Being beautiful



One early morning, Lisa turned up at the clinic with her mother. “My mother is turning sixty years old in another six months. I intend to give her a makeover,” she told me with a beaming smile.

"Hi, nice to meet you. What can I do for you?” I asked Lisa’s mother. I really have no idea. Since Lisa is the one who brought me here, you might want to ask for her opinion instead “, she told me hesitantly. “But Mom, didn’t you complain to me that you notice the age spots/pigmentations on your face getting darker, your eye bags getting heavier/ deeper and the wrinkles/crows’ feet are getting more obvious nowadays? Lisa’s mother smiled.

The appearance of age spots, saggy cheeks/ naso labial fold, eye bags and crows’ feet are all the usual signs of ageing. From Lisa’s description of her mother’s ageing woos, I reckoned that she wanted the right treatment to restore her mother’s appearance.

Pigmentation problems can be eradicated with the use of proper laser treatment whereas wrinkles/ crows’ feet can be treated with BOTOX.

Lisa’s mother has no qualms about the treatments that I suggested. Hence I started her on a session of laser treatment right away.

“Is it painful?”, I asked while conducting the treatment carefully. “Just a tingle, there’s almost no pain at all”, she answered. “How do you feel now”, I asked with concern.

She then shared. “I’m fine. Actually, Lisa has been eager to bring me here for the treatment of my pigmentation, age spot. I was indecisive then, because I was afraid that it would be painful and would do more harm than good to my face, making me look unnatural and fake. I finally decided to tag along after Lisa told me that it is not painful at all after undergoing the treatment herself for several times. I really must give credits to my Lisa. She’s a good daughter and very obedient since young. Our family was not very well-to-do because her father passed away in accident. She had a tough childhood but despite all the hardship, she had grown up to be a very independent high achiever. This year she wants to give me an aesthetics makeover as a birthday gift, so here I am!”

“I am sure this gift is priceless and comes sincerely from your filial daughter. She understands very well, the hardship you have gone through to bring her up, placing her as your priority rather than your own appearance.  Now that she is capable to take care of you, appreciate and savour every sweet moment of it”, I told her.

 “Really?” Lisa’s mom said with a curvy smile of warmth and happiness.

Most parents if not all, devote their time providing and caring for their children. The selfless act of placing their children’s needs as the top priority often result in them compromising on their own health and needs. As grown-ups, it is time to reciprocate our parents’ unconditional love for us. Phone calls, occasional meals and family trips together are just some of the simple things that we can do to light up their day!

Dr Hoo, although my mother would not admit it, I know she is in fact just as vain as any other woman including me. Please help me and my mother to look prettier, healthier and greater together!”  she said with a twinkle in her eye.


The sudden ‘glow' on her face


I went back to my hometown in recently and stumble upon an unexpected but pleasant surprise.

I was having the usual gathering with my friends over a cuppa. It was one of those occasions where you catch up with your old friends and exchange greetings when you return home. Amongst all of my friends, Catherine was standing out most. She appeared different. There is an unusual glow on her face – a glow that I have not seen in her for years. She looked peaceful with happiness gleaming from her eyes. The smile that she wears amazes me and it was contagious too. It was a glow in the face that I seldom see in the buzzling city that I now live.

Has she undergone any treatment to enhance her face? No way, if there is any, I would have spotted it. New beauty product? Unlikely, as her glow was beyond what a beauty product can bring out. Then how would one explain this? It all happened with a misfortune that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Catherine’s husband, Jack is heavily career orientated. He works long hours and goes out socializing with friends or clients in the evenings after work. He would look at his smartphone more than he laid his eyes on Catherine. It does not take a genius to know that the couple spends very little time together and speaks even less when being together. 

Three weeks ago, her house was broken into. Jack was with his mates in his usual outing late into the night while Catherine was up in her bedroom, sleeping. The house was broken into and ransacked. Money, jewelries and valuables were taken. She was lucky that her son’s room, in which she was sleeping in with her 6 year old was not broken into. They were safe. When Jack came home that very night, Jack, on seeing the house was in total disarray, rushed upstairs as soon as he could. He was shouting out for Catherine and their 6 year old. They were safe and in fact, so deeply in slumber that they did not even realized that the house was broken into. The misfortunate have made Jack realized how important his family is to him. From that day onward, Jack was spending more time at home and would also plan out activities over the weekend with the family. They are spending more time together as a family.

The feeling of being love and to be in love again, was in fact the real reason behind the glow in her face. Love is indeed the best treatment one can get.

Learn to appreciate what you have before time makes you appreciate what you had.



By 
Anna Hoo

和妈妈一起变漂亮




大清早,丽莎带着她的妈妈一起来诊所。

再过半年就是妈妈的六十大寿,我带她来看看你,帮她‘变一变’脸。丽莎说。

伯母,你好。我能怎么帮你呢?

我可不知道,是女儿要我来的,你还是问她吧!

妈妈,你不是说脸上的老人斑越长越大了吗?还有越来越下垂的双颊、越来越大的眼袋、越来越明显的法令纹呢?

伯母笑笑不说话。

老人斑、面颊下垂、眼袋、法令文,都是人类正常的老化迹象。简单来说,丽莎的要求就是要帮妈妈恢复年轻时的面貌。

 “皮肤上的色斑可以雷射改进,动态皱纹则以肉毒杆菌素淡化加上玻尿酸填充剂填补面部流失的体积。

伯母没有异议。疗程从镭射开始。
  
痛不痛?

烧烧的,不痛。

这种感觉还好吧?

还好。其实丽莎很久以前就要带我过来祛除脸上的色斑了,是我一直犹豫不决。你不要笑我,我怕痛,更怕做了之后看起来做作不自然。是丽莎一直说不痛,看她做了几次,我才敢过来。

这女儿不错,很孝顺哦!

这我承认,丽莎从小就很乖。从前家境不好,她爸爸很早就因为车祸离开了我们,她跟着我吃了不少苦。还好她很有上进心,这几年来的工作收入还算稳定。今年她说要好好为我庆祝六十岁生日,把医学美容疗程当作是生日礼物,我才跟她一起来的。

这礼物是女儿的孝心啊!她一定是心疼你以前生活苦,没办法好好照顾自己做保养,现在她大了,也是好好照顾你的时候了,有福就要享啊!

 “是啊!

 丽莎妈妈说着“是啊”时候的嘴角往上扬,那是一个属于妈妈的欣慰的笑容。

父母年轻的时候为了生活奔波忙碌,常常没有时间保养。做爸爸妈妈的,全副心思都放在照顾孩子的温饱身上了,没有好好照顾自己的观念。如今孩子们长大了,是孝顺父母,让他们快乐的时候。一个问候的电话、一起相聚的晚餐、一起出外旅行,都是让父母添加笑容的方法。

“符医生,悄悄告诉你,其实我妈妈也是很爱美的,虽然她不好意思承认,我做女儿的 又哪会不知道呢?你要帮我,让妈妈和我一起越来越漂亮噢!”丽莎说。


by
William Hoo @ 符气廉
刊登于红番茄周报《医生看人生》专栏

Being a woman


While driving to the nearest supermarket for my groceries, I overheard on the radio, the voice of Malaysian international actress Datuk Michelle Yeoh’s community message.  It was in Cantonese and it sounds like this after my translation.

“A woman does not only dominate her home, but is capable of leading a country”.

I nodded my head with agreement. Married women nowadays are certainly not just merely your home-bound housewives who spend most of their time at home. With the rising cost of living and the rising inflation rate, a majority of women choose to work and have a career of their own, while juggling their different roles in life. Be it being a working single lady, a wife, a working mother, stay-at-home mom, work-at-home mom, driver, cook, you name it.

Women have so many roles to play in today’s fast-paced lifestyle that often we tend to compromise on our own health and well-being, not to mention beauty rituals too!

It is time to start taking care of ourselves with the basic tips below that are often forgotten:




1.  Get enough sleep and rest
Sleeping allows the body to repair and regenerate itself. It also helps the brains to process and file new information collected during the day. To get a restful sleep, reduce the need to use the lap top, Internet, mobile and avoid late-night shows. Going to sleep earlier before midnight is beneficial as every minute of sleep you get before midnight is equivalent to about four minutes after that.

Taking a day off at least once a week from our daily tasks or responsibilities for a complete ‘me’ time also allows us to take a break from the daily stresses, enabling us to recharge our energy to continue our task cycle, which often seem never ending. This prevents exhaustion and build-up of stress that may only deter us from doing more!


2.  Healthy eating
Avoid highly processed, refined, pre-packaged and fast food. These are food bought off-the-shelves that are usually laden with sugar, hydrogenated fats, preservatives, colourings and other additives. As a rule of thumb, the longer the food can be placed on the shelf, the longer the substances will remain in the body and harm our overall body function and performance resulting in a sluggish body. Aim for fresh and natural vegetables and fruits.


3.  Take supplements
As much as we would like to stay nourished by eating healthy wholesome food, our diet would still lack of some essential nutrients due to our often inconsistent daily diet and depletion of nutrients from the soil where most of our food source come from. There are four types of supplements that are necessary for optimal health and performance.
  • Multi-vitamins preferably wholefood multivitamins
  • Balance Trance mineral (eg: zinc, slenium, Magnesium, ETC)
  • Antioxidant : Vit C, CoQ10
  • Omega -3 oils

 More will be discussed about the benefits of the above supplements in the next post.

4.  Exercise
Exercising at least 30 minutes a day helps to relieve our everyday pressure and stress. Try doing some light physical activities that you enjoy such as jogging, swimming, yoga or simply brisk walking or stretching exercises. Exercise also allow better mind and body coordination.

  
5.  Hydration
Our body consists of more than 70% water. Every individual’s hydration need is different. For example if you weigh 50 kg, you should drink minimum 50 ounces or 1500 ml of pure water a day. That is about 7 to 8 glasses of water.
Let’s practise these diligently as a first step to giving yourself a healthier body and mind, to be able to live better and do more!


By CL,
CL is a new mom, who is still exploring the joy of motherhood. She has chosen to commit to her family and baby while working at home. She believes in giving them the best of love and health by first loving herself.