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Sun Damage: It’s What You Can’t See that is Bad

We all know that sun exposure does bad things to the skin.  It causes premature aging, wrinkles, brown spots and sometimes malignant cancers.  All adults and even young children have sun damage that you can’t see with the naked eye.

Ultraviolet light enhances epidermal and dermal melanin and what shows up is usually enough to make people scream!  We have a skin scanner at our office which shows the hidden damage and is a good way to get people serious about sun protection and skin rejuvenation.

The above image show a patient in the skin scanner.

The image above shows a patient in normal photographic lighting (left) and the same patient photographed in the skin scanner (right).  The hidden pigment and sun damage is remarkable.

Most people don’t realize what lies below and are usually shocked to see the amount of hidden damage they actually have.  Non-surgical treatment includes avoiding intense sun, using sunscreen, using medically based skin care including Retin-A and bleaching cream and some light based devices.  Surgical options include chemical peels and laser skin resurfacing.

The patients below are show before (left) and after (right) laser skin resurfacing.  The improvement in their sun damage is obvious.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The patient below shows marked improvement of her wrinkles from CO2 laser resurfacing.

 

Generally, laser procedures that can be performed awake are much less effective and require multiple treatments.  The patients shown above underwent deep CO2 laser resurfacing by Dr. Niamtu which has a more intense recovery of approximately 2 weeks, but also remains the gold standard for improving deep wrinkles and deep pigment.

Dr. Niamtu suggests that every patient visit their dermatologist on a yearly basis for mole checks and skin health.

Any person desiring a free skin scan can schedule this through our office front desk at 804-932-FACE (3223)

 

Joe Niamtu, III DMD

Cosmetic Facial Surgery

Richmond, Virginia

www.lovethatface.com

Office Address

Joe Niamtu III, DMD
11319 Polo Place
Midlothian, VA 23113

Office Hours

Monday - Friday
8:00am - 5:00pm

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