Zap away summertime skin problems
Want to peel off in the sun but worried about skin blemishes? Victoria Lambert has some hi-tech answers to spots, lines and moles.
Many unsightly conditions can be dealt with by lasers, injections or other treatments.
With its cloudless skies and soaring temperatures, summer should be the time to peel off a few layers and bask. But for those with unsightly or worrisome skin conditions, the hot weather is just a nightmare. Where is the fun in flashing flesh that’s marred by spots, pigmentation, lines or moles? Here are some hi-tech solutions to summertime skin problems.
Broken veins and capilliaries? Try Fraxel
Italian cosmetic surgeon Dr. Mario Luca Russo suggests a session with a Fraxel laser, which can remove broken veins and blemishes in as little as five minutes. “It is even good for wrinkles,” he explains. “The light from the laser is absorbed by the haemoglobin and water in the blood of the vein, converting it to heat. We call this a thermal injury. If the vein is tiny, it will evaporate quickly, causing the vein to shrink and collapse, disappearing very fast. If the vein is larger, you can expect the blood to coagulate – making it appear darker than before. Gradually it will get reabsorbed by the body. In that case, it can take about a month to disappear.”
If you want to go in the sun after a Fraxel treatment, he warns, ”do wait for seven to 10 days for your skin to heal or it will be very sensitive. And always use a high factor suncream, regardless of what you have done, to protect your skin from ageing.”
Adult acne, stretch marks, dark circles? Try RioBlush therapy
“Outbreaks often occur as result of a hormone imbalance,” says Sharmi Wieck, a pioneer of cosmetic treatments who was one of the first women in the UK to administer Botox. “But adult acne can also result when an affected area is deprived of oxygen, due to poor circulation, and gathers bacteria.”
RioBlush Carboxy Therapy, which Wieck offers in her clinics in Harley Street and across the Home Counties, repairs and rejuvenates skin by introducing carbon dioxide through a fine needle into the dermis, the lower layer of the skin. This forces blood vessels to widen, tricking the body into thinking that there is an oxygen deficiency. As the body attempts to restore the imbalance – a process called vasodilation – increased blood flow creates a surge of oxygen and nutrients to the area, which encourages cell and collagen restoration.
“As RioBlush energises the blood vessels beneath the acne, it helps kill off the bacteria and regenerate new cells resulting in clearer skin,” says Wieck. It’s less painless than Botox – at worst, you may feel a sting like electrolysis – but it’s also effective at eradicating stretch marks and dark circles. A minimum of four 40-minute sessions is recommended, although you should notice a difference after just one.
Puffy eyes? Try mesotherapy
As a cosmetic treatment to eradicate unsightly panda eyes, the result of poor sleep, a high salt-intake and general pre-holiday stress, mesotherapy has been around for decades. It requires micro-injections of vitamins, antioxidants and blended medication into the layer of skin known as the mesoderm, where cellulite and fatty deposits lurk. In the UK, one of its leading practitioners is Dr. Georges Roman, of the Devonshire Street Aesthetic Medical Clinic, London. “I offer a specific mesotherapy treatment which only requires one, painless micro-injection in the skin under each eye. It works by inflating the fat cells naturally until they burst.”
Dr. Roman recommends between three and four sessions to see a difference, and warns that there will be a slight swelling for approximately two to four hours afterwards. “But the results are amazing. The puffy eyes are reduced by a minimum of 50 per cent, and often they disappear altogether.”
Deep lines? Try injections of biphasic tricalcium phosphates (BTCP)
You don’t need to hide those crow’s feet behind sunglasses after sundown. Kensington-based French dermatologist Dr. Maurice Dray has found an injectable substance that he believes gives a result far superior to skin-smoothing techniques such as Botox – primarily because it doesn’t freeze the face.
“We have seen very good results from BTCP,” he says. Biphasic tricalcium phosphates is a restructuring agent more commonly found in porcelain and dental powders. But when mixed into a cocktail with phosphate and calcium ions, and hyaluronic acid,
a naturally occurring substance found in the body that helps to hydrate our skin, it helps the skin to produce its own collagen.
“It fills in lines and stimulates new growth, so the frown lines disappear but your expression doesn’t,” says Dr Dray.
Allow a few days for the swelling to subside before you start your holiday.
Moles? Try infra-red laser treatment
You can laugh off one mole as a beauty spot, but when they form in clusters – known as nevi – they can be unsightly. Such growths can be stimulated by ultraviolet rays from the sun and tanning beds, and can grow bigger if ignored. First check with your GP that a mole is benign. If so, you can have it removed painlessly.
“With infra-red laser, there are several options,” says Sharmi Wieck. “I suggest to clients with moles by their upper lip that they cover it up with semi-permanent make-up, which is lasered to look like a beauty spot – this lasts up to seven years. You can flatten them, which reduces their appearance without damaging them. Or you can use the laser to physically remove them without bleeding or scarring.”
Pigmentation patches? Try Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)
For those with permanently discoloured skin, the kind that accumulates in patches across the face with age.
“IPL is one of the most effective treatments,” says Dr. Jules Nabet, who operates from the Soma Centre in west London. “It reduces the ageing effects of sun damage, is non-invasive, and involves applying pulses of visible white light with a non-laser medical device to the face.
“After a series of three to five treatments, performed at three to four weekly intervals, patients see a visible improvement in the appearance and texture of the skin.”
Discomfort during the treatment, which takes up to half an hour, is minimal and the skin looks smoother even after the very first session.
Source: by Victoria Lambert July 05, 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/wellbeing/7868535/Zap-away-summertime-skin-problems.html
