EPION CLINIC | Tanglin’s GLAM Medspa
- Sarah F.
- Dec 24, 2018
- 15 min read
Updated: Jan 19, 2019
Stepping into the charming medspa known as EPION, is like chancing upon a glamorous haven of beauty amidst the heart of town.
As though an artist brushed strokes of gold and turquoise across a canvas of classic pin-stripe black, white tiling that wraps it's interior chambers.
With it’s stylish backdrop, EPION adds a touch of vogue to the medspa experience.
One might even be led to feel that you've walked into a sleek, Parisian boutique if not for the menu of cutting-edge spa services that avail itself within.
Tanglin's Tudor Court
It is whilst ambly strolling through Tanglin's alley of stores, savouring it's colonial-era architecture, that one begins to discern the rich heritage of the area . Taking a quick visit through history, 17th century Tanglin was comprised of plantations growing gambier, nutmeg and pepper. But it was in the colonial period, when most of the area was converted into well-respected residences for the Europeans and Chinese.
Tudor Court in particular was built in the fashion of a Renaissance chateau, selling high end home decor and antiques. It's quintessential art galleries and carpet stores have catered to luxury clientele and travelers from around the world. And a few steps away is the elegant Tanglin Mall that tends to attract a regular clientele of locals and expats living in the area. Personally, I’ve always found the Tanglin area inviting, because it retains a sense of serenity despite it’s proximity to the bustling Orchard Rd.
There amidst this charming scene, we find a slightly different shopfront. One with a glimmer of sophistication. The black and white signs of the EPION clinic welcome those thirsting for rejuvenation and a dalliance with beauty. It was those very signs that had me peering within the glass doors of this unique establishment, curious to spy what lay within.
I found myself appreciating the EPION's signature style that sets it apart from just any cookie cutter establishment. It’s lush interiors display a glamorous art deco style. This design strategy was a deliberate and clever complement to its exterior. The inviting rooms within are framed perfectly in a color palette that lends a stunning sight to the eyes. For the Instagram savvy, this spa would make a great backdrop for your next social media story!
From it's immaculate state, it becomes apparent that EPION clinic is brand new. As of 2018, it stands in it’s first year of conception. Yet even in it's infancy it appears to be doing everything right. Beautiful interiors, a classic location, the latest aesthetic technologies and gracious customer service, all work together to deliver a memorable experience.
The EPION clinic delivers a variety of treatments for the face, eyes, skin and body. From injectables, to laser treatments, medi-facials as well as a list of programmes that cater to every skin-care challenge.
Cutting edge technologies deliver both mild and invasive treatments depending on what is requested by the client. This comprehensive menu sets EPION as a one stop destination for one's beauty needs.
Because the clinic opened it's doors this year, it’s equipment appears to be brand new as well. I noticed that the laser equipment was spotless and shiny, as though it was right out of the box. And this marvelous sense of being brand new carries through the entire clinic.
From the ritzy sitting area, to it's stylish doors and velvet furniture, it’s truly immaculate.
PRIVACY & THE PROCEDURE
When I visited EPION clinic, I was instantly put at ease by the unique marriage of elegance coupled with warmth. A combination that one does not come by very often. However, the EPION clinic manages to pull it off. Upon buzzing the outdoor bell, a receptionist opens the door to greet me warmly, as if she were greeting a friend. I stepped in and then came the double take as I realized just how stylish the décor carried on from one room to another. This was certainly not your regular med-spa.
The polished aestheticians with their chic turbans enthusiastically explained how the day’s treatment would unfold, before leading me into a private room. It was here that I would be made ready for my consultation with the doctor.
And it was this private room that would become “my room” for the length of my visit. I was deftly guided through each step of the EPION experience. It was to "my room' to which I would retreat to and fro amidst the consultation and the selected treatments. I felt that it was a good system that offers patients a sense of comfort.
In my experience, a sense of privacy and intimacy are amongst the hallmarks of the EPION experience.
And so the first step was to remove all my makeup, so that I could be bare faced before meeting the doctor. Even this basic, primary step was performed with much care as the aesthetician cleansed my face in a precise manner. A sense of relaxation was introduced from this very first step.
I was then readied to visit the doctor and was led to his office. Of course, his office was just as chic as every other room in the spa.
Dr Melvin Tan is the sole doctor at the EPION, being both its founder and medical director.
At first glance once notices that the dashing doctor looks like he could be comfortable gracing the pages of a fashion magazine. Why is it not surprising that even the all black scrubs that he sports are distinctly more sophisticated than your regular doctor’s attire?
The well-spoken doctor introduces himself as the consult begins. His education in England lends a gracious accent; part British and Singaporean, which interestingly mirrors the history of the area.
What I appreciated about the good doctor was his calm manner and listening ear. All of which add to the sense of falling into a cultivated state of ease in the midst of what could otherwise be a somewhat less comforting experience.
Dr Tan listened carefully to my skincare needs before presenting a selection of options of treatments that he felt would best accentuate my features.
One of the tools Dr Tan used was a 3D camera, which allowed the doctor to gain a complete perspective of the terrain of my face. It mapped out my face so thoroughly that I admit it was rather taken aback to see my face from every angle! After a discussion, a treatment plan was devised, I was going to go through a laser facial, followed with and a slight enhancement with fillers.
And so my next step was to prepare for the actual treatment.
Once again I returned to “my room” where I was prepped with numbing cream. This was probably my favourite part of the experience. The numbing cream had to be massaged thoroughly into my face to help it penetrate. And it turned out to be an enjoyable face massage, that I would happily go through again!
Throughout the treatment, the aestheticians were consistently friendly and warm, and their care added to the serenity of my experience. Finally the treatment began and the doctor’s bedside manner was both careful and considerate.
You see, I had opted for lasers and fillers which were somewhat invasive treatments, and a caring team by one’s side goes a long way.
For those interested in laser treatments, the treatment begins with the application of the numbing cream. While for those who are especially sensitive, there is the option of requesting anesthetic injections to completely block out any sensation.
I found that I was quite comfortable with the numbing cream alone. Getting laser treatments and fillers aren’t exactly a breeze, yet with the care that one receives at the EPION, I found that it went by quickly. It was simply a matter of bearing with some mild discomfort for a short time. Bear in mind that for the level of treatments that I had asked for, this is the norm.
The right team and care truly does help the patient enjoy a more seamless experience.
For the human touch goes a long way, with these more aggressive treatments.
With regards to injectables and fillers, Dr Tan appears to have an eye for enhancing structure with subtle yet effective changes. With a small amount of filler he was able to give me a slight enhancement that I felt went a long way.
I've come to see that it’s not about the volume but rather the technique of administering the filler that greatly affects the final aesthetic.
Following the array of treatments, my face felt numb and raw. Though I knew that I was in good hands, and all I had to do was to follow the post-care instructions meticulously.
My opting for a more invasive laser experience meant that I would have to refrain from the sun, from wearing make-up and from using any skincare that was abrasive to the skin.
AFTERCARE | Moisturize and protect
Moisturize and protect! That was my regimen for the next 3-5 days as my skin recovered and rebuilt itself. I was given one of EPION’S custom skincare range called the healing balm. It is a thick, gel like cream that I was advised to slather liberally on my face daily until it healed.
Although the treatment itself was complete, there was more to go! In the concluding stage of my visit, I was led back to my room, where my final facial consisted of exposing my skin to far-infra red light. Far infra red light accelerates the healing process and assists the skin to regenerate.
By this time, the numbing cream was wearing off and I was really beginning to feel the sting! I was grateful that I had been scheduled for an evening visit so that I could avoid any possibility of being exposed to the sun. If you’re getting laser treatments, remember to bring a hat, sunglasses and sunblock! You might need them afterwards.
And so my treatment was complete!
As is the tradition in Asia, my visit to the EPION clinic drew to a close with the traditional ginger tea. It almost felt like a congratulatory moment now that the work was over! All that was left were a few days of recovery before my improved skin would reveal itself!
Through this entire experience, I could see why EPION prides itself on it's unique service.
It turned what could possibly be a more aggressive clinical experience into a nurturing, spa-like experience.
I had actually researched the root meaning of the word EPION and it refers to the soothing of pain.
It's no accident that at the EPION clinic, a soothing atmosphere of peace is cultivated here. It truly lives up to it's name!
I have to say that the intimacy of its chambers was much appreciated. Wether you’re choosing the milder treatments or the more invasive, the quiet privacy afforded here, is a benefit.
Dr Melvin Tan | More about the doctor
Having opened earlier this year, the EPION clinic is the brainchild of Dr Melvin Tan, the sole doctor at the spa.
I sat down with the youthful, dashing doctor who shared his journey developing his charming establishment. Dr Tan hails from Singapore but received his education in England, having studied in boarding school in Cambridge.
Having previously been a part of larger establishment, an aesthetic clinic with several doctors, he had a growing desire to create a novel experience for his patients. One that would offer privacy, intimacy and selective care.
Dr Tan relates, “ I trained in the UK. Actually, I lived there for most of my life. I went over to the UK at 12 yrs old to attend boarding school. Then I came back to serve at National Service here which is what all local boys do.
And then I returned to the UK for medical school, working there for a couple of years before coming back here to Singapore. I worked in hospitals for some time and it was in 2008 that I left the hospital and started getting into aesthetics. So It’s been roughly 10 years since I started in this particular field. At the start I was working at a clinic with other doctors. But this is the first clinic of my own.
It was earlier this year, at the start of the year that we moved into this place and it’s been great. It’s been pretty exciting times since opening. And essentially that’s the story of this place."
I respond, ”I like the fact that the exterior is very quaint and it feels like it would be personable from the outside.”
Dr Tan, “ The way it looks is probably for a few reasons. Firstly, we are like a little shop. We are like a retail space and we have a little shop front. So we wanted to make it feel like a shop front and bring this retail feel to this special area.
So it makes us a little different, a little unique from the usual medspa that you see.
Everything about us is about convenience. So even when we found this space, one of the things that really attracted me to it, aside from the visibility of it, was that it had a mall next to it.
It had parking and it was a big enough space, that my clients could just park there and walk over. We wanted to focus on the experience for our clients and our patients and you see first hand what I mean by that.
When our clients come. There are these little rooms that we have, and they check into a little room and it's your room basically. You do all your treatments. You do your pre-treatments there, and you get numbed. You do your post-treatments there with your mask.
And when you need to do the laser itself, you go to the laser room and then you return to your room.
So its very private in that way, and even when we’re actually very busy, sometimes we have 3 or 4 patients running at the same time, it still seems pretty quiet.
So I think that’s quite nice. I’m pretty happy with how that worked out."
He carries on saying,
" We try to bring in as much good equipment and really provide good services. Good technology with a unique service and convenience for our patients and clients. ”
I ask, “ How does the technology provided here differ from other medspas? ”
Dr Tan, “That’s a very good question. I guess in all ways we probably have similar equipment but I try to get equipment that is FDA approved or CEA approved so it has all the hallmarks and stamps that it needs to be accepted by the regulatory authorities.
We use botox and juvederm exclusively, which in my opinion are the best products for injectables.
I do training for Juvederm as well, and I work as one of their trainers.
So I like to be able to think at least that I bring some expertise in injectables as well. "
I ask, ”Where do you do the training ? ”
Dr Tan, ” I do it in a quite a few places actually.
Every year I take a few doctors here locally through several sessions of injection techniques. But probably in the last 4 years I’ve been training overseas.
I started out in South East Asia, in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
But in the last 2 years I’ve been going to China a lot.
I’ve gone 6 times in the past 2 years. And I spend a week there each time,
And I train around 30 to 40 doctors.
I exclaim, ” That’s amazing because you're so young!”
Dr Tan, ”I’m 42 actually"
I respond, ”You look younger.”
Dr Tan laughs, ” It's all the treatments! ”
I ask, “ So let me ask you something that caught my attention. I love the design of the clinic, did you come up with this concept?”
Dr Tan, jokingly “ Yes. It's all me.”
He laughs, " So my wife actually she has a real affinity for this thing. She runs a few restaurants which are very designer and design led as well.
She has a gift with interior design. She used to work in LA. She had a clothing line that she ran for 13 years, that was very successful.
So she's got a very good eye for design and is very good at renovations. And she had a big hand at this. Obviously she worked with an interior designer as well but collectively they came up with this concept."
Dr Tan's appreciation for his wife's talents are clear. This couple sounds like a powerful duo and a match made in Heaven.
I respond, ” I love it. It's very interesting because the exterior, which is English thatch roof, and Tudor architecture lends a very cosy, personable feel to the building. Yet when you enter its very elegant and sophisticated.
Dr Tan relates,“ It's kind of art-decoish right and this building is from the art deco era, the 1920’s. Trying to tie it together and be consistent with the history of the site, it was quite appropriate to have this style.
That was quite nice I think. It turned out very nicely and I think that it kept this place quite special as well.
One of the things that was so instrumental in my starting my own practice was actually finding this location. I thought it was so amazing. It's very special.
And immediately when I saw it I thought, I have to open here.
I add, "Because you have Tanglin Mall, I get the sense that you have regular clientele who live in this area.”
Dr Tan, ” Yes we do, but probably the amazing thing is that we have quite a few walk ins as well. Tourists, as well as people walking past and people who are just shopping in the mall. Which is very unusual for an aesthetic practice in general.
It tends to be more appointment based where people are going to find you online. But I think we are fortunate in that respect. We have people who walk past and they get attracted by how we look and what we offer. So they come in and get treatments.”
I respond, ” I can see that happening in this area, because it's one where people tend to take their time and walk to take in the art galleries and enjoy the environment. As opposed to walking through an area like Orchard Rd, which is bustling and faster paced.”
Dr Tan says, “ Yes that’s right.”
I decide to take the conversation on a new tangent and ask the doctor,
“ Do you have a hobby, such as in art for example, that somehow relates to your career?”
Dr Tan,
"I do love architecture. It’s not so much a hobby but it’s a huge interest of mine and it's something that I do share with my wife.
Even for the space, I love the space planning. Even looking for furniture.
Its something I do enjoy.
So not so much art but architecture and design is a big passion of mine.
If I wasn’t a doctor I would have definitely gone to architecture school.
At one point in the midst of my medical training, I was actually thinking of exploring that in the US for a masters just to see if that was something that would fulfill me in a certain way.”
I respond, ” Well you're engaged in facial architecture now.”
Dr Tan, ”I guess so and in a way with fillers and botox and everything like that, in this part of the world it’s so much about facial contouring.
Less so than in the West where it's about trying to treat or reverse the signs of ageing.
In this part of the world, its about treating the structure and foundation of the face and beautifying the face. So I think there’s that architectural component of the aesthetic field."
I tell the doctor that, ” I get the sense from what you’ve shared that your vision for this place is to provide intimacy and privacy, so your clients feel at ease.”
Dr Tan,” It shouldn’t be… Let me see if I can phrase this correctly … It shouldn’t be so clinical an experience I feel. It should feel like a spa where you can get all the cutting edge and clinical services that you need but it shouldn’t feel like you’re going to the dentist.
I mean there's nothing wrong with going to the dentist, but it shouldn’t be scary.
It should be very relaxing and it should be assuring and our clients should be relaxed when they come here.
They should be very comfortable and it should be very private.
I think that whatever they do here, it should be a very private retreat.
People often don’t want others to know what treatments they’re doing. They’re very sophisticated in that way, they want to look as good as they possibly can but as much as possible, they don’t want people to know the treatments they're engaged in. And we just want to be able to support that.
I do get this huge satisfaction from getting a good result. A good result aesthetically is great but you can see how happy it makes them sometimes. And often, especially in the younger patients you can make them even more confident in the way they look.
Especially in this part of the world where you are really trying to improve the proportions of the face which can have such a dramatic impact on facial beauty.
If you can just subtly change little aspects of someones appearance, and it makes them a little more comfortable in their skin. And it makes them so much more confident."
Dr Tan, "It could even be something like acne that we’re treating.
You can really see someone blossom in front of you. And that probably is the thing that keeps me going .
It doesn’t always turn out that way, because the nature of what I do is very subjective in certain ways. Trying to use the technology that we have to get to where they want sometimes is not possible.
And sometimes we have a difference in terms of what we expect so there are lot of these intangible aspects in this specialty.
I think that over the years I’ve really had to cultivate this. Communicating this with our clients.
Trying to get them to have the right expectations, trying to get them to understand that what they need is sometimes not what they want. Trying to explain to them what the technology today can actually produce.
It’s in the communication, that we have to spend the greatest amount of time trying to get an understanding across."
Dr Tan, " So I think one of the things that we have over here that really helps is a 3D photo. You get a visual that is 3 dimensional. Often you see yourself in 2 dimensions, from the front. You probably never see this side. So we can really appreciate your entire structure in 3D and we can even look inside our head.
That’s great for before and afters. You can flip it around. You can put it side by side, so you can see the before and afters very clearly."
He jokes, " You can even see inside the brain .... It's again one of these tools that we have to help us clearly explain the treatment and what we can do. ”
Dr Tan’s eyes light up as his fascination for the latest technology and what it offers becomes apparent.
He's pulled off creating an impressive clinic that delivers a memorable experience - the warmth of the human touch coupled with the latest technologies, in a sleek, tasteful environment.
It’s a winner.
The Epion Clinic is located at 145 Tanglin Road, Tudor Court (tel: 6732 2122).
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