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I have been asked by customers what do I think of Agnes treatment. Having been an ex-acne sufferer for 14 long years, I know what could be the long term consequences of not having a proper skincare regimen or going for the wrong treatment. In my 14 years of struggle with acne, I have tried many different treatments for acne. I had wrinkles at the age of 24 because I did not use proper skincare when I had acne. You can read my story here.
During my time, chemical peels done by doctors was the “in” treatment for acne. I did mine with famous aesthetic doctor but it did not help clear my acne but left me with sensitive skin instead. Agnes Treatment kinda rings an alarm bell for me too.
You can read more here on the different doctors and treatments / medications / procedures, I have tried in the search for my acne cure.
What is Agnes Treatment?
Screenshot from : http://www.igwss.com/agnes, updated: http://www.igwss.com/sub02/sub01.php
Essentially, in layman terms, Agnes Treatment destroys your sebaceous glands. Sebaceous glands are the glands that are responsible for producing sebum also know as oil. Overactive sebaceous glands secrete too much oil and causes clogs in your pores, leading to acne. So, by destroying these overactive sebaceous glands, the company selling this machine proposes that this gives a permanent solution to your recurring acne.
Would I go for Agnes Treatment IF I am still having acne now?
Personally, I would not go for agnes treatment only if as a last resort. To me, Agnes treatment is an extreme treatment because it destroys the sebaceous glands. My main worry is that it will lead to dry skin permanently in future since your sebaceous glands have been destroyed. I don’t know if those sebaceous glands will ever become active again but this might just lead to other skin problems, like dry skin and/or uneven skin in future. Having dry skin is not good as you will get wrinkles more easily.
Clinical Evidence of Agnes Treatment
There’s no long term studies on Agnes Treatment and the paper published to support this treatment had only 12 subjects. It’s also not a guarantee no acne recurrence treatment. Clinically evident relapse occurred in 2 of 12 patients (16.7%) one year after the final treatment session.
Reviews of Agnes Treatment
I saw a couple of Singapore bloggers giving positive reviews on Agnes Treatment. I noted that those reviews are the immediate short term reviews. Quite a few of them are sponsored too. And after doing google search for reviews of Agnes Treatment, I found this negative review:
This lady had her oil glands damaged after Agnes Treatment and her skin is really dry now. Her case seem to show that my worry on Agnes Treatment is not unfounded. To be fair, it could be the dr who didn’t do a good job and not because of Agnes Treatment. But her dryness could really be due to Agnes Treatment as well. Because it’s only one case, it’s hard to make any conclusion.
Agnes Treatment as a last resort
P.S. I am not totally against Agnes Treatment. I reckon dry skin is probably better than acne skin, isn’t it? Since there’s no long term studies, my worries could be unfounded. But from a biology point of view, this treatment definitely sounds harsh to me and damage might be irreversible. Maybe if I had tried everything, I might go for it. Maybe. If you have tried almost everything, including Skinlycious anti-acne products(at least 3 months), by all means go try Agnes Treatment.
P.P.S. I am not against aesthetic procedures either. I do go for FPL and microdermabrasion with my aesthetic doctor when I have the time in Singapore. Usually, once a year as I am overseas most of the time.
An Alternative Acne Treatment for You
Through my experience of having tried so many different products (drug store brands to high end brands to in-house doctors brands), coupled with my biomedical and pharmaceutical background, I found that certain ingredients, when used in the right concentrations and proportions, could really alleviate my acne woes.
I developed an effective 3 steps routine which consists of calming cleanser, glow exfoliant and hydrating serum, that helps to address the root causes of acne. It has helped many customers, including myself, to achieve acne-free skin. You can read more of my story here.
Many of my customers are like me, having gone through many treatments and different products in search for a remedy for their acne. Below is Jun Qi’s testimonial. More testimonials can be found here.
My conversation with my Aesthetic GP
This conversation happened a year ago when I was having my FPL treatment with my dr.
Dr : I noticed that you have two pimples here. We have a new machine here. It works by destroying the sebaceous glands.
Me : Woah! But if the sebaceous glands are destroyed, will it lead to dry skin in future? Or uneven skin?
Dr : There’s millions of sebaceous glands on your face. Burning off a few shouldn’t be a cause of worry. After all, studies show that it’s always those few problematic sebaceous glands that is causing the recurring acne. We will only target the problematic ones.
Me : Ok. But no thanks. These two pimples will go away in a day or two. I am not worried about it. They don’t always pop up here either.
Some pointers to keep in mind :
1) Doctors earn the most from surgeries and procedures (that includes aesthetic procedures). Many doctors in private practice are businessmen. They have clinic rental, overheads and families to feed. In my pharmaceutical days, I have seen my fair share of unethical doctors. A small handful but they do exist, even in Singapore. But the number of good and skilled drs we have in Sg far exceeds the small number of black sheep. So, it’s good you think through if the dr’s recommendation is indeed necessary. Or go to another dr for a second opinion.
2) Companies market their drugs/machines with information at that present moment
I would like to share a case that happened during my pharma days.
An osteoporosis drug was marketed to help in prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis, thus preventing fractures. I am sure that it has help prevented many fractures. However, there was a subgroup of women where these bone density results were borderline and they took it for long term, like more than 5 years. These women had unusual fractures that were traced to consuming this drug long term. They are mostly doctors’ mothers as they were early adopters. Thereafter, the drug company issued a recommendation that patients at low-risk for fracture should be considered for drug discontinuation after 3 to 5 years of use. This only came about after the drug was sold for more than 10 years in the market.
In summary, sometimes, being early adopters is not such a great thing. Sometimes, it’s good to try more established methods first if you have the choice. Some of the bloggers’ photos I have seen seem to have Agnes Treatment done almost on the whole face. I wonder if they would suffer from dry skin down the road. I hope I am wrong.
References
Lee JW, Kim BJ, Kim MN, Ahn GY, Aso H.
Selective sebaceous gland electrothermolysis as a treatment for acne: a prospective pilot study.
Int J Dermatol. 2012 Mar;51(3):339-44.
Picture source of Agnes Treatment : www.igwss.com.
For further detailed information of Agnes Treatment, refer to www.igwss.com.
