles with spam). I only applied light makeup (Laneige BB Cushion Pore Control) for the 3-5 days after my treatment (to conceal the redness and slight bruising) – this was also to minimise the amount of cleansing/makeup removal needed, as well as to avoid clogging up the pores. There can be very very slight scabbing, so don’t peel them – let them fall off naturally. I kept my face moisturised by using a Sulwhasoo facial mist for a week or more.
There’s not much downtime (although I chose to hide indoors for a day because I’m fair and the redness is more easily seen).
#nofilter here baybeh
The Verdict for V-Line Lifting Laser: I’m not sure if you can see it clearly in the photos, but the jawline is gradually becoming more defined and sharper. I walked into a girlfriend’s store yesterday and she immediately asked “What did you do to your face?! It looks sharper” -happiness!- I am SUPER happy with the results and am super tempted to go for round 2 of the V-Line Lifting Laser treatment. Because it increases overall skin tautness and firmness, it’s also a long-term thingy (vs injections/fillers that wear off over time). This will remain until gravity (and age) sets in again.
The Verdict for Intracel Pore Shrinking: Can you see the difference? Granted, the Before photo was taken with some slight makeup on (I couldn’t find a proper one without makeup as I was subconsciously avoiding taking such photos due to the large pores), but you can defo see the increase in skin firmness as well as a decrease in pore size (the After photo was taken without makeup!). You can also see how the makeup was sinking into the pores of the skin in the Before photo, while they are nicely fleshed out in the After photo.
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Price Range
- Intracel Pore Shrinking: KRW200,000-400,000 (depends on your skin condition).
- High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Lifting: KRW300,000-600,000 (also depends on your skin condition)
- Scaling & Polishing: KRW150,000 onwards. For smoothening of the skin texture and clearing the gunk out. Read my first experience here.
- Spot / mole / milia seed removal: KRW50,000-200,000 (depending on the number of spots). I paid KRW200,000 to remove about 15 brown spots.
- Milk Peel Plus Program: KRW180,000 onwards. For gentle skin brightening and radiance improvement. Read my review here.
- By the way, CNP also has awesome skincare products that are available in Singapore now – check out some of my favourite products here.
To make an appointment/ send in queries, email in to [email protected], For more information, visit their website at http://www.cnpskin.com/eng/
