Working in Aesthetic Med. | Training Workshops in Taiwan

Currently undergoing an internship with a Taiwanese anti-aging clinic, which is attached to a training and consultancy sister company.

In these two weeks, I have mostly been involved with the second venture, recently set up to provide knowledge and education to Taiwan's medical professionals. I had the privilege of helping them organize and execute their first series of workshops, allowing me to see firsthand what is entailed in carrying out a successful training event.

Every little detail needs to be considered. From contacting speakers, issuing invites, planning locations, to determining the manner of greeting the guests or the display of food and beverages laid out on seating spaces.

Event #1 was held at the company office, a beautiful predominately white space with marble flooring and chandeliers. The lecture, led by a leading anti-aging doctor, was held in a classroom area large enough to seat the 13 attendees. Since it was conducted in complex medical-term Chinese, I played videographer/cameraman for the day, trying my best to snap every candid 'promotional brochure' moment as well as those money-shot expressions of the 'students' deep in focus.

Event #2 required our team to commute 2 hours by car to another district in Taiwan. Led by a top aesthetic doctor flown in from Korea, the lecture was appropriately held at a medical University. The 'students' were mostly made up of doctors of various disciplines who were just starting to look into aesthetic medicine. Given Taiwan's growing interest in cosmetic surgery and quick-fix treatments, they were interested in expanding their knowledge and services to this sector.

The lecture topic covered a relatively new non-invasive beauty technique called 'Thread lifting'.

While it certainly sounds like your typical face lift, it differs in that it is predicated on the idea that facial aging is caused by fat loss and displacement, along with the decline of the skin condition itself. Hence explaining why the run-off-the-mill face lift often doesn't achieve the desired result of a younger looking complexion - just a strained expression.

Thread lifting, in its simplest form, involves synthetic threads that are left in the skin through penetration by multiple needles to mechanically lift the face, whilst stimulating collagen through the natural wound healing process over a 3 month period.

The Korean expert demonstrated the procedure using a volunteer model (one of my coworkers who was more than eager to snag a free treatment) and while it is a certainly a difficult procedure to watch and bear when undergoing it (at least from what I deduced from my colleagues face), the results speak for themselves.

I guess, in this industry, the age old saying 'Pain is beauty' never fails to ring true.