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Phone 512.401.2500 | Fax 512.401.2501
2745 Bee Caves Road, Suite 101
Austin,
Texas
78746
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Question:
I have severe Rosacea, so bad that I don’t even want to leave the house some days. Would a Fraxel laser treatment be able to eliminate the redness and blotchiness of my skin?
Answer:
Fraxel is not the best treatment for Rosacea. Severe Rosacea is best treated with a combination of good skin care and a vascular laser such as a pulsed dye laser.
Posted by Dr. Buckingham
Question:
Aside from a facial spider vein treatment, are there any creams or serums that would help eliminate the appearance of spider veins in my cheeks?
Answer:
There are creams that can improve spider veins. Some of them are prescription and others part of skin care lines. Usually though these will only be partially effective and often laser therapy is needed as well. These creams can then be beneficial in maintaining the result.
Posted by Dr. Buckingham
Question:
I’m in my early thirties and am considering getting a laser skin resurfacing procedure done. I’d like to know a bit more about the procedure such as the average time it takes and possible side effects.
Answer:
Laser skin resurfacing in our practice is performed with a fractionated CO2 laser. There are many different lasers and all of them can have different degrees of improvement and downtime. Even with the fractionated CO2 the treatment can be tailored to the individual patient’s needs and limitations for down-time. The down-time can be as little as about 5 days and as much as about 2 weeks. The risks are minimal as the laser leaves microscopic areas of untreated skin for healing, but they include, scarring, infection, pigmentation alterations, milia, acne, redness, itching etc.
Posted by Dr. Buckingham
Question:
Does fraxel repair eliminate fine facial lines better than an injectable filler?
Answer:
Fraxel repair and and injectable fillers are usually utilized for different facial lines or in conjuction with each other for the best results. Fillers are best for lines around the mouth or to fill in areas of facial volume loss. Fraxel repair can also be used to improve the lines around your mouth, but is also very useful for improving fine lines around your eyes and forehead. It really depends more upon what your goals are and less upon comparing techniques. The best solution is to come in for a consultation and develop a complete treatment plan that is best for you.
Posted by Dr. Buckingham
Question:
What exactly is dermabrasion? Is there a certain skin type that would benefit the most from this procedure?
Answer:
Dermabrasion is a procedure where a rough tool is used to resurface the skin. Oddly enough even sterile sand-paper has been described as a tool for this procedure. More commonly, and in our practice, we use a power instrument to perform the skin “sanding”. The process is much like any other kind of resurfacing where the outer layers of the skin are removed in order to offer improvement in wrinkling or scarring. The procedure is mostly used for discrete areas of the face and should be used mostly in people with lighter skin color as loss of pigmentation can be a side-effect of the procedure.
Posted by Dr. Buckingham
Teresa,
Thanks for your question about facial pigmentation. Facial pigmentation requires treatment with multiple modalities. Everyone needs to be using a good skin care regimen with a retinol (retin-A), something to reduce pigment (hydoquinone, azelaic acid, kojic acid) and good sunscreen. In some cases, that may be enough although the results may take some time. Many patients choose however to speed the resolution of the pigment. This can be achieved through the use of laser such as Fraxel or chemical peels. If you only concern is pigment then I would recommend a series of light chemical peels or a series of Fraxel laser treatments. The Fraxel laser is considerably better at reducing pigment, but does have some minor down-time and is more expensive. I would not recommend a deep chemical peel as these are more for treatment of wrinkles in conjunction with pigment.
I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to contact our office with any other questions or concerns or to make an appointment where we can discuss your case in more detail.
Ed Buckingham
Christina,
Dermabrasion and microdermabrasion are very different. Microdermabrasion is a procedure utilizing crystals to remove the dead skin cells from the outer surface of the face. It will only allow your face to feel smoother but will not stimulate collagen production or improve wrinkling. Dermabrasion is a procedure utilizing either a diamond sanding wheel or a wire brush to remove the outer epidermis and dermis of the skin which is much deeper than micro-dermabrasion and allows for improvement in wrinkles and collagen production. We usually utilize a trichloracetic acid chemical peel for the wrinkles on the entire face, which also improves pigment, and allows for collagen regeneration. We combine this with dermabrasion for the perioral area in patients with a deep perioral lines. The dermabrasion does require a significant downtime and there is a small risk of pigmentation loss and scarring. It does offer the best chance for the most significant improvement however. We have examples of both chemical peels and dermabrasion on the site and I encourage you to explore our photo Gallery. Thank you for your question; we would be happy to see you anytime.
Ed Buckingham
