Having your skin resurfaced is an awful lot like resurfacing an old table. Let’s say you’ve had a small dining room table in the family for hundreds of years and due to wear and tear it has scratches and dents in it. If you want to fix it up, you would have to strip it, sand it, fill in the holes and give it a new coat of stain.
Fixing up skin is similar, except instead of being made out of wood, it’s living material.
Dr. Popp said there are three main ways to resurface the skin
- Dermabrator – This is a tool used for sanding the skin.
- Chemical peel – This procedure literally peels layers of dead skin off.
- Laser – Using a laser to remove damaged skin reveals new growth.
The principles of all three procedures are similar. In all three you are removing the outer layers of skin. The purpose is to get down to younger, fresher skin while burning off sun damage or peeling off wrinkles. These procedures change the collagen production in the skin. In other words, as it heals, it improves elasticity.
What type of person responds best to which treatments?
Well, skin color plays a big role in these procedures. The incidence of wrinkles due to sun damage (THE most common cause, smoking is number 2) is so low in people of color that resurfacing is almost never indicated. Women of color lose fat and get furrows and hollowing but rarely have surface lines.
For the people he does see though, Dr. Popp said he has to be careful when doing these treatments not to strip too much pigment from the skin or leave them with too much pigment. It’s definitely a delicate balance.
Dr. Popp explained there are also different levels of resurfacing
- Superficial
- Moderate
- Deep
Someone who gets a lighter resurfacing treatment can expect about 3-5 days of recovery while someone who undergoes a deeper resurfacing treatment will recover over a 2-4 week time period.
Want to love the skin you’re in? Call Dr. Popp and set up your consultation by calling 402-391-4558.
