I first met Dr Abbie last year when she was starting her cosmetic acupuncture practice here in Melbourne.
I really loved her passion and energy for Chinese Medicine straight away and have gotten to know her better over the past year. I finally caught up with Dr Abbie to share her amazing skills and new Zhong Centre in St Kilda with you.
The first thing you need to know about me is that I’m cray — in the good way. The second thing is that I practice cosmetic acupuncture because it was a way for me to achieve outcomes for my clients and in my own life, without compromising my values or ethics.
I first got into acupuncture after working in naturopathy at a medical centre and seeing how TCM acupuncture was getting results where naturopathy wasn’t able to. While studying Traditional Chinese Medicine, I went to China to do my internship where I worked huge hours in a Chinese hospital. I slightly overdid the yum cha and when I returned to Australia my mentor treated me with acupuncture over three months to eliminate my extra tummy (aka yum cha) weight. Having been self-conscious about my body shape for a long time, my flat abdomen was just another way that TCM acupuncture proved to me its effectiveness!
Fast forward many years and I have my own thriving practice in St Kilda, called Zhong Centre, where our team treats men and women to bring out their beauty, naturally.
Chinese Medicine is a holistic system of medicine, a lot of what I do brings together the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of my client. The treatments at Zhong Centre include cosmetic acupuncture, which involve fine needles being placed on the face and at key points around the body. These needles tighten the associated muscles, can reduce fine lines and sagging skin.
The methods of diagnosis include pulse diagnosis, face reading and looking at your tongue! This gives me insight into your constitution and the health of the systems in your body, and what can be worked on to improve your health overall. I treat the face and the body, so points on the body correspond to the face and vice versa.
We love using our GloPulse to tighten and brighten our client’s faces. We also use traditional jade tools for gua sha and dermal rolling, along with medicinal masks to infuses moisture into the skin cells and enhances plumping and brightening of the pores and fine lines.
Why is Chinese Medicine better than other methods of anti-aging/weight loss?
The entire premise of Chinese Medicine is to bring your body back to homeostasis so that it can heal itself. Rather than introducing toxins into your body, we use cosmetic acupuncture to get the results you want by guiding and enhancing your body’s natural processes.
The risks are far lower and fewer than injectables, botox, trauma, chemicals and other procedures. The worst reaction I have seen to cosmetic acupuncture is some slight bruising, which we try to mitigate through gentle practice and application of after-care to any sensitive points.
At Zhong, it’s not a lock-in contact that we make with you. Our aim is to get you self-sustaining and out of the clinic in as few sessions as possible. To do this, we use cosmetic acupuncture treatments and suggestions for lifestyle improvement to bring out your beauty and improve your health. The sooner I can bring your body to homeostasis and have that face shining, the sooner you’ll be out my door taking care of yourself!
What do you wish all women knew?
There are natural options and alternatives that are just as effective as surgical procedures and chemical enhancements (they just take more time, they are not instantaneous changes).
Our bodies are amazing and designed to constantly change. It’s almost futile to strive to look like a 21 year old forever, its unobtainable.
What you do for your well-being?
Being a health care practitioner, it’s extremely important for me to take care of myself so that I can show up consistently for my clients.
To do this, I get regular acupuncture sessions and massages, go surfing (my LOVE), I also couch-potato myself and make sure I get anti-human days.
Diet is a huge part of it too, I’m aware of my diet and which foods (and excesses) trigger poor moods and thoughts. I also know that there’s a time to indulge for my sanity and naughty necessities. I can’t be a saint at all times, but I do balance out my play days with TCM herbs.