Hey everyone~ When I went back to Seoul in March, I managed to have the most amazing dermatology appointment with Banobagi Dermatology Clinic! They literally saved my exam season acne-ridden skin so that I am glowing like a goddess for Dermatology Review- Trina's battle with Acne Scars and Problem Skin ft. Banobagi DermatologySummer!

We all know that Korean skincare is absolutely amazing for the skin, and the craze for Korean products has definitely spread to the U.K. My blogpost about the skincare products I use, of which 99.99% are SK brands, is still the most popular post on my blog, so skincare is definitely something that I feel you all care about. But what happens when holy grail products aren’t enough?!

Introducing my amazing skincare experience at Banobagi Dermatology~!

 

 

 

The photos above are of the reception area. There were quite a lot of staff on hand to process my details and answer any questions I could have, and they also helped to translate when I met the dermatologist! I’ll talk about my experience step-by-step, so please join me~

 

The first step was to take photos of my bare face, so my skin condition could be properly assessed. I know what everyone is thinking… What happened to my skin?! To be honest, my skin was probably the worst it had been for a very long time. I was having the most awful outbreaks around my mouth and chin, and my skin was just irritated and dry, which led to the awful oil overproduction you can see in the photo above. My skin produces more oil than several oil-producing countries~

You can also definitely see my exposed pores, but what is really apparent on the picture on the left is the red marks! Pigmentation left over from acne usually takes time to heal, but with Banobagi’s super laser, it all disappeared quickly!

I then went to meet the dermatologist and told him all about my skin issues which were mainly:

The dermatologist was very thorough and asked me if my pores were a very big concern, as the treatment for huge pores could lead to some minor scabbing. He took into consideration the fact that my flight was tomorrow, and chose a slightly less powerful treatment so I wouldn’t look totally crazy for my flight!

This was the skin treatment plan I was recommended:

The One day Acne Program!

Banobagi actually has quite a few acne programs, but the dermatologist made a customised program for me to directly address my concerns and give me the skin I desired. Such a luxurious treatment, I was so touched at how well I was treated~ T_T

Step 1. Acne Full Care

The first step is what everyone knows as the traditional facial, but with a twist! The lovely estheticians performed deep cleansing on my skin to remove old sebum from my huge pores, which could lead to acne forming. They additionally did exfoliation with ultrasound, extracted my active acne, and and dealt with my flaky skin. It was actually really soothing and felt a lot more thorough than my normal facials.

The atmosphere here was so relaxed, there were people on their phones while getting their treatments done, or just lying back and being soothed by cooling masks. The one thing I noticed is that a lot of people already had absolutely amazing skin?! Korean ladies are so hardworking… I need to take care of my skin too!

Step 2. V-beam Laser

After my deep cleansing, I had numbing cream put on my face and waited in a separate reception for it to work its magic. Obviously I can’t have laser without my skin being numbed, I’ll really cry~ It was a really funny sensation feeling my skin tingle!

The first laser treatment I had was the V-beam laser, which was used to treat the active red acne I had. I honestly didn’t feel anything, but I was startled by the little zaps! The numbing cream really works you guys ^^ I wasn’t afraid at all.

I’ve learnt that the V-beam laser is also used to treat birthmarks and rosacea, so it is really good for redness of the skin.

Step 3. Laser Toning

The second laser treatment was an Acne Pigmentation Clearing treatment! To be honest, the feeling was exactly the same as the V-beam laser but on different areas of my face. Neither of the two treatments lasted too long, as the lasers are very powerful. Laser Toning is used for post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation aka PIH, which many people use Vitamin C serums to fade. With laser toning however, I can throw away my smelly Vitamin C serums~

Step 4. Floracel Laser

Okay, this laser was absolutely the most intense step of the treatment program. The Floracel Laser destroys sebaceous glands which cause acne and induce collagen regeneration to tighten pores!

I can confidently say that this Floracel Laser made such a huge difference to my skin. But honestly you guys, it was pretty painful~ Despite the numbing cream, I leaked a few tears of self-pity. However, the effect it has on my skin is absolutely miraculous and I would 100% do the same treatment a hundred times over!

Step 5. High-gloss waterglow injection

After the Floracel Laser, the High-gloss waterglow injection was so soothing and relaxing. High-gloss waterglow injection, also known as Hyaluronic Acid injection, has powerful moisturising properties on dry skin and helps to maximise skin regeneration after the acne treatment. It makes sense to have it since my sebaceous glands have been annihilated by the Floracel laser~

The use of Hyaluronic Acid in skincare is really well-known, and used clinically in dermatology, it has excellent effects including improvement of skin elasticity and firmness, improving smoothness and water loss! Hyaluronic Acid is really amazing!

Here are some photos I took after the treatment:

I shamelessly took these photos in the lift haha. You can tell that my skin is a little bit red, but the staff kindly put on sunscreen for me. Sunscreen is an important part of the laser treatment aftercare instructions after all~

This is the sunscreen they used on me, I ended up buying it the next day because I liked it so much! I recommend trying it when you get the chance. It has nice mattifying properties which is perfect for summer.

And how are the results??

Well it’s officially been 2 months already since the treatment, so I have plenty of photos to share with everyone! It’s been so long already.

I’ll select some nice photos to cleanse your eyes from my oily-skinned pre-dermatology photos!

I have to tell the truth, sometimes I don’t take care of my skin too well and don’t put on enough sheet masks, but my skin is honestly the best it has ever been. I get compliments on my skin from people and even my picky mum is super impressed!

Having a good skin is a great base for makeup, but lately I have just been wearing sunscreen and undereye concealer. No heavy foundation for me~

I can’t thank the dermatologists at Banobagi enough! Their treatments have worked so well, I highly recommend booking an appointment if you have skin concerns like me.

My mum was so impressed by my skincare treatments that she booked an appointment the very next morning before our flight! She had oil-seed/milia removal. My mum has been plagued with little milia around her eyes for absolutely ages, and she even spent over 500SGD to get them removed while in Singapore. However, the place she went to didn’t remove all of them and so they grew back again……

But Banobagi helped her remove them! I’m so impressed! She even bought their skincare products to try out and have raved about them~

If your mum is as picky about skincare like mine, please try these products out! She feels that her skin is much cleaner and less ‘yellow’, and plans to go back for more treatments haha. We both had an excellent experience and couldn’t recommend Banobagi Dermatology enough!

There’s some more information about the dermatology clinic at this website: https://www.medicaldepartures.com/clinic/banobagi-dermatology/ ^^ Please check it out if you’re interested in skincare!

I actually read about this over on musings of a muse and couldn't resist. Zombies are definitely adorable and since my skin has been getting better (thank you Korean skincare products!) I have been looking for a good CC cream to try. This actually came yesterday with the Hinijini milky cream so I'm wearing the Killing Me CC cream on top of it. Double brightening effect! I think my face will shine so brightly that anyone who looks at me is blinded by the intense light coming off my white face hahaha.

This is how much the pump dispenses, which is just about right for my big face (and huge chubby cheeks T-T). It doesn't show up clearly in the picture but the CC cream is an off-white sort of colour with grey flecks. I don't want to say like a concrete mixture but that was my first thought! Definitely tying in with the greyish-white skin of a zombie.

Overall, I actually quite like it! One of the major problems with my face is oiliness and wearing this under a CC cream means I don't have to blot my oily face at all. Instead I just look like I have nice dewy skin. I think this will definitely be part of my daily routine after the initial dryness and patchy panic. 

I would rate it 4/5 because the whitening is very immediate but also rather unnatural. However it sets the base so that if I wear a whiter CC or BB cream, it looks much less natural overall. It doesn't have that white foundation on darker face as much.