Skin Resurfacing
What is a skin resurfacing? By far the most advanced form of skin resurfacing uses a modern laser and computer scanner to treat thousands of small areas of skin within a single square centimetre of skin leaving tiny undamaged epithelial cells widely spread across the wound to rapidly heal and repair the entire skin surface within hours. This gives the advantages and results of traditional resurfacing with extremely short healing times (Short down time) and an extremely good safety record. These fractional resurfacing lasers are a major step forward in skin resurfacing but the most recent one only is capable of a full thickness skin treatment ( Fraxel repair co2 laser)
What is the procedure for a skin peel? Traditional skin resurfacing involves removing the top layer of the skin to varying depths. As a general rule, the greater the depth the greater the result but the bigger the worry of developing unwanted effects, such as hypo-pigmentation (loss of skin colour), hyper-pigmentation (increased skin pigmentation) or scarring. Expert assessment of the skin is required to decide on the depth of the resurfacing required to give a satisfactory result and the best method of how to achieve it.
Dermabrasion
Chemical peel (medical strength)
Lasers
Skin resurfacing should not be confused with skin rejuvenation that does not remove the epithelial surface but aims at restoring pigment or vascular changes and improve texture. It should also not be confused with exfoliation techniques that can be performed at home or are commonly on offer at salons and spas (scrubs, mild acid peels and microdermabrasion). Exfoliation means the removal of the dieing cells from the surface of your skin and it really does work to give a fresh and healthy look, although very short lived. Assessment is required if the best results are to be achieved, resurfacing may not be needed or be appropriate for everybody.
Shallow resurfacing is also likely to have only a short-lived effect for perhaps weeks or months. Deep resurfacing will give a permanent effect.
The more you put into life, the more you get out, and this has certainly always been true for the traditional skin resurfacing techniques. The deeper the technique, the longer the healing time and the greater the effect and risk of complications. All resurfacing will cause scabbing, blistering or the formation of an eschar that will take days or weeks to heal depending on the depth. Shallow resurfacing may take 2-3 days to heal; a deep resurfacing may take over 10 days. The only exception to this is the fractional lasers that can achieve very deep treatments but with minimal down time and an excellent safety record.
For more information on skin resurfacing, prices and healing times, please either contact Simon Lee directly, or register for Simon Lee's free VIP area, where you will find articles and information on a variety of cosmetic procedures, surgical and non-surgical, as well as a discussion forum where you could meet other people considering a skin resurfacing.
