IT used to be that if you have bad acne in your teens, you would just be resigned to remaining scarred for life. But like TV personality Mark Lee found out, there's now a remedy in the latest aesthetics technology.

The 48-year-old actor's pockmarked face has plagued him, especially in his prominent public career. While he's tried some laser treatments before, the downtime affected his filming schedule. Now though, the treatments are more effective and less invasive.

The Clifford Aesthetics Acne Scar programme, for example, uses a three-pronged approach to accelerate skin recovery after treatment and energise skin cells to produce collagen to restore the depressions in skin. After a bad acne bout, scars can be left in the deep layer of the skin, known as the dermis. This scar is contracted or does not contained enough collagen fibres, leading to an irregularity or depression in the skin.

The programme uses a combination of the Infini Fractional Radiofrequency with the Edge Fractional CO2 Laser, and a stem cell growth factor serum that is custom-sourced from Korea. The serum contains the highest concentration of growth factors for skin renewal.

The Infini Fractional Radiofrequency can target acne scars as deep as 3.5mm and has the added advantage of lifting skin. The dermis layer of the skin is heated, to regenerate collagen which plumps up the skin.

Before there was the Edge Fractional CO2 Laser, there was the traditional Fractional CO2 Laser. Both can stimulate the body's natural repair process to rebuild the lost collagen. The result is smoother, plumper, and tighter skin that looks younger and less scarred. However, Fractional CO2 Laser can cause skin redness that can last for three days and scabs that last for a week. The new Edge Fractional CO2 Laser gets around this problem by producing more precise beams. The results are minimal skin redness and barely noticeable scabs. What most patients experience is slight redness that lasts less than 24 hours.

The treatment protocol combined a number of highly developed treatments by the founders of The Clifford Aesthetics. They are carefully arranged into an optimal one year treatment protocol to maximize scar recovery and skin regeneration.

Each session of The Clifford Aesthetics Acne Scar Program can take about two hours. Numbing cream is applied for 60 minutes before the start of the 20-minute Infini Fractional Radiofrequency treatment. Based on the skin experts' discretion, the laser may be used on the whole face or part of it.

When it comes to the Edge Fractional CO2 Laser, the numbing cream needs to be applied for only 30 minutes before treatment. After each treatment, the skin can feel and look slightly sunburnt. These symptoms will usually subside within a day.

Results can be seen as quickly as one to two weeks, and will continue to improve with each treatment. On average, a treatment is done once every six weeks.

The treatment works as well on acne scars formed a year ago, or twenty years ago. That said, younger patients heal and remodel collagen faster, so they generally experience quicker results. But if you're in your late 40s like actor Mark Lee, then the added bonus is the more youthful look, besides a smooth complexion.

BOOK NOW

Pay just S$200 for your first Edge Fractional CO2 Laser trial (usual price: S$650). To make an appointment, call 6532 2048, or SMS 8318 6332. Visit cliffordaesthetics.com/acne-scar-program to find out more.