Amy,

Skin rejuvenation to repair sun damage and wrinkles requires ongoing care and sometimes a little kick start.  What I mean by that is that the place to start is will good skin care products.  We offer our patients PCA skin care products.  We believe that it is an excellent line and provide our patients with great results to improve their skin if that is all they want to do or to maintain their skin after a treatment.

The kick start to improving skin can be either a chemical peel or laser.  It depends on the amount of downtime you can tolerate verses the degree of improvement to seek.  The Fraxel re:store laser is a series of treatments in the office that provides for the least downtime, but also the lower end of results.  It works very well for pigment, but only OK for wrinkles.  The next step up from that is the Fraxel re:pair laser.  It has a little more downtime, about 10-14 days without makeup, but is a one-time treatment in the office with very good results for both pigment and wrinkles.  The last option is a deep chemical peel.  We do this treatment in the ambulatory surgery center.  It has 14 days without makeup, but offers the most improvement for your skin.  We may also recommend Botox prior to your treatment and after to maintain the results in certain areas.  Once your skin is healed we again recommend PCA skin care to maintain your result.

So, there are many different options that can be tailored for each patient.  The most important things to consider are how long you want to wait for results and how much down-time if any you can tolerate.  At your consultation we can explore all the options in more detail and determine which course of therapy would be right for you.

Ed Buckingham