Plastic surgery offers one way to refresh and renew your appearance. But, while surgery can help tighten and tone certain areas of the face and body, it doesn’t actually renew your skin. If your big concern is the texture of your skin or dark spots and discolorations that have appeared on it over the years, what you actually want are treatments that focus on improving and renewing the skin, rather than smoothing it out.
Several non-surgical treatments are available to renew your skin. The option that is best for you depends on the extent of the signs of aging on your skin, how long you have for recovery, and the method that you prefer the most.
Renew Your Skin with IPL
Intense pulsed light, or IPL, is a type of laser treatment. IPL is gentler than many other laser treatments as it doesn’t damage the outer layer of skin. Instead, it targets the dermal layers, helping to stimulate collagen and increase cell turnover.
IPL treats a variety of skin concerns. If you have sun damage, hyperpigmentation or dark spots, or redness due to rosacea, you can see considerable improvement with an IPL treatment. The primary concern treated by IPL is sun damage. For that reason, the procedure is most commonly performed on areas where there is extensive sun damage, including the face, décolletage, neck and hands.
Usually, IPL treatments are not uncomfortable. No anesthesia is required, and people typically don’t feel pain, although it is common to feel some warmth in the treated area due to the pulsing light. Patients wear eyewear to protect their eyes from the pulsing lights. A gel is usually applied to the skin before treatment to keep it cool.
IPL needs some time to work. Right after treatment, you might notice that your dark spots are actually darker. But after about a week, they will peel off or flake away. Redness and swelling are also common after treatment, but those also heal quickly.
Depending on the extent of sun damage you have, you might need several IPL treatments to get the best results and really renew your skin. Many people see the greatest benefit after having four to six IPL treatments. Since each treatment takes about a half an hour and doesn’t require any downtime, the time commitment required for IPL is pretty low.
Renew Your Skin with Chemical Peels
Chemical peels offer another skin renewal option. Often, chemical peels are a deeper, more intense treatment than IPL, although a variety of peel strengths are available, ranging from very mild or superficial to very deep. While some of the deeper chemical peels involve a long, painstaking process of pre-treatment, treatment and recovery, some peels, such as the VI Peel, help to refresh the skin in much less time.
The VI Peel contains five acids, TCA, Phenol, Retin-A, Salicylic Acid and Vitamin C. It can be used on pretty much any type of skin and any shade of skin. The treatment helps to improve the skin’s texture by minimizing the pores and smoothing fine lines. It can also help minimize dark spots, acne scars and other scars.
The process of receiving a VI Peel is pretty quick and painless. The aesthetician applies the peel in office. After the peel is applied, a patient can go home. The peel should remain on the skin for about four hours, then should be washed off. Right after treatment, the skin is typically red and swollen, but any redness and swelling are typically gone within a day. The healing process takes about two weeks, during which time there is peeling. Sun protection is very important during the healing process, so don’t forget to wear your SPF 30 everyday.
Vitalize is another chemical peel option available at Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique. The peel contains Lactic, Salicylic, Resorcinol and Retinoic acids. Treatment in office takes about 15 minutes and involves the aesthetician painting on the peel in several layers. The fourth and final layer neutralizes the acids and finishes the treatment. Once the peel is over, you are able to return to your regular activities, but can expect to see some swelling and redness. A few days after treatment, peeling begins and many people are fully healed within a week of treatment.
Renew Your Skin with Microdermabrasion
Of the three treatments, microdermabrasion might be the least invasive of all. The treatment involves using a small, diamond tipped wand to gently exfoliate the skin. Any dead skin cells are then suctioned away with a vacuum device.
Microdermabrasion treats a variety of concerns, from fine lines and crow’s feet to dark spots and sun damage. It usually takes less than one hour to complete and many people return to their everyday activities immediately afterwards. The treatment is safe for people with any type or color of skin.
Sometimes, microdermabrasion is combined with other treatments, such as chemical peels, to provide the best results. In many cases, people need a series of microdermabrasion treatments (as many as eight) to get the full results they are after.
If you are looking for a way to renew your skin, you have a variety of options. Along with considering the intensity of treatment and the extent of the results, it also helps to consider the cost of each treatment and how many you’ll need before you see the type of results you want.
Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique in Houston, Texas, offers chemical peels, IPL, microdermabrasion and a variety of other skin renewing procedures. To learn more about each one, and to see if you’d make a good candidate for one or more treatment, call 281-810-9083 today.