00:00I try all procedures on myself first if I can. You need to make sure your your
00:05patient knows that you know what you're doing and you're 100% confident. My name
00:10is Jeanette Fon and I'm getting acne filler done today. My skin journey has
00:14been challenging, it's been about acne, it's been about scarring, it's been about
00:19overcoming self-consciousness and it's been a troubled one. My confidence with
00:24my skin is constantly changing. I think that as I've gotten older I've gotten
00:29better at being able to take myself out of a low place. I think that it's always
00:34been harder when I was an adolescent you know not feeling like you're beautiful,
00:38not feeling like you had the porcelain skin that you know everyone expects Asian
00:43women to have. I think my ultimate goal in terms of my journey with my skin is to
00:48feel fearless. My name is Dr. Anna Guanche. I'm a board-certified dermatologist. I take
00:54care of a lot of celebrities out in Calabasas, California. Dermatology
00:59school is a long long road. You have to get into med school and do really well
01:05because dermatology is the most competitive residency right now. Acne
01:10scarring filler is very popular that's another procedure that increases
01:13confidence. A lot of people have a lot of emotion tied to their acne scarring.
01:17Filler is made of hyaluronic acid so it's like a polysaccharide like a protein
01:22sugar and it's the same stuff that is in between all your cells. We call that
01:26interstitial fluid and it's the same stuff that's in your eyeballs and in your
01:30joint fluid. Basically you're injecting an inert substance that you will not
01:34react to because you already have that in your body. My fiance and I are actually
01:39taking our engagement photos in a couple weeks and so I think I would love to have
01:44this extra boost of confidence to feel like I don't have to worry about my face
01:48and my scars on them. I am a nerd when it comes to information. Whenever I get
01:55something done I usually do a ton of research and I come in ready to talk
01:58medical terms. So I would love, love, love if the doctor kind of gave me a mini
02:04consult and talked me through what she saw, what her thoughts were, what she was
02:08thinking and what her strategy is. I think that's where I really feel like
02:11confident in who's doing the procedure and why we're doing it. The easier ones to
02:16correct are these you know sort of shallow ones. Those are pretty easy in
02:21general for me to correct. The ice pick ones that I see on the other cheek, those
02:25are a little tougher to fill. Often they have a pore associated with them and I
02:28try to put filler and it just comes right out of there. But we'll try. I've been
02:32doing my own Botox for years and my own filler. I know how to put the needle into
02:36where it hurts a little bit less just because of that experience of knowing what
02:40it feels like. I am probably most anxious about the needles. When I start
02:45injecting, I'm looking at the needle. I'm looking at the syringe to see how much
02:49I'm injecting. I'm looking at the skin to see how it's reacting and at the same
02:52time I'm looking at their chest to see if it's rising and falling the way it
02:56needs to and I'll be like, take a deep breath. And they go, how'd you know it's
03:00holding my breath? I'm like, I'm watching you. I think that it's gonna be kind of
03:04scary having this needle poke around your face and not being able to see what's
03:07going on and not knowing exactly what's happening or what it's gonna look
03:11like. I think that's kind of terrifying. We do the numbing. We do a topical
03:20anesthetic.
03:26We compound one that's really strong so it makes the injections tolerable.
03:50I'm gonna inject Jeanette with a hyaluronic acid filler using the tiniest
03:56diameter needle that I can with filler which is 30 gauge.
04:12Each of her indented scars will be plumped up with the hyaluronic acid filler.
04:43And then we hold pressure on the area to prevent bruising and to reduce any bleeding.
04:55I will switch sides. So I'll inject one side and as we let it settle down and my
05:00assistant holds pressure on that side, I move to the other side.
05:38And remember,
05:41I think it's very fragile.
05:51I keep switching sides until I'm happy, I'm pretty picky, so I'm going to be looking very
05:56carefully to make sure that we feel as many of the scars as we possibly can.
06:34It's going to look a little bumpy and wealthy because we have to put the filler so superficial
06:38right under the skin where the indented scar is, so they don't look more smooth right away.
06:47You did great, you've got a great pain tolerance, it's awesome.
06:51And so you don't have to do anything special, you can ice again this evening if you want to.
06:56The swelling, a lot of it goes down by this evening, but it's going to get even better
06:59over the following few days.
07:04Wow, I mean, I see a lot of the scars that I've been noticing more filled in.
07:12The transformation that I saw was nearly immediate.
07:16I definitely think that I had preconceived notions about injectables and, you know, those kind
07:22of beauty regimens.
07:23I think that I have more of an open mind now to them.
07:26I think there's nothing wrong with having a procedure done if it makes you feel a bit
07:31better, it makes you feel a bit more confident, it makes you feel powerful.
07:34I was happy after I injected her.
07:36I thought a lot of her most noticeable scars, which were on her cheeks, had plumped out.
07:41And even though they were welted, I can see through welts because I've done so many injection
07:46treatments.
07:47I was trying to stay so still for her so that she wouldn't make a mistake.
07:51And she actually ended up talking to me saying, most of my clients move around and they talk
07:55when I'm doing this, it's totally fine.
07:56And I was just so petrified to move.
07:59I was staying just so still and not saying anything to her and she was like, okay.
08:04I honestly expected nothing really to happen.
08:09I think that some of my acne scars are pretty bad and I didn't really think that I would
08:13actually see a difference.
08:14I thought, why not give it a try and see if there's anything that comes out of it.
08:17And I think that my actual results were surprising to me to actually be able to see a difference
08:24myself.
08:25And beyond that, have other people actually notice it too.
08:28And don't go to any Botox parties or filler parties or anything like that, because my issue
08:33with it is they don't have all the equipment they need to dissolve if there was a problem,
08:37which is a rare problem of vessel occlusion, they need to have all the equipment there.
08:41And what happens if you don't like it, who are you going to follow up with if they just
08:46came to somebody's house and you have no office to go back to.
08:48The aftercare with this procedure was super minimal and super easy.
08:52Dr. Gwanche literally spent a minute talking to me about it and aftercare included icing
08:58your face right after the procedure.
09:00And from her words, you're able to go to the club that night.
09:04If I can allow people to feel a little bit better and a little more confident in whatever
09:09way it takes out of all my 15 devices or fillers or Botox or whatever, then that makes me happy.
09:14Because that's allowing inner beauty to come out because you're removing insecurity, you're
09:20removing something that's holding someone back.
09:23Overall, I think this procedure definitely boosted my self-confidence.
09:26I think that it made me excited to actually put on makeup in the morning and get ready.
09:31I think that, yeah, it's been a really positive impact.
09:34Thank you for watching Refinery29.
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