Skin Rejuvenation Can Accomplish the Following Improvements for Your Skin:

• Reduce fine wrinkles
• Fade discoloration
• Improve texture and smoothness
• Brighten the complexion
• Reduce pore size

How can I improve my skin?

In addition to incorporating a balanced skin care program into your daily routine, other modalities are available to help you achieve healthier beautiful skin. These modalities include: chemical peels, dermabrasion, and laser skin resurfacing. For decades, plastic surgeons have used resurfacing procedures to help freshen the skin. Resurfacing is a deeper removal of the damaged outer layers of skin. After damaged old cells are removed, new cells are made by the remaining dermis (under surface of the skin) resulting in a newly healed skin surface. This results in smoother, clearer, healthier, and more radiant skin. It is suitable for treating fine wrinkles, a sun damaged complexion, pre-cancerous actinic keratoses, large pores, and acne scarring.

How does skin resurfacing improve my skin?

Patients with facial aging and sun damage have disarray of collagen fibers, loss of tissue elasticity, and abnormal accumulation of pigmented and damaged cells. After resurfacing the collagen fibers are increased and arranged in an organized form and the pigmented and damaged cells are removed to transform your skin into a healthier and refreshed state. By removing the upper layer of damaged and pigmented cells, the skin is smoother and more radiant. In addition to having healthier skin, application of makeup is easier as is the penetration of skin care products. Fine wrinkles are smoothed or eliminated, and the complexion is more uniform. In addition, acne scarring and pre-cancerous actinic keratoses (scaling lesions of sun damaged skin) are improved.

What are the different treatment modalities?

Chemical Peel:
A variety of chemicals are available including hydoxy acids, TCA (trichloroacetic acid), and phenol/croton oil peels. The chemicals penetrate the outer layers of skin in a controlled fashion. Different concentrations will cause varying depths of skin removal. A light peel will result in a period of 3 days of weeping followed by a few days of redness that can be camouflaged with makeup. A deeper peel will require a longer recovery of 4-5 days with weeping and subsequent redness for 7-10 days which can be covered with makeup until the skin heals.

Dermabrasion:
The mechanical removal of the outer skin layers achieved by a rapidly rotating cylinder or dome covered with diamond chips. Microdermabrasion only exfoliates the outer skin surface. Dermabrasion will penetrate deeper and remove more layers of skin. The recovery is similar to a chemical peel.

Laser:
Uses beams of concentrated high intensity light to accomplish the removal of skin layers. Different lasers are applied to your skin based on what needs to be treated (fine lines or abnormal pigmentation). There is no downtime with the newer laser; after the laser treatment is performed, you are able to apply makeup and return to work. There is no recovery and it is painless.

What are the differences between the modalities used to resurface skin?

The main differences are the recovery period and cost. Although a chemical peel may be as effective as laser resurfacing and less costly it may require a longer healing period. A laser, on the other hand, may achieve the same result of a peel with a shorter recovery period, but will be more costly and may require more than one treatment. Dr. Awada will provide you with a comprehensive skin evaluation and recommend a daily skin care program and a resurfacing procedure (if necessary) to help you achieve the beautiful healthy skin you have always desired.