The Art of Facial Lifting Treatments: Preventing Double Chin and Sagging Skin
Brought to life by Jan Medical Group, global innovator BTL Aesthetics, and luxury skincare house La Mer, The recent Art of Lift event at the Grand Hyatt BGC proved that true skin transformation happens at the intersection of clinical precision and pure sensory indulgence.
Set within the hotel’s Grand Hyatt’s Illume Spa, the collaboration evoked quiet exclusivity from the moment we arrived. It wasn’t a conventional open house or product launch. Everything was structured around the guest: unpaced, curated, and personal.
Two pillars anchored the day. EMFACE by BTL Aesthetics helmed the clinical lifting technology, while La Mer served as its counterpart in facial sculpting. Sessions were scheduled in the afternoon, so guests could begin the day with their skin already responding to treatment, visibly lifted and refreshed, before the formal programme began. Meanwhile, post-event sessions extended the pampering late into the day, preserving a calm, attentive atmosphere where no treatment ever felt rushed.
Between sessions, interactive freebie booths kept us entertained, a small hospitality touch that meant no one was left waiting with nothing to experience. La Mer kept its own dedicated space throughout, hosting hands-on sculpting demonstrations and product experiences.
I came for the sculpting ritual, and it unfolded the way the best rituals do: slowly. The session is Jan Medical Group’s facial sculpting practice, elevated with La Mer products. I settled in for thirty minutes, which washed over me like a mini soft reset day. What pulled me in was the sublime play of contrasts: the silk-cool texture of Crème de La Mer against the soothing heat of the therapist’s hands. Warmed between her palms, its richness sank into my skin without ever feeling weight.
My favorite moment came right after. The massage started with La Mer’s Renewal Oil, with her hands tracing a slow, deliberate path up from my shoulders through my neck and only then reaching my face, leaving a trail of softness in their wake.
Its signature warming, pressing, and lifting motions traveled along my jawline, cheekbones, and temples in choreographed sweeps. Nothing was aggressive. The pressure was firm enough to mean something, and with each pass my face seemed to rise and open, easing tension I hadn’t realized I was holding. By the end, I could say my face felt smoother and more defined.
The hand massage arrived as an unexpected bonus. Hands so rarely get their moment, and here they were warmed, pressed, and coaxed into pliability.
At the exclusive gathering, we also caught up with Dr. Jan himself to hear the thinking behind brand collaborations, how the treatment works beneath the skin, and what care looks like when every patient begins with a physician consultation. Here is our conversation:
DR. JAN DIPASUPIL: Just to give you a story, Jan Medical Group is a weight management and awareness group. We’ve been seeing clients who wanted to lose weight, and then once they’ve lost weight, there’s muscle loss that’s happening. It’s not just fat loss. When you lose muscle, one of the things that they may see is that their face is gaunt. There’s what we call the gaunt face; we need the muscle here. Of course, when you do a lot of treatments, you don’t want to look tired. You don’t want a gaunt face. So, that’s when we have seen the potential of the EMFACE to help firm the local solutions and lift the face, the facial muscle, and the structure of it. And then that’s for the muscles, that’s the foundation. While the skin, where La Mer is a complement, it helps in nourishing the skin, moisturizing it, and then helps in self-aging, so helping in preventing the wrinkles from happening. It also gives this glow. So, that’s what we have combined.
DJP: Well, in Hollywood, in the U.S., they use the term Ozempic face, but we don’t really want to label it that because it’s a brand. So, we tell them it’s a gaunt face—mostly from drastic weight loss, not just the GLP-1s or the ingredient therapy medications; it can somehow reduce the facial muscles. So to support it, we have the EMFACE. We have two technologies. The radiofrequency increases the hyaluronic acid. The second one is High-intensity Facial Electrical Stimulation (HIFES) to help on the contractions of the facial muscles to lift it. So, they put the pad on specific areas like the forehead, cheeks, or chin for about 20 to 30 minutes. It’s like facial fitness, if you’ve been seeing that they massage the muscles. Instantly, it helps with the volume of the cheeks. There’s no needle. There’s no downtime. It’s not invasive. So that’s the technology of EMFACE.
Well, La Mer has an effect on the skin layer, the moist layer. Facial sculpting is part of the benefit of lymphatic drainage and, of course, the skin. That’s one part of moisturizing, helping in moisturizing the skin when you’re also applying the products. So, what can clients expect from the treatments after they do one session? Or do you have to do several sessions before you see the outcome? Our recommendation is to have four sessions of the treatment. But there are times when we have a client who started with one, and then complemented it with the other. It’s a subtle effect. Some people don’t just like the look. It’s somehow ‘snatched.’ People don’t like to look as if you did something to your face. But this one has a subtle effect. It’s something that changes the facial structure. Something like you look glowing. That’s the effect of the EMFACE plus the La Mer. [Basically, you can do the EMFACE weekly,] and right after the treatment, we could also add on that facial sculpting to help the skin and also massage the muscles.
DJP: First, we ask about their body goals, why they want to lose weight, or maybe why they went to our clinic. We need to understand them first. And then when we have assessed them, that’s when we could somehow offer the available weight management programs that we have. We customize it. We personalize it. Because our mantra, our approach, is to lose the right weight. We have a rule of about 80% when you lose fat. 20%, you may lose muscle. It may go up as high as 60% if you haven’t applied the right diet and exercise. So, when you lose muscle, your metabolism could also slow down. What happens is, even though you’re already going for OMAD (one meal a day) or not eating that much, you’re not seeing results. That’s why we like to have the right approach for our clients. And then if they would be needing some help, since we have like 10% to 15%, you see great results of weight loss.
Though there are some consequences that may happen from weight loss. You may see that there’s sagging of the skin, like in the arms. And for example, here’s a child, he’s already sagging. It’s like you thought it’s just fat, but it’s already sagging. That’s when we have complemented with the other treatments that we have, like Exion; mayroon din kaming Emsculpt Neo to support the muscles of the tummy. It’s not just giving you the six-pack. Our goal is to increase the muscle, to increase the metabolism for longevity. That’s how it is. And then it reduces the fat. We’re also proud that we have an amp phase to help with the facial structure. We also have an Exomind, which is used for people who want to have better sleep, to reduce the stress of mental illness. But actually, one of the benefits of our Exomind is that if they’re done with the medications that we have prescribed for weight loss, it controls the cravings. So, it’s somehow a maintenance effect if they’re already done with weight loss medication. Kahit papaano, we could already offer that.
DJP: The effortless lift is a combination of our treatments, the EMFACE and the La Mer. Our clientele are in their 40s and above, or who are really aging like the 50s, because that’s where they’re seeing that they’re sagging, or parang lumiliit na ‘yung muscles or bumababa na talaga. That’s the treatment recommendation. But there are certain clients that are already experiencing that, especially from extreme weight loss. Some of them have lost weight, but the first thing they lose is ‘yung dito [referring to the cheeks]. Others have lost weight, but their face is still big. They’re happy with their weight loss, but they’re not happy na lumulubog ‘yung sa cheeks nila. Kasi maraming nakakakita nu’n, [then they’ll ask na] parang ‘Anong nangyari sa’yo? May sakit ka ba or what?’
There are others whose fat distribution is not equal. When we’re removing the fat, it’s not like that you intentionally wanted to remove the fat in that area na when you’re working out, hindi pala nawawala. There are certain areas where the fat is really stubborn, and also hormonal changes, especially if you’re moving from the perimenopausal side; the fat distribution goes to the abdomen area. It’s the same with fat reduction. Iba-iba talaga. Meron kaming tinatawag na ‘last in,’ and that’s the ‘first out.’ So if you see that your face is puffy in the last part, possibly, that’s the first out. It’s like an inventory. Siya ‘yung unang mawawala pero sa iba, kita nila ru’n sa tiyan lumalaki. So, we have different ways of storing fat and removing the fat.
We have clients who are not into injections like Botox and fillers. This is what they like. They’re already getting old. They’re done with the Botox. We have clients from Singapore who are going to orthopedics. They don’t want to have the injections. Ang nakikita naming clients who are very happy with that ay ‘yung 40s and above. For those in their 30s, you may not see the results. But if you have a gaunt face, you may see the results. Normally for those in their 20s, they don’t need that unless they’re drastically losing weight. That’s what they need. The ones who are more prone to weight loss, especially those who are not guided by an expert, like a nutritionist, a fitness coach, doctors, usually don’t care about their diet, as long as they eat a little to lose weight.
DJP: Usually, 6 to 12 months. It could last longer. The treatment session is less than 30 minutes. Clients could see the result after a day. May iba; after a week, they may see a subtle change. When I say subtle, you’ll have that instant look where you see there’s something changed on the patient’s face na parang mas blooming ka. It’s not really snatched. It’s subtle. It’s natural. That’s the effect.
