Coronavirus pandemic | Thai clinic offers mini face mask for up close beauty treatments

The idea of the mask, which uses a narrower protective strip to expose more of the face, is so that doctors can conduct procedures while limiting contact with the nose and mouth.

Reuters

June 03, 2020 / 08:29 PM IST

As Thai businesses modify their work practices after coming out of lockdown, a beauty clinic in Bangkok has devised a mini face mask for clients receiving up close and personal cosmetic treatments during the era of the coronavirus.

The idea of the mask, which uses a narrower protective strip to expose more of the face, is so that doctors can conduct procedures while limiting contact with the nose and mouth.

"At first, I thought it was weird but it is actually really great because it's specifically designed to keep us safe during facial treatments," said Kannika Sae-Ngow, a customer at the Waleerat Clinic who was receiving a laser treatment on Tuesday.

The clinic does not currently sell the masks and say they have about 100 that can be disinfected and re-used.

"We also plan to design other versions of these masks that can cover part of a nose so that doctors can treat the nose without having to take the masks off," said Wisarut Krimthungthong, the clinic's chief marketing officer.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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