00:00Oh man, I can see it in my eyewear.
00:02Yeah, when you open your eye.
00:03Hey guys, it's Mi-Anne and this is Beauty With Me.
00:05If you haven't noticed, I do a lot of crazy facials on Beauty With Me.
00:10A couple of you guys asked me to try facial acupuncture.
00:13For those of you who are new to acupuncture, it's an ancient Chinese medicine practice that has been used for
00:19thousands of years.
00:21In fact, in 2003, the World Health Organization officially backed acupuncture as a medical treatment.
00:26And it was proven to help with a host of different issues from depression to rheumatoid arthritis.
00:31I finally did it earlier this month after reading all of your kind comments.
00:36And gotta say it was very rewarding.
00:39I headed over to see Sandra Lanchin Chu, who is an acupuncturist, herbalist, and founder of this wellness center called
00:46Treatment by Lanchin.
00:47She specializes in facial acupuncture, obviously.
00:49I did her facial acupuncture and gua saw treatment.
00:52Okay Mi, so we're gonna do facial acupuncture today.
00:56The first thing that I wanna know is what your concerns are.
01:00Well I have combination oily skin to start.
01:02And I get occasional breakouts, especially along my jawline.
01:07I'm prone to puffiness and a little bit of redness.
01:09Facial acupuncture can definitely help address a lot of the things you mentioned.
01:14Acupuncture can really move the circulation in the tissues.
01:18So with acne, often the issue is stagnation in the tissues.
01:23And for puffiness, same thing.
01:25It's an issue of circulation not being optimal.
01:28Basically we're helping your tissues function better.
01:31Well, should we start?
01:32Yeah, let's get started. Are you ready?
01:34Yes.
01:36So, we'll actually start with your neck.
01:39We're gonna open your neck.
01:41So you're just gonna feel a little nothing probably.
01:45Did you feel that?
01:45No.
01:46Okay, so your needle is in.
01:47Oh.
01:48What you'll probably feel is a little achy sensation, kind of like a toothache.
01:53That's perfectly normal.
01:55You also might experience a muscle jump, which is your muscle releasing if you feel that.
02:01Alright, so we're ready to flip you over now.
02:04We need to balance the energy so that you don't feel like it's all up here and get a headache
02:09or something.
02:10Many people consider acupuncture a really relaxing treatment, but I didn't really think that it was.
02:17If you have any kind of aversion to needles, you probably won't find it all that soothing.
02:21But Sandra did do a really good job of easing my nerves.
02:26Okay, you okay?
02:27Yeah, it was fine.
02:28One of the great things about Chinese medicine is it's catered always to the individual.
02:34So what I will do on you will be very different than what I do on my next client.
02:39When things circulate better, they function better.
02:43And when things function better, there's more health and vitality available to you.
02:48And that's really what people are looking for when they're looking for anti-aging.
02:53They're looking for that glow that comes from health.
02:57In general, this type of work requires repetition, kind of like going to the gym.
03:03Ideally, we would see you for eight weeks, once a week, or as close to that as possible.
03:09We're changing a pattern, and a pattern takes time and repetition to change.
03:15Sandra made a point to needle only half of my face so that we could really see a difference between
03:20the needled side and the non-needled side.
03:22On my right side of my face, there was virtually no redness.
03:26The puffiness of my face had severely been diminished.
03:29It was like night and day between my left side and my right side.
03:33After Sandra finished needling the rest of my face, she moved on to facial massage.
03:38Sandra is known for this technique called facial guasa, which is basically a very deep form of facial massage using
03:44a jade tool.
03:45That, combined with facial cupping, helps improve circulation and increase lymphatic drainage.
03:51So facial guasa actually comes from a body work technique that we use in Chinese medicine, body guasa.
03:59And it's pretty intense on the body, like it's fast friction and lots of pressure.
04:04When we apply guasa to the face, it's much gentler.
04:08So we're applying less pressure, not trying to create friction.
04:12Using the tool will create more of like a fascial release.
04:16Fascia is basically a layer of tissue that wraps your muscles.
04:21It's an important layer of tissue to work with to release tension.
04:26So it's really effective for lifting, sculpting and contouring.
04:31After the guasa, Sandra employed a bit of cupping.
04:34So she used these silicone cups and glided them along my jaw just to remove any of the stagnation in
04:40this area.
04:41I have a lot of hormonal breakups that occur here.
04:43So she said that it would really help with that.
04:46After the treatment, I could instantly tell there was a difference in my skin.
04:50My face looked a bit more contoured.
04:52It was brighter.
04:53It was a lot less redness.
04:56Still, the treatment itself can get pretty pricey fast.
05:00It costs upward of $200.
05:02So Sandra and her team host a monthly class where they teach clients facial guasa so they can maintain their
05:10results at home.
05:11I've been doing it for a few nights now and I really like it.
05:13It's a very nice way to calm down after you put your skin care on.
05:18All in all, I really enjoyed the experience.
05:20I feel like I learned so much and I'm really excited to keep using facial guasa in the future.
05:26Let me know what you want to see next on Beauty With Me by DMing me at mian.chan on
05:30Instagram.
05:30See you next time.
05:31Bye!
