Skin Rejuvenation, Scar Revision, Facial Treatment, Skin Lesions, Mole Removal

Skin Rejuvenation / Facial Treatment: As we age, the skin changes texture and tone leading to blemishes, fine lines and wrinkles, brown spots, and an overall damaged and unhealthy appearance. There are several factors that hasten the skin aging process, such as sun, dust, smog, smoking, improper diet, as well as stress and hormonal changes due to pregnancy or menopause. There are a number of non-invasive skin rejuvenation treatments, which will improve the texture, tone, and color of your skin, as well as treat photo aging. In addition to in-office treatments, skin care products used at home may keep your skin healthy and vibrant. For more severe skin texture problems, other techniques such as laser resurfacing, deep peels, or dermabrasion may be recommended. Regardless of the type of procedure performed, cleansing, moisturizers, and sunscreen, are important to keep your skin looking healthy and rejuvenated. Remember, healthy skin is a continuous process requiring the daily use of a skin regime.

Skin Lesions, Mole Removal, and Skin Cancers:

Many patients wonder whether certain skin lesions should be removed or checked for cancer. It is not feasible to remove all skin lesions on every patient. There are however, guidelines to determine whether a skin lesion is of concern. Some patients have moles or other skin lesions that are cosmetically unacceptable and will have these lesions removed to improve appearance. Besides cosmetic considerations, biopsy evaluations are indicated for the following reasons: 1) a new skin lesion that does not heal 2) a skin lesion that bleeds or ulcerates 3) a skin lesion that is growing, thereby changing size and shape 4) a skin lesion with irregular or blurred margins 5) a skin lesion that is hard to visually follow (i.e. a lesion on the scalp) 6) a large lesion greater than 5mm. Your surgeon may elect to completely remove a small lesion or obtain a partial removal of a larger lesion in order to obtain pathological evaluation. Remember, the only way to obtain results regarding a skin lesion's behavior and malignancy status is to obtain a specimen for microscopic evaluation. Your physician will determine needed additional therapy if the results of the biopsy are cancerous. Fortunately, most skin lesions are benign. It is important however, to avoid sun exposure and tanning salons. Sunscreens and dermatological evaluations are recommended.

Tags: skin lesions, mole removal, skin cancers

Scar Removal:

Scar Removal: Scars are the body's reaction to healing skin. Unfortunately, when injuries occur, the size, shape, and location of wounds are unpredictable. Wounds heal by laying down scar tissue. Physicians are unable to consistently predict how a patient will heal for a given injury. Ethnic skin, such as Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and patients of Mediterranean decent have a higher incidence of healing with hyper pigmentation. Caucasian skin tends to heal with hypo pigmentation. Keloids are seen in all races, but are more common in darker-skinned individuals. Keloid scars are abnormal scars that grow beyond the boundaries of the injury. For example, a simple ear piercing may lead to a marble size keloid. Keloid scars are difficult to treat and are many times misdiagnosed by physicians and patients. Keep in mind, when a surgeon performs a cosmetic procedure, scars are placed in locations that are cosmetically acceptable, unlike traumatic wounds. It is important after appropriate cleansing and wound care that a patient understands that a scar will continue to heal and look its best one to two years post injury. Most physicians would not recommend scar revision for a minimum of six months to one year after the injury/surgery. Besides the expertise of the surgeon, to limit scarring, other factors, such as size, location, shape, age of the patient, and healing ability play a role in the final result. Even with scar revision, which can be performed by several techniques, the resulting scar may be better, worse, or the same. Therefore, it is important that the patient and the physician revise scars that are cosmetically unacceptable and have a high probability of improvement. Scars play a role in appearance, but can limit movement of a joint, retard growth of a child, and may be painful, bleed or ulcerate. Scars that cause functional impairment are almost always revised. Non-surgical treatments of scars include sun avoidance, Vitamin E, steroid applications, steroid injections, or the use of silastic gel sheeting. It is the public's misperception that plastic surgeons operate without producing scars. Plastic surgeons are specialized surgeons that are trained in wound closure as to minimize scarring, and where appropriate will place scars in locations, or in certain directions that will leave the patient with the best possible scar. However, as previously stated, other factors are involved when determining the patient's resultant scar.