 
- When you pulled out your spring wardrobe last month, did your chest and neck cause problems? Did they look older than your face?
- Does your chest skin show so much sun damage you think twice about throwing on a tank top, or stepping out on the town wearing a low-cut dress?
Telling Tales
 The chest and neck are part of our facial iconography. Visually, they're grasped in the same moment with our eyes and lips. If there's a mismatch between your pampered face and what lies below, the full effect can be ruinous.
Women who want to look truly radiant and rejuvenated must pay attention to these areas -- especially in the spring and summer months.
What Happens to Our Chests?
Why does the skin on our chests become so blotchy and discolored? There's a simple answer: the sun. It causes 90 to 95 percent of wrinkles, lines and brown and white spots.
- Some women also suffer spider veins on their chests, while others are prone to rosacea (reddening of the skin). Both are exacerbated by sun exposure.
- After a certain age, atrophy becomes common. Those white areas in particular lack elasticity. Why are the neck and chest so prone to these white indentations? Because the skin is thinner there.
Don't Give In
You don't have to succumb to these signs of aging. We have treatments that can make the neck and décolleté (and also the hands and legs) more youthful.
There's no reason to start down the path to higher necklines and more cover-ups. These low-to-no-downtime treatments are available right here in our office.
BEFOREAFTER
 
 What We Can Do
- Nonablative lasers will treat sun damage on the neck and chest area.
While most lasers work by heating and removing the top skin layers, nonablative lasers work beneath the skin's surface by targeting cells that absorb the light's energy. The energy breaks up the discolored cells, which are then absorbed back into the body.
- Photo rejuvenation (a.k.a. FotoFacial) is yet another approach.
Here we use intense pulsed light technology to correct imperfections. The light penetrates the outer layer of skin without causing damage and goes directly to the dilated vessels or pigment.
This requires a series of treatments for optimal results, so it's best to start right away if you're planning to bare your chest at the beach later in the season.
- Botox is sometimes used on the chest to diminish wrinkles and relax the muscles beneath the décolleté.
- Chemical peels and bleaching agents applied directly to the skin help with pigmentation problems, including white and brown spots.
- Trichloracetic acid (TCA) peels are also good for lightening. This helps to blend in the areas so that the face doesn't look strikingly lighter than the neck and chest.
 Your Treatment Will Be Tailored to Your Skin Type
Everyone's skin is different, so we'll deploy these procedures differently for each patient.
If you want to find out what cosmetic medicine can do to harmonize the skin all over your body, call us for a consultation. We'll show you the kinds of improvements we've been able to achieve for others, and you can decide whether this is right for you.
TOP FIVE Urban Myths About Skin
There seems to be no shortage of urban myths out there regarding skin care. I thought I would clear up some of this misinformation once and for all.
1. Chocolate does NOT cause acne.
2. AHAs may cause irritation, NOT advance the aging process. AHAs also do NOT cause skin cancer.
3. Retin A and Renova do NOT cause skin cancer.
4. Facial exercises are NOT good for you. They don't really tone the facial muscles but they can worsen wrinkle lines. Over-use of facial muscles is a major cause of wrinkles. That´s why we use Botox!
5. Antiperspirants with aluminum do NOT cause breast cancer.
How does smoking cause wrinkles?
Smoking affects every cell in the body, restricting blood flow to important organs. As the largest organ in the body, the skin depends on healthy blood flow to remain vibrant. Vitamins carried by the blood, especially Vitamin A, are instrumental in maintaining the skin's structure.
By reducing the flow of vitamins and nutrients to the skin, smoking degrades the underlying structures that create a youthful, smooth appearance.
Collagen At Risk
In addition, a recent report by British scientists noted that smokers have higher concentrations of the protein matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) in their skin. MMP-1 degrades collagen, an underlying tissue that keeps skin supple. MMP-1 appears to be particularly damaging to the skin when combined with sunlight.
The skin changes caused by smoking can be seen in young adults with only a 10-year smoking history.
Vitamin D
We've been seeing media reports lately about the importance of Vitamin D, some of which question the wisdom of avoiding sun exposure. These reports take the medical profession to task over our frequent warnings to avoid dangerous UVA and UVB rays.
Just to set the record straight....yes, the sun can be a healthy source of Vitamin D, but wearing sunscreen won't deprive you of it. The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatologists cited several clinical trials showing regular sunscreen use has little or no effect on Vitamin D levels in human beings.
The components of sunscreen that block out UVA and UVB rays don't block out Vitamin D. So keep using that sunscreen, and apply it often (every two hours if you are outdoors all day). You won't miss out on anything -- except sunburn, age spots and wrinkled, leathery skin. |
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