Microdermabrasion

Acne is a condition in which skin is characterized by white heads, dark heads, zits or swollen red pimples. The pores on the surface of the skin get blocked at times. Pores are the opening to a passage called a follicle. There is a hair and an oil gland in the follicle. The oil gland helps in lubricating the skin and removing the old skin cells. The pores get blocked when there is too much of oil secretion from these glands. Bacteria and dirt starts collecting in these blocked pores. The obstruction or blockage on the skin is called a plug.

Acne generally occurs on the face, neck and shoulder but at times it appears also on the arms, legs and buttocks. Acne is a common issue among teenagers, but it can occur at any age. Even infants have the possibility of developing acne.

Treat acne early:

Acne leaves scar marks on the places it appears. Every individual suffering from acne is susceptible to acne scars. One of the best ways to avoid acne scars is to treat it at the early stage itself and continue treating it till it fully recovers. A simple treatment available to reduce acne scars is to wash your skin gently with a mild soap. Be careful in selecting cosmetics. Always choose cosmetics that will suit your skin nature. Don’t rub or scratch on the area affected by acne.

There are acne spot treatments available for those with acne scars. Acne scars are of different types like boxed scars, keloid scars, rolling scars and ice pack scars. It is always better to consult a dermatologist for acne spot treatment and identify the type of treatment that will be effective for your skin.

Dermabrasion is a most effective method for treating acne spots where the surface skin is actually removed with a high-speed brush. A smooth layer of skin is formed from the growth of new cells that will result in a clear skin without pits and craters. Micro dermabrasion is a comparatively new treatment where aluminium oxide crystals are passed through a vacuum tube to remove surface skin. Several sittings are required for this treatment method and the skin does not show much improvement.

Chemical peels may be a good option:

Chemical peelers are also used for acne spot treatment. These are similar to dermabrasion. In this treatment chemicals are used to remove the surface skin affected by acne. A punch graft is a method to treat deep acne spots. Skin is removed from another area of the patient’s body and is grafted on the acne-affected area.

Collagen injection is a method that injects collagen beneath the skin to broaden and fill out spots. This acne spot treatment holds no good for ice pick scars and keloids. Auto genes fat transfer is yet another method where your own body fat is collected. This collected fat is then injected into your skin to lift up depressed scars. This type of acne spot treatment is mostly meant for people with deep scars. Laser treatments are used to reduce the redness around the healed acne lesions. Thus we see there are numerous options to treat acne spots. It is important to select the method that best suits your skin type.

By: Jason Richardes

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If you are searching for solutions for your acne scars for a long time, dermabrasion is the perfect answer for removing your acne scars. Dermabrasion is an ablative surgery procedure, which physically abrades the epidermis and dermis of your skin in a controlled fashion using a fine wire brush or a diamond fraise.

Besides using the dermabrasion technique for your scars you can also go for it for removing your facial rhytids and for treating various other skin conditions troubling you. The ablation in a dermabrasion rejuvenates the skin by stimulating the production of new layers of skin.

As a surgery procedure dernabrasion needs a lot of care before and after. Preparing for dermabrasion surgery is as important as the actual surgery itself.

Preparing the skin before the procedure

Preparation for dermabrasion includes the application of ointments such as Retin-A to be applied to the area every night before going to bed.In case you are prone to cold sores, the doctor may prescribe you a course of antiviral pills a few days before the dermabrasion surgery. You should not be taking Accutane for the past eighteen months, if you have so you will not be considered for the procedure. Similarly, dermabrasion cannot be performed for a minimum of 6 months, preferably up to 1 year, after taking oral isotretinoin. Its use needs to be stopped well before the surgery.

You need to tell your cosmetic surgeon about any herbal supplements that you may be taking as some of these supplements may interfere with anesthesia and cause problems during the surgery because of their blood thinning properties.

Even some over-the-counter vitamins can be hazardous to you, for example vitamin E, which reduces your body’s ability to clot blood. Similarly, you may have to discontinue the use of anti-depressants.

Just before the dermabrasion is performed for acne scars under anesthesia, your skin will be pretreated with an ice pack for 20 to 30 minutes and sprayed with the a liquid refrigerant. Most dermabrasion procedures for scar treatment are performed using local anesthesia with or without the sedative. Your cosmetic surgeon may also give you some medication.

As great care needs to be taken for dermabrasion before and after, a great degree of care is also needed while moving the diamond fraises or wire brushes and controlling the depth of the ablation.

Care after dermabrasion

Wrapping your skin with the bandage after the dermabrasion is an absolute priority. The dressing may need to be changed and sterile bandages and tape should be used every time. Your skin may start re-epithelializing after 5–7 days of proper post-operative dressings and care. Some residual erythema for up to 4 weeks is common which gradually subsides.

Risk and complication after the surgery can be avoided completely if you comply with pre- and post-operative medicines and meticulous wound care. A scab or crust forms over the treated area as it begins to heal. You face may itch as new skin starts to grow from beneath.

By: Tom Disouza

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Dermabrasion can be one of many options for people who want to smooth out their neck and facial skin due to color irregularities, acne pitting or scarring. Dermabrasion can also be used to remove pre-cancerous growths called keratoses.

It should not be confused with microdermabrasion, which also helps to smooth out the skin’s appearance but is not nearly as invasive or permanent as dermabrasion.

Put simply, dermabrasion is the use of a hand-held wire brush or sanding wheel to resurface the skin with the help of millions of tiny diamond or aluminum particles. It is essentially a controlled, surgical scraping which softens the sharper edges of irregularities on the surface of the skin. There are several pros and cons to using this method.

Start With the Right Dermabrasion Specialist

There are many responsible, experienced and educated dermatologists and nurses who can safely provide dermabrasion. However, there are also many parties who advertise the ability to provide the service, but are not fully trained to use the equipment or provide the right facilities.

Beware of advertisers who do not, upon closer examination, have the qualifications to provide dermabrasion in a sterile setting. Be sure to get references from prior patients who have undergone the procedure from any particular facility.

When Dermabrasion Might Not be the Best Option

Though dermabrasion can be much more permanent and effective for those who have deep acne scars, pitting, chicken pox scars and discolorations when compared to other procedures, it’s not a good idea to use if the irregularities are still in progress. For example, if the patient is still in the throes of a heavy acne breakout, or has ever had radiation treatments, the doctor or practitioner should definitely advise an alternative procedure or a delay. Not doing so greatly increases the risk of infection or further irregularities.

Also, while dermabrasion can greatly reduce the appearance of scars and their sharp surfaces, it may not completely get rid of the contrast entirely. A good practitioner will be able to recommend an alternative treatment (such as a chemical peel), which might go deeper into the skin layers and provide better results.

Cold sores should also give a patient and practitioner cause for thought about providing the service, and current use of certain drugs might preclude the use of dermabrasion. Age and the condition of the skin can also be a consideration. Older skin does not heal as quickly or as evenly as younger skin, and should be taken into account.

Additionally, dermabrasion makes the skin red in appearance for up to two weeks, and requires vigilant use of topical ointments and gels to keep infection from setting in. It is also not pain-free; topical and oral pain medications may need to be taken before and after the procedure. A patient will likely have to take a couple of weeks off work, depending on their comfort level pertaining to the appearance of their face.

When Dermabrasion Can be a Good Option

Flexibility is one of the benefits of dermabrasion. It can be used in conjunction with other cosmetic procedures such as a facelift, scar removal or a chemical peel on other parts of the face or neck. A skilled provider of these cosmetic services will be able to recommend exactly which procedures can be used together, if needed.

Opinions differ, depending on the severity of the skin problem, but many dermatologists recommend dermabrasion over a chemical peel for those who have darker complexions. The consensus among those who do recommend it is that dermabrasion provides more even and controlled results, lessening the possibility of color unevenness.

A dermabrasion procedure can be done in an outpatient office, and usually takes from 15 minutes to an hour depending on the amount of work needed. Unlike microdermabrasion, deeper dermabrasion will probably require a spray or injected anesthetic, minimizing any pain or discomfort.

By: Julie Bricklin

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Tattooing, which is defined as the permanent insertion of ink or other pigments below the skin using a sharp instrument, has been used for cosmetic and ritual purposes since the Neolithic era. It has been used to identify criminals, invoke magical powers and, most recently, to adorn the skin with colorful designs in what has become a major trend.

Indeed, a recent telephone survey done by the American Academy of Dermatology reports that 36 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 are tattooed, and 24 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 50 have been inked. This represents a 16 percent increase over a similar survey done in 2003!

But what happens when that tattoo you thought was so cool 20 years ago just isn’t cool anymore?

Yes, tattooing has been around a long time, and something that has always gone along with tattoos since the very beginning is the desire to remove them. Whether the desire to remove the tattoo is a result of social, cultural, or physical reasons, people go to great lengths to get the job done.

Early techniques for removing tattoos included painful and scarring procedures such as sanding, cutting, and burning the skin. Unless you were willing to go to these lengths, tattoos were seen as permanent and irreversible. However, thanks to medical advances in the field of dermatology, surgeons are now able to remove tattoos safely and effectively.

Methods for tattoo removal today include dermabrasion, surgical excision, salabrasion, chemical peels, and laser surgery. Let’s examine how tattoos are removed with each of these methods.

Dermabrasion

With dermabrasion, the surface and middle layers of the skin are “sanded” away with a hand-held scraping or sanding tool. This process removes the pigmented skin and encourages the growth of new skin.

Dermabrasion is not for everyone. If the tattoo is old, or if the ink has been injected into the subcutaneous fat, dermabrasion may not work. Also, if the tattoo was done by an amateur and the ink is deposited at varying depths in the skin, complete removal may be difficult.

Side effects include skin discoloration, infection at the site of the tattoo, and scarring from repeated scraping and sanding. Complete removal of all the ink is not always possible.

Until laser surgery was introduced, dermabrasion was considered one of the most popular and effective ways of removing tattoos.

Surgical Excision

Surgical excision is performed under general anesthesia. During the process, the surgeon literally cuts the tattoo out of the skin, and closes the wound with sutures. This technique is more suitable for smaller tattoos.

This is one of the more invasive tattoo removal procedures, and complications include swelling, infection, and scarring.

Chemical Peel

A chemical peel, during which trichloracetic acid is usually used, progressively removes layers of skin, and eventually the tattoo.

Depending upon the age of the tattoo, and whether the ink is evenly distributed, it is not guaranteed that a chemical peel will completely remove a tattoo. Chemical peels can also cause permanent damage to the skin, such as lightening where the design used to be, or scarring.

Salibrasion

Salibrasion is perhaps one of the oldest methods of tattoo removal, and requires the skin to be “sanded” with salt. A local anesthetic is usually injected around the design, and the skin is aggressively rubbed with salt or a salt sanding block.

Complete tattoo removal can’t be guaranteed, and the procedure can leave the patient with raw, red, burned skin. Scarring is also a possibility with this method.

Laser Treatment

Laser treatment was introduced in the 1980s, and presented the best alternative to tattoo removal. The CO2 laser beam was used to vaporize the ink and the overlying skin, and was less painful, safer, and much easier than other techniques. However, the technique was not perfect. The healing process was long, there was considerable risk of scarring, and in almost all cases a faint image of the tattoo was left behind.

Q-Switched Lasers

Q-Switched Lasers were introduced about 10 years ago, and have been shown to be the most effective way to date to remove tattoos. Q-switched lasers emit light in very short but powerful flashes, which pass through the skin and break up the tattoo pigment.

Because the absorption of the laser light affects the energy’s ability to break up the pigment, different types of q-switched lasers are best used on different colors of pigment.

There are four different types of q-switched lasers:

1.Q-switched ruby lasers have a red light and are effective on most black, blue, and green pigments.

2. Q-switched alexandrite lasers emit a deep red light and are effective for most black, blue, and green pigments.

3. Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers emit an infrared light and are effective on most black and dark blue pigments.

4. Q-switched frequency-doubled Nd:YAG lasers emit a green light and are effective on most red, black, dark blue, and purple pigments.

While tattoo removal with q-switched lasers is completely safe, patients usually experience discomfort on the same scale as receiving the tattoo. A topical anesthetic can be applied one to three hours before treatment. The more treatments the patient has the less pain he or she will feel, as there will be less pigment to absorb the laser energy.

Antibiotic ointment and a light dressing are applied to the area after treatment and normal activity, including showering, can resume the next day. Light blistering or bleeding following the treatment is normal and should subside within a day or two.

All tattoos will require more than one treatment, the average being between five and 10 treatments depending upon the depth of the tattoo, the colors used, the location of the tattoo, and the health of the patient. Fading of the tattoo should be evident about two weeks after treatment, and another treatment can be done as soon as a month later.

While scarring will not occur as a result of q-switched lasers, mild skin texture changes can occur. Darker skinned patients may also experience some skin lightening, though this is usually temporary.

Is it guaranteed that the tattoo will completely disappear when treated with a q-switched laser? Well, because more than 100 tattoo inks are used today, and none of them are regulated by the FDA, it is impossible to predict how a particular ink will respond to laser treatment. However, in most cases the tattoo will completely disappear.

To find a physician board-certified in laser surgery who removes tattoos look in the yellow pages under Cosmetic or Laser Surgery, and/or Tattoo Removal. Or contact the Ethical Cosmetic Surgery Association to find a practitioner in your area.

By: Barry Lycka

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As if the unsightly appearance of acne pimples is not enough for all too many people once the pimples disappear they are left with frequently equally unsightly scarring. So how do you go about treating acne scars?

The first thing to realize is that some conditions which look very much like scars are not in fact scars at all but are macules and other bumps which can occur following acne treatment. The redness which often accompanies macules and other bumps can last for up to a year but this is not permanent and these are not true scars.

True scars are produced by the healing process itself (often resulting from the creation of fibrous tissue) and represent a permanent change to your skin tissue. Permanent scarring often results from the action of your white blood cells as they attack the bacteria which causes acne and this ‘battle’ can produce permanent changes to the underlying cells of your skin.

Such damage is not however just limited to the cells below the skin surface and you can be left with such things as so-called icepick scars which are small pinholes formed in the surface of the skin. They are called icepick scars because they look as if the skin has been attacked with an icepick and they are often quite deep and thus unresponsive to such things as dermabrasion and laser resurfacing treatment.

Another common form of acne scarring are boxcar scars, which are similar to icepick scars but tend to be flatter on the bottom instead of narrowing to a point as icepick scars do. Boxcar scars are shallower than icepick scars and can be treatment using skin resurfacing techniques.

Finally, keloid scars, which tend to extend beyond the site of the original pimple injury, result from an excess production of collagen and are usually seen as a firm shiny pink or red scar.

In all cases the best way to avoid acne scars is to prevent then from developing in the first place but, where this has not proved to be effective, then there are several standard treatments including:

Dermabrasion. Dermabrasion is a form of treatment used to treat a wide range of different skin conditions, including mild (and sometimes moderate} acne scarring. After the application of a local anesthetic, a high speed brush is used to remove layers of skin. In many cases, once the skin heals naturally, acne scar disappear altogether and, where this is not the case, they are usually very much less evident.

A commonly alternative to dermabrasion today is microdermabrasion in which, instead of using a high speed brush, aluminum oxide crystals are moved rapidly across the surface of the skin using a form of vacuum hose. This is a little bit like a form of medical ’sand blasting’ and is less invasive than dermabrasion and causes less trauma to the skin. Microdermabrasion can be effective in cases of very mild acne scarring but generally does not produce as good results as are seen with dermabrasion.

Laser Treatments. For some people laser treatment (often using CO2 lasers) is particularly effective and mild scarring can sometimes be removed with just a single treatment. When in the hands of a trained professional a laser can be used to remove scar tissue, or to alter the size of scars and change the contour of the skin to make scars very much less visible. This is however a fairly harsh treatment which effectively works by burning the surface of the skin and so it can produce redness which will persist for several weeks.

Surgery. Surgery, using a technique known as ‘punching’ is often used to remove some icepick scars. An icepick scar is cut out down to the subcutaneous fat layer and the resulting hole is then repaired either using sutures or a small skin graft. Scars can also be repaired using subcisions which involve lifting the scar tissue away from unscarred skin. This technique can be effective but at the moment results using this technique have been somewhat mixed.

Drug Treatment. Keloid scars do not respond well to any of the treatments described so far and indeed they will usually stimulate the formation of more keloids and make matters worse. In this case therefore it is common to either apply a topical retinoid cream or to inject steroid-type drugs directly into the skin around the site of the scar. Unfortunately, keloid scars are difficult to treat and results vary widely from one individual to the next.

Perhaps the most important advice which anybody can be given when it comes to treating acne scars is that you should start by getting a proper diagnosis from a professional dermatologist. Your dermatologist will not only be able to advise you about the treatments available for your particular type of scarring, but will also be able to advise you about both the benefits and risks of each type of treatment.

By: Donald Saunders

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In this article we’ll examine how different tattoo removal options are used to help people at all ages to remove tattoos from their bodies they no longer appreciate. One of the many reasons for people to remove tattoos is to get rid of something they don’t want to remember, for example a person’s name when the love is over.

What is a tattoo? Tattoo is made on the body by burying color pigments inside the skin’s surface. Since it is embedded inside the dermal layers, tattoo can’t be easily destroyed even though with severe burn. Tattoos are built to last forever. Removing them is very difficult and expansive. So, how to remove a tattoo and what are the available tattoo removal options?

Here are a few common methods on how to remove a tattoo:

1. Remove tattoo with micro dermabrasion: Micro skin dermabrasion method is a sand blasting process that sprays fine abrasive oxide across tattoo areas in order to remove the outer and middle skin layers that hold the tattoo pigments. The body will replace the injured skin surface with new and healthy cells. Some dermabrasion instruments are in the form of polishing wheels to “sand off” the tattoo skin layers. The pain during this procedure is within bearable limits.

2. Remove tattoo through freezing (cryosurgery) method: A localized frostbite is created at tattoo areas through freezing of the skin surface with liquid nitrogen spray. The frostbite with tattoo pigmentation will peel off in the next 3 to 4 weeks after the treatment. Scars may develop with this method.

3. Remove tattoo with chemical peels: Chemical solution and sometimes acid is used to etch away the outer skin layers gradually until the dermal layer with tattoo pigmentation is reached.

4. Remove tattoo with excision: Excision surgery is only suitable for small tattoos. For large tattoos, several treatments are usually required together with a skin graft to cover up the skin. Excision involves a local anesthetic to numb the tattoo areas, and dermal layers with tattoo pigments are cut out of the skin. This method leaves a scar behind.

5. Laser tattoo removal: Laser surgery is the most effective tattoo removal options and has least damage to the skin. The laser beam can be selectively set up to remove tattoo pigmentation without harming the surrounding skin. The healing duration is much shorter with laser surgery except the treatment cost is very high.

If you need more information on how to remove a tattoo with laser surgery, visit out site to watch an excellent video which shows the laser removal process and to explore other painless and inexpensive tattoo removal options.

By: Steve W.

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