I first met Dr Melvin Tan (on left in main pic above) a couple of years ago, when I interviewed him about being Violet Oon's son-in-law (he's married to Tay Su-lyn, Violet's daughter, and they have three kids together), how much he likes doing Botox and fillers ( I can express myself creatively, and help people look and feel better at the same time ), and how his wife's face has the ideal proportions (it's called the golden ratio).

So when he opened his own aesthetics clinic called Epion Clinic and invited me to go to try some treatments, I was all ready to go get some laser treatments done, or perhaps a medi-facial. The clinic is easily the most beautiful aesthetics clinic or beauty establishment I've been to (actually, with its Art Deco style and luxe-hip matte gold touches, and its location in a conservation shophouse at Tudor Court, it kinda looks like a Violet Oon restaurant).

But when I sat down with Dr Tan and he examined my face, he suggested not their popular Epion Star treatment or their new Luminous Lift or Sylfirm treatments, but a HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) treatment to lift the skin at the lower half of my face and jawline, and dermal fillers at my nose and chin, to give my face better shape and proportion. Yikes. How did we go from medi-facials to needles? And everyone knows HIFU is painful. After a short internal tussle, my curiosity and vanity got the better of me. Within half an hour, after waiting for the numbing cream on my face to kick in, I found myself staring down some needles and a HIFU machine. Gulp.

I've been invited to a few HIFU treatments over the years, but I've also heard they can be painful, so I've resisted trying it, until now (also, 'cos this was an on-the-spot decision, I didn't have time to think too much about it). In a nutshell, HIFU is ultrasound energy that penetrates into the deep layers of your skin to stimulate the production of collagen, which results in firmer skin.

The treatment at Epion is called Ultraformer 3G HIFU, and is touted as a non-invasive skin lifting treatment which uses the world’s first and only Micro and Macro Focused Ultrasound (MMFU) technology to tighten and lift skin for effective, lasting results with no downtime. In real life, Dr Tan told me to expect some discomfort (everyone knows this is doctor-speak for PAIN ) but that the numbing cream should help (again, alarm bells).

Yes, the treatment rooms in Epion are very nice and classy and chic, but deep underneath my calm and collected exterior, panic was rising. I just want to tell you that this is perfectly normal in the case of anything new that you've never tried before, especially if numbing cream is involved.

Dr Tan is very reassuring and experienced, and super gentle, without being mollycoddling. My face is now pretty numb, but when he gently applies the HIFU device and administers the ultrasound energy, I felt a dull ache penetrate deep into my jaw. It sorta feels like a throbbing toothache, but the toothache would probably feel worse. Using the device, the doc presses into the skin on my lower face, jawline and upper neck multiple times, pushing the ultrasound heat deep into the dermis layers to force my somnambulant collagen into action. The dull ache is uncomfortable, and I felt sharp prickly pain at some parts where the skin is thinner, but it quickly passes. The whole thing is over in half an hour, with Dr Tan genially making conversation ( Going anywhere these holidays? ) while efficiently working.

A clinic technician getting some before and after shots of a customer.

For me, the aftermath showed up about a month after the treatment (as the skin needs time to regenerate and produce new collagen to look more lifted). Almost like magic, four weeks after the HIFU, my lower jaw looked so much more tightened and V-shaped, I was shocked. The slightly scallopy skin at the lower jaw had tightened back into the jawline, and I was looking at the most V-shaped version of my face ever, sans Snapchat, Snow or B612 filters. Amazing. And the results last about a year. HIFU for the full face (I only did half my face) at Epion is $2,800, and HIFU to lift skin around the eyes is $1,200.

You must be wondering about the fillers, especially if you've never tried injectables and are dying to know whether they work, and how painful they are. Let me tell you, the pain is... negligible. For the chin, I had the numbing cream on, and felt nothing, not even the needle going in. Basically, Dr Tan was injecting some hyaluronic acid dermal fillers to enhance my chin to balance out my facial proportions and give me a better shape and silhouette. These fillers can also be used to fill in wrinkles and lines and improve dark eye circles.

After the treatment, as the numbing cream wears off, I felt a dull ache at the chin area, but it's nothing that bad. If you touch your chin, you will feel a hard substance there at first, but after a few days, it's like nothing happened, except that you have a better, sharper chin.

The funny thing is, a grand total of ZERO people asked me if I did anything to my chin. When I look in the mirror, I feel that my face is sharper, and coupled with the effects of the HIFU, my jawline is, compared to before, so sharp it can cut... well, not glass, but you get the drift. It's a very nice effect, even though no one seems to have noticed anything, but that's a good thing, right? You want people to think you look great, but not ask if you had anything done. I feel that my face is the most V-shaped it's ever been, and my profile is stronger than before.

According to Dr Tan, being an aesthetics doc does require some creative or artistic skill, as you need to know what to augment and where and how to shape the face.

He suggested I also get some fillers at my nose to give me a stronger nose bridge, and I decided to go all in. For the nose, I didn't even get numbing cream, just a few seconds of ice pressed against the bottom of my nose, then a slight prick as a numbing injection went in. After that, I closed my eyes as I felt what felt like a long needle go into the bottom of my nose, and stuff going into the nose bridge area. But no pain at all. The doctor skillfully shaped my nose bridge with his fingers (like Play-Doh?!), and I was out in 15 minutes flat.

The results were similarly subtle, like that of the chin, yet improved the overall proportions of my face to make it more balanced and give my features a sharper edge. My nose bridge is no longer as non-existent, and my silhouette looks better. Again, no one noticed (or at least said anything), but I feel great. The results will last one to one-and-a-half years, and fillers at Epion start at $963. Would I do fillers again once they wear off? We'll see. I feel the results are subtle yet contribute to an overall improvements in looks. And if you're after more obvious results? Well, you only have to tell the good doctor what you want.

Epion Clinic is at 145 Tanglin Road, Tudor Court, Tel: 6732-2122. More info at https://epionclinic.com.