What Time Freeze Laser LCLR® is
Time Freeze Laser LCLR® is a long-pulsed laser protocol that Dr Sin Yong developed on a Lutronic platform. LCLR® stands for Laser Collagen Lipo Remodelling, which names its two actions. Collagen remodelling is aimed at laxity. Lipo-remodelling is aimed at superficial fat and settled product, through what he calls the Sculpting mode.
It uses 755 nm and 1064 nm wavelengths together, because the two have different absorption profiles. Energy is scanned across a zone, not fired at fixed points. Wavelength, fluence and vector are adjusted zone by zone while he works, according to how the tissue responds.
Some people call this a laser facelift, but it is not a facelift in the surgical sense. It does not cut, reposition or remove skin. Every plan begins with an examination by Dr Sin Yong, who decides whether lifting, volume or both suit you, or whether the problem is really a surgical one.
Lifting, zone by zone
Dr Sin Yong uses Time Freeze for lifting across the face, jowl, nasolabial folds, neck and double chin. It tends to suit mild to moderate laxity, and each zone has its own settings. Choose a zone to read what is done there.
Lax skin across the cheek and lower face. Skin quality is treated in the same session, including fine lines, pores and texture. Where the whole face has descended, see sagging face treatment.
A fold deepens when tissue from the cheek piles against it. Time Freeze is directed at laxity and at sagged fat beside the fold, and nothing is injected into the crease. Where the cheek has deflated, support is the question instead. See nasolabial fold treatment.
A jowl can be lax tissue, a compact fat pad, settled filler or a mix, and he tells these apart first. Laxity gets dermal heat along the jaw. Compact fat or product gets the Sculpting mode. A heavy, mobile jowl is referred. See jowls treatment.
Fat can blur the line of the jaw even when the skin is reasonably firm. The Sculpting mode is used on that fat in selected zones, and lean parts of the lower face are left out. See V shape face options by cause.
A double chin can be fat, loose skin, a short chin or a gland. Time Freeze is used for compact fat and laxity, often in the same session as the jawline. Other causes need other plans. See double chin treatment.
Loose, crepey neck skin is treated with conservative settings, without stacking passes, and with the thyroid and the midline of the front of the neck kept out of the field. Platysma bands are muscle, so botulinum toxin is considered instead. See neck revitalisation.
Other areas
Lax upper-lid skin, brow heaviness and the under-eye area can be addressed, with conservative settings. True muscle ptosis is referred elsewhere.
Beyond lifting, collagen remodelling aims to soften fine lines and improve texture and pores. Results vary.
Underarms, tummy and love handles, breasts, buttocks, thighs, back and intimate areas, where laxity sits over a thin layer of fat.
Time Freeze Laser LCLR® Bodylift: the body version
On the body, Dr Sin Yong uses the same 755 nm and 1064 nm protocol where skin has loosened over a thin layer of fat, and calls it the Time Freeze Laser LCLR® Bodylift. The laser acts on the thin fat layer while the skin above it is heated to contract, in the same session. Nothing is suctioned or cut, and a pinch test comes first, to tell loose skin from fat.
| What the examination finds | Where the Bodylift fits | What else is considered |
|---|---|---|
| Loose skin over a thin fat layer on the tummy, arms or thighs | The main body use | The pinch test decides how much is skin and how much is fat |
| A thin fat layer in the fold under the buttock | The zone around the buttock crease, within a buttock plan | The non-surgical Brazilian butt lift |
| Skin left loose after liposuction, with some fat remaining | Laxity over the fat that remains | The Vertical Figure Lift, if the skin itself has lost recoil and there is little fat under it |
| A firm, compact pocket of fat under skin that recoils well | Not usually the first choice | The 4K Body Lift |
| Skin hanging as an apron, or separated abdominal muscles | Not treated with energy | A surgical opinion for an apron. Separated muscles usually start with physiotherapy, with a surgical opinion if needed |
Excess filler: dissolve, remodel or refer
What happens to excess filler depends on what it is made of. Hyaluronic acid can be dissolved with hyaluronidase. [9] [10] Ellansé, Sculptra, Radiesse and the PDLLA in Juvelook cannot, because the enzyme acts only on hyaluronic acid. Published management of these materials has mainly involved medicines injected into the nodule and surgery, [11] [5] with slow natural breakdown for polylactic acid, and sodium thiosulfate described for slow CaHA breakdown. [12] This is where Dr Sin Yong uses the Sculpting mode, and that use rests on his clinical experience.
Dr Sin Yong uses it in the same visit, once each deposit has been mapped. He performs the ultrasound himself, locating the deposit and measuring its size and depth, because the plan follows what is on the scan, not what the injection record says. A review and a consensus panel describe ultrasound for identifying filler and managing complications. [13] [14] Energy is then directed at the excess, layer by layer, without an incision. How much changes is read at review.
| Material | Examples | Dissolved by hyaluronidase? | What Dr Sin Yong does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyaluronic acid | Most soft gel fillers | Yes | Usually dissolved, in a targeted way, after mapping. |
| Polycaprolactone (PCL) | Ellansé | No | Sculpting mode, after mapping. |
| Poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) | Sculptra | No | Sculpting mode, after mapping. |
| Poly-D,L-lactic acid (PDLLA) | Juvelook, Lenisna | Only the hyaluronic acid part | Sculpting mode, after mapping. |
| Calcium hydroxylapatite (CaHA) | Radiesse | No | Sculpting mode, after mapping. |
| Layered filler | Hyaluronic acid over a collagen stimulator | Hyaluronic acid part only | Hyaluronic acid first, then reassess, then the Sculpting mode on what remains. |
| Grafted fat | Your own fat | No | Superficial excess may suit the Sculpting mode. Large, deep excess is referred. |
| Silicone or PMMA | Permanent fillers | No | Mapped first. The Sculpting mode may be used, and surgical removal is discussed where it fits. |
A lump that is red, hot, tender or growing quickly needs a doctor the same day, or A&E if none can see you. It is treated medically first, and it is never lasered while active. See filler correction in Singapore, filler dissolving, Ellansé and Sculptra lumps and pillow face treatment.
Sagging areas and loose fat
Some lower faces look heavy because fat has sagged, not only because skin has loosened. Tightening skin over a heavy pad leaves the heaviness in place, and taking fat from under loose skin can make the skin look looser. Time Freeze is used where the two sit together, because both are targeted in one session.
The Sculpting mode uses controlled bulk heating on superficial fat in zones Dr Sin Yong selects: the jowl, beside the nasolabial fold, under the chin, along the jawline and over the buccal area. On the body it is used where laxity sits over a thin layer of fat, such as the underarms, tummy, love handles, buttocks, thighs and back. Lean zones are left alone. Laser heat has been studied as a way to injure fat cells without incisions, on a different device and on the body. [3]
These are zones a surgeon would consider for microliposuction, so patients often ask how the two compare. Because Time Freeze is applied from the surface, with no incision, cannula or anaesthesia, surgical wounds and anaesthetic do not come into it. Laser heat has its own risks, set out below. It also reaches much less fat.
| Point | Time Freeze Laser LCLR® | Microliposuction |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A laser applied from the surface | Surgery, with fine cannulas passed through small incisions |
| Anaesthesia | None | Local or more, set by the surgeon |
| What it works on | Superficial fat and the dermis above it, in one session | Fat, removed by suction |
| Fat it can reach | Only the superficial layer | Larger and deeper fat, removed through fine cannulas |
| Loose skin | The dermis is heated in the same session | Not tightened, and laxity can look worse once fat is gone |
| In Singapore | A doctor-performed clinic treatment | MOH-accredited doctors, approved premises and a cooling-off period of at least seven days [15] |
| Done here? | Yes, by Dr Sin Yong | No. He refers to an accredited surgeon where it fits |
The deciding questions are how much excess there is, how deep it sits, and whether it has stopped changing. The full comparison is on microliposuction vs Time Freeze Laser LCLR®.
A device is a tool
Dr Sin Yong explains it to patients this way. Time Freeze runs on a device, as does Ultherapy Prime. A suture can close a wound neatly or leave a scar. The thread is the same, and what differs is how it is used.
Filler works the same way. Published guidance on hyaluronic acid filler links complications to the patient, the product and the procedure, not to the product alone, and a consensus group wrote that the majority relate to sterility, placement, volume and injection technique. [7] [8] Whether it sits quietly or shows as a bulge or an abnormal fold can depend on where it is placed and how.
“It is all in the technique of where it should be placed, and how it should be placed. It is never about the product alone.”
A similar point has been reported with energy devices. A review of focused ultrasound links outcome to patient selection and treatment parameters, [16] and a survey of 5,700 radiofrequency treatments reported very different experience with the same type of device when the treatment method changed. [17]
So a plan starts with the face, not the machine. These devices do what they are built to do. What a person notices depends on whether the energy suited that face, which layer was at fault and how it was planned. That is why Time Freeze is planned for each person, with zones, wavelength, fluence and vector set by him. Response still varies. Read more in the article on device or technique.
How he decides: lean or puffy
He reads the area, not the device list. Many faces have both a lean area and a heavy one, so Time Freeze and the VF Lift are often used on one face, each on its own zone.
| What he finds | What he plans |
|---|---|
| A lean or already hollow area | The VF Lift, because there is no fat to spare there |
| A puffy or heavier area, with sagged fat or settled product | Time Freeze and its Sculpting mode |
| Structural descent at the SMAS in a face of normal fullness | Ultherapy or HIFU may have a role |
| Loose skin alone, with normal fat and no product | Thermage may fit, though not for the neck |
| Marked skin excess, or a heavy, mobile jowl | A plastic surgery specialist |
How it compares with other non-surgical options
Dr Sin Yong performs each of these, so this is about what the energy does, not which one ranks higher. The full table is on Time Freeze vs Ultherapy vs Thermage.
These place points of focused ultrasound at set depths, down to the SMAS, which Time Freeze does not reach. He does not plan them for lean faces, because he considers that focused ultrasound can also reduce fat. A case series of five selected patients described subcutaneous tissue atrophy, with no rate given. [18] With Time Freeze, more fat loss than intended is a rare risk.
Thermage uses monopolar radiofrequency and has no fat or filler component. Time Freeze uses light and includes the Sculpting mode. The two are not ranked, and the choice rests on whether laxity alone or heaviness is the problem.
This is monopolar radiofrequency on a different platform, and it is the plan for lean or hollow faces.
Fillers add volume, and they can cause overfill or migration. Time Freeze adds no product, so if you need volume, it will not supply it.
A diode laser at three wavelengths that warms the dermis. It is not offered here, and sharing wavelengths does not make it the same treatment.
Surgical versus non-surgical limits
| Time Freeze Laser LCLR® | Surgical facelift | Liposuction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Targets dermal collagen, selected superficial fat and settled filler | Repositions deeper tissue and removes redundant skin | Removes fat in volume through a cannula |
| Anaesthesia | None for the lifting or Sculpting steps | Yes | Yes |
| Incisions | None | Yes | Yes |
| Removes skin? | No | Yes | No, and it can unmask laxity once the fat is gone |
| Marked skin excess | Will not resolve it | The route to consider | Not the purpose |
| Fat it can reach | Only the superficial layer | Not applicable | Fat that energy-based treatment does not reach |
| Where it fits | Mild to moderate laxity | Marked excess, by referral to a plastic surgery specialist | Performed in approved facilities |
When surgery is the honest advice
Non-surgical lifting aims to tighten or support tissue. It does not cut, reposition and remove skin as a surgical facelift does. If you have marked skin excess, laser cannot resolve it, so a surgical opinion from a plastic surgery specialist is the fair recommendation. True drooping of the eyelid muscle goes to an oculoplastic specialist. Surgical facelift and blepharoplasty are outside Dr Sin Yong's scope, so he refers these on. Liposuction has its own rules on facilities and cooling-off, which a surgeon will explain. A laser can be a reasonable choice for many faces that are not yet surgical, but it should never be sold as a replacement for surgery. If you want the change that only surgery gives, this treatment is likely to disappoint you.
Time Freeze laser lifting Singapore: who should wait
Pregnancy. Freshly tanned or sunburnt skin, because the 755 nm wavelength is absorbed by melanin. Infected, broken or inflamed skin, including an active cold sore. A recent course of oral acne medication.
Photosensitising medicines, lupus, keloid tendency, active vitiligo, melasma, a history of cold sores, a thyroid condition or previous neck surgery, recent filler or threads in the zone, and tattoos or eyebrow embroidery in the treatment zone.
Marked skin excess goes to plastic surgery. True eyelid muscle droop goes to an oculoplastic specialist. Large, deep, stable fat goes to an accredited surgeon.
A lean face where reducing fat would not help, and blocked blood vessels after filler, which are an emergency.
What it cannot do
It adds no product and cannot replace lost volume. Hollows may need filler or the VF Lift.
Laser does not cut or excise. Marked excess needs a surgical opinion.
It works in the dermis and superficial fat. Structural descent in a face of normal fullness may suit focused ultrasound or threads.
Muscle ptosis needs a specialist opinion.
Platysma bands are muscle. Heat does not treat them.
It does not dissolve anything. Hyaluronic acid is dissolved with hyaluronidase.
It reaches only the superficial layer from the surface. Thick fat pads need a different route, such as the 4K Body Lift, or a surgical opinion.
No duration can be promised. It depends on your skin, the zones treated, ageing, sun exposure and weight change.
The visit, in order
Risks and side effects
Warmth during the session, and tenderness where fat or filler was targeted.
Small areas of crusting and temporary darkening. Darkening is more likely in darker skin types and after sun exposure.
Burn or blister, lightening, scarring, and more fat loss than intended in the Sculpting mode.
Laser light can injure the eye, so protective eyewear or shields are used and settings around the eyelids are kept conservative.
Avoiding tanned skin, reviewing medicines, ultrasound mapping before filler work and matching settings to skin type all help. Risk cannot be removed altogether.
A blister, crust or open area, swelling that persists or increases, darkening or lightening, pain that is increasing, or a zone that looks hollower than intended. Anything getting worse, an open area or a fever needs a doctor the same day, or A&E if none is available.
What affects the fee
Fees are not published here. They are set out at consultation, and a written quote follows assessment. The fee depends on the area, the number of zones and passes, whether the Sculpting mode is used, whether ultrasound mapping is needed, and any combined treatment.