My Filler Job at Radium Medical Aesthetics

In my circle, nobody I know has gone for facial augmentations for aesthetic reasons. In fact, any form of adjustments to what Nature has given is considered a plastic surgery. It surprised the few I divulged about my trip to the aesthetic clinic, Radium Medical Aesthetics.

The first question they asked was,"What made you do it?"

I thought hard about it.

To be honest, I surprised even myself. It's not me to decide on something so major on the spot.

Perhaps my weeks of depression over my tear troughs and my then-upcoming Boudoir shoot were strong pushes for me to take the leap.

Dr Siew Tuck Wah was the third doctor I visited.

I felt at ease with him. For a high-anxiety person, chemistry with people, especially a doctor performing treatments on me, is very important.

"Chemistry" here would probably translate to how I feel the doctor views me, and how confident he is of solving my problems for me.

The Consultation

I was first attended to by Seow Wei at the reception counter when I stepped into the clinic. She entered the consultation room with me and stood by the side while the doctor examined and advised me on my best options.

Like the other two doctors, Dr Siew suggested fillers for my hollow undereyes and cheeks. He didn't have Sygmalift at his clinic although he had the older alternatives ie. HIFU and Ulthera. However, like Dr Wong at Kowayo Clinic, he said that machine-lifting is not as effective as injections.

While injecting filler was a brand new idea to me at Kowayo Clinic, I had got used to the idea by the time I reached Radium Medical. 

I asked about his threadlift method that I had read about on one of the blogs and he candidly stated that I would not be happy with the results of threadlift or HIFU/Ultera if I had done them without fillers.

He also confidently said that he was the only doctor in Singapore who had every single brand of fillers and assured me that they managed pain very well.

After going through the risks of filler-injections, Dr Siew left me to consult on the charges with Seow Wei and gave me time and space to consider if I wanted the treatment.

It was about 1.30pm. Seow Wei showed me the types of fillers available and gave me a quick education on them. Dissolvable ones such as Restylane and Belotero are good for 1 to 1.5 years while undissolvable Ellanse will last for 2 to 4 years. Dr Siew recommended dissolvable fillers for first-timers like me as I would not have room for regrets if I had opted for Ellanse. Whether I liked it or not, I would have to stick with the look for at least 2 years.

Seow Wei told me that she had a fresh filler, Radiesse, done and asked if I wanted to touch her one-week-old cheek filler to have a feel at how fillers was like. I was a little taken aback and declined the offer.

As I was asking Seow Wei about the differences in prices and lasting powers of Ellanse and other fillers, one of the reception ladies walked over and said, coolly,"Doctor is going for lunch now. He said can numb her face now if she wants to do, and he will do filler for her when he comes back half an hour later."

It took me a few seconds before I realised the 'her' and 'she' in her speech referred to me!

I panicked a little inside. What? They are talking about plastic surgeries as if they are as normal and common as having lunch!

I said I had an appointment right after that and had to leave soon. Seow Wei fixed my filler appointment at 4.30pm so that I could have the treatment on the same day.

The Procedure

When I returned at 4.30pm, I was given some biscuits and Milo to take together with some pills that would help with the bruising and swelling after the procedure.

I was led to a room where my face was cleansed and applied with numbing cream.

My sensitive face became very red. The lady immediately used an ice-roller to roll over my face repeatedly to calm it. 

After that, I waited for another ten minutes before she returned and took my 'Before' pictures.

I was then led to another room where the doctor began the procedure. Seow Wei gave me two stress balls so that I could squeeze them when I was nervous. The numbing lady assisted the doctor by applying pressure on the injected spots to stop the bleeding. She also used a small black device to press against my face so that it vibrated to distract me whenever the doctor injected on my cheeks.

Before the procedure started, Dr Siew showed me a small bowl of 5 syringes and told me that he would be using different types of Restylane fillers for different parts of the face.

They had mentioned that it would be a 20-minute procedure but I was sure it took at least 40 minutes. Dr Siew took his time to examine the spots that needed to be filled. He also noticed that I bled more than most people each time he injected into me so he wanted to take it slowly.

He saw that my left cheek was more sunken than the right, so he injected more filler there. However, he was puzzled that it still looked more sunken even after the extra jab. He seemed to deliberate over it for a while before he said it decidedly,"I'll put in more on the left side."

He ended up giving me 3.5 units of Restylane instead of the original 3 units he had intended, and charged me as 3 units as agreed on earlier.

The injections were not as traumatic as I had imagined them to be. For someone with a low threshold for pain, while most of the injections were not the most comfortable things to go through in the whole world, I would not call them 'painful'. There were one or two jabs that were like an ant's bite but they were manageable. 

Upon closer examination after the procedure, there were about 6 tiny jab-holes on my face, 3 on each side: 2 were under each of my eyes to fill up the hollowness under the tear troughs and one nearer to the laughline to plump or fill the line up.

I was given some pills to take for the next few days to help with the swelling.

The cheeks felt hard - not rock-hard, but still 'hard', and numbed. Dr Siew mentioned that my cheeks were about '10% swollen' and the swelling would subside after 3 or 4 days.

However, nobody asked me a thing when I went to my parents' place after the procedure.

A day before the filler job

Under the lighting, my eyebags are not obvious here but they do exist

The night after my filler job

Smiling was not natural. Face felt stiff.

2 days after the filler

On the 9th day, I returned to the doctor's for a review, at which he pressed and 'molded' my face so that the fillers moved to the areas he still deemed sunken.

On the 10th day, my left cheek was still a little swollen but it was not obvious.

I must say I am quite happy with the results. It doesn't turn me into a 25-year-old or even 30-year-old but I am just glad I don't have to be depressed over my eyebags for the next one year or so.

People have told me that once you start on this pursuit-of-beauty journey, there is no turning back. I do think that perhaps I might go for Ellanse injection when my filler wears off. I just might.