When I see a patient for an anti-aging skin rejuvenation evaluation, the first thing I look at is the quality of the skin. Spots, broken blood vessels, large pores, roughness, growths, milia cysts, brown discoloration, scars, acne scars, crépiness, elastosis, fine lines, wrinkles, loss of elasticity, and dullness all decrease the quality of the skin. Most but not all of these are from chronic sun damage.

Young skin is smooth, without blemishes, growths, cysts, brown spots, broken blood vessels, and elastosis. It has good elasticity and reflects light well giving it a luminosity. Interestingly studies have shown that people’s impression of the age of another person is primarily determined by the absence of spots, growths and the presence of luminosity. In other words a person with spots and growths but minimal wrinkles looks older than a person with few spots and more wrinkles.

That’s why it’s important in anti aging treatment to “clear the canvas and start over”.

So we start with Step #1—Repair Sun Damage.

Options to repair sun damage to look younger are:

At home topical surface treatments

• Cosmeceuticals and Skin Care
• Retinoids

In office aesthetic procedures:

• LED Photomodulation
• SilkPeel Dermal Infusion
• Chemical Peels
• Intense Pulsed Light (IPL®)
• Fraxel® Laser Treatment

Treatments You Can Do At Home

• Cosmeceuticals and Skin Care

Antioxidants (like Green Tea, Grape Seed, Soy) help prevent and repair the damage from free radicals released by sun exposure. Hydroxy acids (glycolic and multi-fruit) exfoliate dullness and pigment, stimulate collagen production, increase elasticity. Anti-aging peptides (like Matrixyl™ (pal-KTTKS) and Matrixyl™3000 ) reduce fine lines and increase collagen and elasticity. Stabilized vitamin C (Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate) reduces collagen breakdown and protects against UVB damage. To find out more about the science behind cosmeceuticals and the history and science of botanical ingredients in skin care check out our web site. And most important—Daily use of a broad spectrum sunscreen with a SPF of 30 or more is absolutely essential.

• Retinoids

Retinoids are prescription vitamin A derivatives that reverse the effects of photo aging. Over time daily use will improve fine lines, brown spots, dullness, roughness and will give some degree of improvement in pore size. There are several forms of retinoids, I find that for most adults Refissa, a 0.05 percent branded generic tretinoin formulation is the best choice. It is the same as the older 0.05 percent Renova which was discontinued when the patent ran out and replaced with a lower strength and a pump version.

Next: anti aging sun damage treatment procedures.