Hello Beautiful! Maybe you feel your skin has lost its youthfulness. Maybe you don’t want to go under the knife but would like a fresher, younger-looking complexion. A resurfacing procedure will remove your crinkled skin and incite a smoother one to grow in its place.
While the processes and the equipment vary, the aim of all peeling or resurfacing procedures is the same-to remove skin layers. Unlike some of our other organs, our skin possesses remarkable recuperative powers. The principle is similar to pruning; peel back the skin layers to get better growth. If you remove the epidermis, it will literally grow back. Indeed, so keen is your skin to regenerate, that it does so without bothering to replicate some of the added extras it developed during its lifetime- the wrinkles and furrows, blotches and dark spots. Taking off the skin’s outer layer, in essence, wipes out a generation of epidermal cells with UV-damaged memories.
The net result, once the healing process is complete is not only a younger-looking complexion, but one that is, to all intents, younger; the epidermal cells are new, and the dermis contains more of the substances that make it firm, plump, and elastic.
The Types
Resurfacing procedures divide into three different types: light, medium, and deep.
o If you’re after a marginally smoother-feeling and slightly brighter-looking complexion, or you simply want a low-key introduction to such procedures, your physician may suggest a light peel.
o If you have signs of photo-damage- a rough, dull complexion, light wrinkles, dark sun or ‘age’ spots -a medium peel can freshen your skin tone, smooth out wrinkles and erase solar lentigo (age spots).
o If your skin is severely sun-damaged with lots of deep wrinkles, with a bumpy shiny appearance (elastosis) and mottling, a deep procedure can all but wipe them from your face.
The Methods
There are three different techniques used by physicians, to improve the look and tone of a sun damaged and aged complexion:
o Chemical peeling
o Dermabrasion
o Laser resurfacing
Chemical peeling involves the painting on of a caustic solution, such as glycolic acid, trichloroacetic acid, or the very extreme phenol to remove skin layers. Dermabrasion involves abrading away the upper layers of skin with a scouring device. The newest variation on the resurfacing theme involves high-tech pulsed beam lasers. Their computer-controlled precision is unparalleled with the shrinking of collagen fibers, which seems to occur during healing. This generates a firming, lifting effect that can, in some patients, obviate the need for surgery.
Important: You and your physician must be convinced that you have good case for treatment. Equally important, is that the procedure is carefully matched to the level of damage present, and the desired results.
Stay Beautiful
Jacqueline