Conditions, Explained Honestly

Face – lifting & contour

Jowls & Lower Face SaggingA jowl is descended tissue — skin, fat and the SMAS layer sliding below the jawline as the ligaments that once held them attenuate. It is a position p…Jowl Fat vs Jowl SaggingNot every jowl is sagging. The lower face carries discrete, named fat compartments — and in some faces the jowl is primarily a fat pocket sitting alon…Double Chin: What's Actually Under ThereA double chin is rarely just fat. Under the chin, four contributors stack: a submental fat pocket (above or below the muscle layer), skin laxity, the …Buccal Fat & the Persistently Round FaceThe buccal fat pad is a deep, walnut-sized fat structure in the middle of each cheek — distinct from the fat under the skin, and largely indifferent t…Square Jaw & Masseter BulkA wide lower face has three possible materials: masseter muscle (the clenching muscle at the jaw angle, enlarged by use), bone (the mandible's own arc…The Ageing Neck: Lines, Crepe & LaxityThe neck ages faster than the face it carries: its skin is thinner, has fewer sebaceous glands, gets less sunscreen, and moves thousands of times a da…Nasolabial FoldsThe nasolabial fold is the line running from each nostril to the corner of the mouth — present in every smiling face, and deepening at rest with age. …Hollow Cheeks & Facial Volume LossFacial volume loss is the quiet ageing process: the deep fat compartments deflate and the facial skeleton itself resorbs, removing the scaffolding the…Forehead Lines & Frown LinesThe forehead's horizontal lines and the vertical '11s' between the brows are muscle handwriting: the frontalis raising the brows and the glabellar com…Volnewmer vs Ultherapy vs Thermage (VF Lift)Volnewmer vs Ultherapy: monopolar radiofrequency versus micro-focused ultrasound. How the VF Lift, Ultherapy, Thermage and Time Freeze differ by face …Ultraformer MPT Singapore: Micro-Pulsed HIFUUltraformer Singapore guide: Ultraformer MPT is CLASSYS micro-pulsed HIFU (focused ultrasound). How it differs from Ultherapy, who it suits, what it i…

Eyes

Dark Eye Circles: Which Type Is Yours?“Dark circles” is one complaint hiding three diagnoses: brown circles from pigment in the skin, blue-purple circles from vessels showing through thin …Eye Bags: Puffiness, Prolapse or Shadow?An eye bag is one of three things: orbital fat pushing forward against a weakened restraining wall (a true bag), fluid that pools and shifts (morning …Droopy & Hooded EyelidsA heavy upper lid has three possible authors: excess, lax lid skin folding down (dermatochalasis — the common 'hooding'), the lid itself sitting too l…Xanthelasma: Yellow Plaques on the EyelidsXanthelasma palpebrarum is a soft, flat, yellowish plaque on the eyelid — lipid-laden immune cells accumulated in the skin, most often near the inner …

Nose, lips & chin

Flat Nose Bridge & Profile BalanceA low nasal bridge — common in East and Southeast Asian anatomy — flattens the face's central axis in photographs and glasses slide down it all day. N…Thin Lips & the Ageing LipLips thin two ways: some were always slim (genetics), and all deflate with age — volume shrinks, the pink vermilion rolls inward, the white upper lip …Upper Lip Lines (“Barcode Lines”)The vertical lines of the upper lip — barcode lines, smoker's lines, lipstick lines — are etched by four forces at once: a purse-string muscle that cr…

Skin quality & pores

Uneven Texture & Enlarged PoresTexture is structural. Pore size is set by sebaceous output and the collagen scaffold around each follicle; roughness by micro-scarring and disordered…Keratosis Pilaris (“Chicken Skin”)Keratosis pilaris is the sandpaper skin of the upper arms, thighs and sometimes cheeks: hundreds of tiny rough bumps where keratin has plugged the ope…

Pigmentation

Melasma: The Pigment That Comes BackMelasma is a chronic, relapsing pigment disorder — symmetrical soft-edged brown patches across the cheeks, forehead or upper lip. It is not simple sun…Facial Pigmentation: Which Brown Is Yours?“Pigmentation” is not one condition. Melasma, solar lentigines, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation and freckles are different diseases with different…Post-Inflammatory HyperpigmentationPIH is the footprint inflammation leaves in pigmented skin: a flat brown, grey or slate mark exactly where a pimple, bite, rash or overly aggressive t…Sun Spots (Solar Lentigines)A solar lentigo is a discrete, sharply bordered brown spot — the skin's permanent bookmark of cumulative sun exposure, appearing on the cheeks, temple…Dark Underarms (Axillary Hyperpigmentation)Dark underarms are not a hygiene problem — they are pigment, laid down by years of shaving trauma, friction, and irritation from products, on skin tha…

Redness & vessels

Rosacea & Persistent RednessRosacea is a chronic inflammatory condition of the central face: flushing that comes hard and lingers, background redness that stops fading, visible t…Facial Thread Veins (Telangiectasias)Telangiectasias are permanently dilated small blood vessels visible at the skin surface — fine red, purple or blue threads tracing the nostril creases…Post-Inflammatory Erythema (Red Acne Marks)PIE is the flat red or pink mark left where a pimple used to be — not a scar, not pigment, but dilated and damaged tiny blood vessels lingering after …

“Two conditions can look identical in a photograph and need opposite treatments. What decides the plan is the diagnosis, not the picture.”

Dr Sin YongOn why a condition has to be named before it can be treated

Perioral DermatitisPerioral dermatitis is an inflammatory eruption of small red papules and pustules clustered around the mouth — sometimes the nose and eyes — with a te…Varicose & Spider Veins on the LegsLeg veins fail on a spectrum: fine surface spider veins, blue reticular veins beneath them, and true varicose veins — rope-like, bulging vessels whose…

Acne

Cystic & Nodular AcneCystic and nodular acne is acne's deep form: inflamed lesions seated in the lower dermis that hurt, persist for weeks, never “pop”, and scar. It is th…Hormonal Acne in Adult WomenAdult female acne is not leftover teenage acne. It clusters on the lower third of the face — jawline, chin, upper neck — flares with the menstrual cyc…Back & Body Acne (Truncal Acne)Acne on the back, chest and shoulders is the neglected half of the disease: present in roughly half of facial-acne patients, less discussed, harder to…Fungal Acne (Malassezia Folliculitis)“Fungal acne” is not acne at all. It is folliculitis caused by Malassezia — a yeast that lives on everyone's skin — overgrowing inside the hair follic…

Scars & keloids

Keloids & Hypertrophic ScarsA hypertrophic scar is healing that overshot: raised, red, but confined to the original wound and often settling with time. A keloid is healing that n…Stretch Marks: Torn Collagen, Two StagesA stretch mark is a tear in the dermis — collagen and elastin that gave way under stretching faster than they could remodel. Red-purple marks are the …Post-Pregnancy Stretch MarksStriae gravidarum — pregnancy stretch marks — are dermal tears beneath intact surface skin, written across the abdomen, breasts, hips and thighs in th…TCA CROSS Singapore for Ice Pick Acne ScarsTCA CROSS explained: how chemical reconstruction targets ice pick scars too deep for lasers, what the studies show, the darker-skin caveats, and how i…Rejuran S for Acne ScarsRejuran S explained: how the thicker scar-formulated polynucleotide differs from Rejuran Healer, what the PN evidence shows, and where it fits in a sc…

Skin growths

Milia: The White Bumps That Never PopA milium is a tiny keratin cyst — a pearl of compacted skin protein sealed beneath the surface with no opening. Milia look like whiteheads but behave …Sebaceous HyperplasiaSebaceous hyperplasia is an overgrown oil gland: a small, soft, yellowish or skin-coloured dome — often with a central dimple — that appears on the fo…Seborrhoeic Keratosis (“Age Warts”)A seborrhoeic keratosis is a benign overgrowth of the skin's outermost cells — a waxy, warty plaque that looks pasted onto the surface, as if it could…Skin Tags (Acrochordons)A skin tag is a soft, benign outgrowth of skin on a stalk — collagen and tiny blood vessels wrapped in normal surface skin. They grow where skin rubs …

Hair & scalp

Androgenetic Alopecia (Pattern Hair Loss)Androgenetic alopecia is the diagnosis behind most thinning heads: genetically sensitive follicles responding to normal androgen levels by miniaturisi…Female Hair Thinning: Diagnosis Before TreatmentFemale hair loss is a diagnosis, not a product category. A widening parting with preserved hairline points one way; sudden handfuls in the shower poin…The Receding Hairline: Defend What's AliveMale pattern hair loss is not hair falling out — it is follicles shrinking. Under DHT, genetically sensitive follicles at the temples and crown produc…Sudden Shedding: When Hair Falls in HandfulsTelogen effluvium is the hair cycle stumbling in unison. A physiological shock pushes thousands of follicles into their resting phase together — and t…Alopecia Areata (Patchy Hair Loss)Alopecia areata is the immune system mistakenly attacking hair follicles — announcing itself as smooth, round, completely bald patches that appear ove…Traction AlopeciaTraction alopecia is hair loss by physics: years of tension from tight ponytails, buns, braids, extensions or helmets steadily loosening and finally s…Dandruff & Seborrhoeic DermatitisDandruff and seborrhoeic dermatitis are one condition at two volumes: an inflammatory response to Malassezia yeast on an oily scalp — flaking at the m…

Body

Stubborn Fat: The Pockets Diet Can't ReachWeight loss shrinks fat cells everywhere at once — it cannot choose where. The pockets that survive every diet (lower belly, flanks, inner thighs, und…Loose Skin After Weight LossSkin that expanded over years cannot always contract in months. After significant weight loss the fat is gone but the stretched envelope remains — a c…Cellulite: Architecture, Not FatCellulite is not excess fat — lean women have it and most men never will. It is architecture: vertical fibrous bands tethering skin down while fat lob…The Postpartum Tummy & Diastasis RectiA postpartum tummy that persists past the first year is usually built from three parts: a stretched abdominal wall whose midline has separated (diasta…Excessive Sweating (Hyperhidrosis)Hyperhidrosis is sweating beyond what temperature regulation requires — underarms soaking through shirts indoors, palms that smear ink and dodge hands…

Intimate health

Vaginal Tightening Treatment Singapore: G LiftVaginal tightening treatment in Singapore: how the G Lift fractional CO2 laser compares with erbium lasers such as IntimaLase, and what laser cannot t…

Skincare ingredients

Ingredient entries (retinol, tranexamic acid, niacinamide, azelaic acid and more), including what each can and cannot do and how it is regulated in Singapore, live in the Skin A–Z library. Not sure where to start? Try the treatment finder.