PhotoAging Causes Indianapolis

Many environmental and heredity factors, as well as general health and the normal aging process impact upon the health and alter the appearance of our skin. Of these, ultraviolet irradiation, medically known as photoaging, is one of the most important.

Sun exposure, suntanning, and tanning beds all deliver ultraviolet irradiation to the skin. In fact, tanning is a natural, biological reaction of skin to protect us against sun burns and sun damage. Unfortunately, with repeated and prolonged sun exposure over time, the skin will accumulate permanent damage.

Photoaging looks very much like premature aging. Changes in pigmentation (blotchy brown freckles and age spots), dryness, areas of redness, thinning of the dermis and loss of elasticity all occur, leading to sagging, wrinkled skin. Worse yet, accumulated severe ultraviolet damage to the skin is a definite causative factor for the most common forms of skin cancer. While people with fair skin who burn easily are at the highest risk, nobody is immune or even completely protected.

Because the skin changes associated with photoaging are largely permanent, prevention is the best strategy. Excessive tanning and sun damage is counter-intuitive to long-term skin health and is not recommended by most medical skin care professionals. Protection from ultraviolet radiation is important to avoid premature photoaging and skin cancer. This means routine use sunblock, hats, and protective clothing during times of anticipated significant sun exposure. Avoidance of sun exposure during the most intense periods of the day, ie, between 11 am and 3 pm is also helpful.

When sunburns do occur, avoidance of further damaging sun exposure and moisturizers are important measures for early healing. For established signs of photoaging, plastic surgery is often necessary to make dramatic changes, However, many people can benefit from less invasive methods to camoflage and treat early signs of photoaging. Examples include Retin-A, light chemical peels and microdermabrasion to gently remove the dead outer layers of skin freshen and improve the surface of your face. Botox and collagen injections may help soften the appearance of early wrinkles and skin creases. Deeper skin treatments such as deep chemical peels or laser resurfacing may be necessary to treat deeper wrinkles or even out darker areas of pigmentary change.

Professional skin care is a useful adjunct before some types of plastic surgery to prepare the skin for proper healing. Likewise, professional skin care will protect and prolong the results you get with surgery or skin resurfacing.