Performance Skin.com

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Florentine

If you’re 55 years of age or older, then you are probably well acquainted with age spots. If not, then consider yourself lucky. For those of us who know all about these bothersome blemishes, finding a good treatment for age spots can be quite a challenge. Well, no need to fret. Help is here. There a mainly 4 different methods that have proven to be successful at removing age spots quickly and easily. We’ll discuss each method briefly so you can decide which one suits you best.

IPL Treatment

IPL, also known as photorejuvenation, stands for Intensed Pulsed Light. As a non-ablative, this treatment for age spots will not damage the surface of your skin. With IPL, intense light is sent to the deeper layers of your skin (dermis) without touching the superficial layers (epidermis). This innovative method is good for removing age spots because it uses the pulsed light to stimulate new collagen growth while fading discoloration and evening your skin tone.

The only drawback about IPL is that it has to be performed by a trained medical professional. The procedure can be quite expensive, too. You’d have to have 4 to 6 IPL treatments to see real results. At $300 to 600 per session, you could easily end up spending $1200 to $2200 to reach your goals.

Laser Resurfacing

Laser resurfacing is still a fairly new procedure, but it’s relatively safe. Laser resurfacing is most popular as a procedure for minimizing fine lines, but it’s also effective as a treatment for age spots. This procedure must be performed in a doctor’s office because it call for some sedation. Laser resurfacing is a popular treatment many plastic surgeons offer to help with removing age spots and other deep blemishes.

Like IPL, laser resurfacing can be quite expensive. The national average for this procedure is nearly $3,000 but many doctors offer financing so patients can take advantage of monthly payments.

Bleaching Creams

Bleaching creams are great for bleaching large areas of discoloration. As a treatment for age spots, though, most bleaching creams have a greater affect on the areas surrounding your age spots than they do on the spots themselves. You can either purchase bleaching creams from your dermatologist or get them over the counter at your local drug store. Some people say bleaching creams are slow at removing age spots while others swear by them. In either case, positive results can be experienced.

Home Chemical Peels

A home chemical peel is perhaps the most cost-efficient and effective treatment for age spots available. It works by removing layers of dead skin over a period of several days (usually less than a week) in order to reveal fresh, new skin that is both younger looking and more supple. Lighter chemical peels only penetrate one or two layers of skin while deeper peels can go as many as three or four layers deep.

Many home chemical peel kits provide dermatologist-quality results at a fraction of the cost. As a result, they tend to be one of the most sought after solutions for removing age spots. The average home chemical peel kit will cost you about $80 for a basic kit and $660 for a more advanced kit. This is significantly less than the $300 to $2000 you would pay to have the same treatment done in a dermatologist’s office. This turns out to be a savings of $220 to $1340.



By: Linda Florentine

About the Author:

http://performanceskin.com

Also, known as liver spots, age spots that easily give away your age, including the health of your skin. Caused just  mainly due to long-term exposure to the sun’s damaging UV rays, they can be even found on the face, arms, back, and hands. As a rule, they generally begin to appear in one’s early forties, specially for those who worship the sun, spending hours and hours sun bathing in just the hope of acquiring a healthy, glowing tan.

Quite harmless, age spots are harmless flat, brown-black spots that commonly occur in sun-exposed areas of the body. Though, also called the liver spots, they have exactly no connection to the liver or to the liver function.

Dermatologists classify them as benign skin blemishes and actually there is no cause for alarm or medical treatment, though you are ideally advised to have suspected age spots that grow bigger or change shape or in to colour checked out by the doctor.

Like most things on the face and body  age spots are really difficult to get rid of completely. Like most things, the best advice that really  one can give is that prevention is far better than cure. Protect your skin from total being overly exposed to the sun; apply sunscreen regularly when going out in the sun exposure , even if it is in winter. Starting this regimen while into still in your twenties and thirties makes it far less likely that you will easily develop age spots in your forties and fifties.

However, if it’s already being much too late and you have probably spent your youth basking in the sun’s harmful rays, what you perhaps are interested in is cure rather than prevention. There are so reasonably effective fade creams and retinol creams that you can try out, or you can go in for the much far more expensive though effective laser treatments and chemical peels.

While, dermatologists recommend rectifying skin damage in the professional cosmetic clinics, for those who can’t afford it, there are chemical peel kits that one can buy just for home use. These contain alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) to help fight the total appearance age spots by gently removing the top layer of skin and revealing new skin underneath. Follow the instructions very carefully to improve stubborn age spots and have fewer wrinkles and a smoother complexion.

There are fade creams also, that which seem to work well on fair-skinned people as they gently bleach them out. These creams work well combined with the  moisturiser that contains glycolic acid (an AHA). This may cause some temporary irritation and redness in sensitive skin, though. Direct exposure to the sun is also to be avoided to keep age spots and irritation at bay.

Whatever the method for reducing the appearance of thse age spots, make sure you protect your skin from UV exposure by during and after the treatment. Remember, prevention is always better, and cheaper, than cure.

However, if it’s already being much too late and you have probably spent your youth basking in the sun’s harmful rays, what you perhaps are interested in is cure rather than prevention. There are so reasonably effective fade creams and retinol creams that you can try out, or you can go in for the much far more expensive though effective laser treatments and chemical peels.



By: drrony

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Freckles were cute when you were playing T-ball, but now you’re thinking…What is that – an age spot?!? Although age spots really have little to do with aging, they do appear over time when the cells that produce melanin (skin pigment) go bad. You’ll get a freckle, or more likely a blotch that’s bigger than a freckle, and it just won’t go away. If you think it’s too early to be noticing age spots but you see them on family members – well, the bad news is, those darkened, discolored spots that appear on faces and hands over the years are hereditary, so you may be likely to get them.

The good news is that you can take steps now to minimize the appearance of this discoloration. Better yet, the science of dermatology keeps evolving with new cosmetic dermatology treatments. This means all of us, at any age, have options to fade skin discoloration. In this article, I’ll give you the information you need on the treatment generally known as the chemical peel (or facial peel).

But first, let’s talk about what you can do to try to avoid age spots: Sunscreen! (You knew I’d say that.) Sun damage brings out these spots and blotches, and for those of us already blessed with the unsightly marks, sun exposure will make them darker and more prominent. No question: wear protective clothing and use a UVA/UVB sunscreen marked at least SPF 30. Protect your skin from the sun – every day, even if it’s cloudy!

But, what if the pesky age spots have already blossomed on your skin? Among the treatments cosmetic dermatologists offer, chemical facial peels provide effective fading of age spots and other skin discoloration, along with other benefits. The facial peel works by loosening the connections between surface cells and speeding up the “turnover rate,” bringing new cells to the skin surface. Since these spots begin with defective pigmentation in deeper cells, this procedure lets your skin get rid of these cells, along with sun-damaged surface skin. A side benefit: the process also smoothes wrinkles and increases collagen production, thereby improving skin tone.

Chemical treatments offer an advantage over surface procedures like dermabrasion: peels work at a deeper level in your skin. Of course, you’ll want to talk with your own cosmetic dermatologist about the best treatment for your unique needs. A few people have chemical-sensitive skin, so preliminary testing will make it clear if this treatment is right for you.

Your cosmetic dermatologist can also recommend the level of treatment appropriate for the condition of your individual skin type and schedule requirements. The procedure involves the carefully controlled application of an acid or other solution to the skin, and there’s a range of chemical peel formulations, from heavy-duty to gentler. To start with the big guns, one popular combination includes fluocinolone, hydroquinone, and tretinoin. It’s topical (applied to your skin) but does require a doctor’s prescription. Fluocinolone is a steroid; hydroquinone blocks the production of melanin, the dark skin pigment; tretinoin is a form of vitamin A. Together they strongly stimulate skin cell turnover and prevent the formation of new pigment.

This combination is highly effective for heavier discoloration, but must be used carefully. Women of childbearing age should take a test to rule out pregnancy before having the procedure. Everyone should know that the skin will become more sensitive to other skin products and to sunlight during the series of treatments. The dermatologist may use an anesthetic, as your skin will likely feel hot, look red and peel. But, it will settle down in a few days to a week, and look very clear and even in tone – in other words, youthful!

Natural fruit acids provide the gentler (and less expensive) chemical peel treatments, especially glycolic acid, as well as lactic and citric acid. Each treatment is brief (15–20 minutes), and a series over a few months will gently renew the skin, fading those age spots right out. Again, you may have some redness, but it’s less pronounced. These treatments are easier on your whole system than the stronger formulations mentioned above. There’s also an intermediate treatment available using trichloroacetic acid (TCA). This one is particularly effective on darker-toned skin.

Next time, we’ll look at two other kinds of help for age spots and other discolorations, crystal-free microdermabrasion and light treatments, including lasers. It’s great to know that even though some skin discoloration may be inevitable, we do have options to reduce or abolish them. Lighten up the age spots, and you could wind up looking as young as you feel!

By: James Fairfield

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http://performanceskin.com