Repairing sun damage on the arms and legs; New from the Paris Conf

Sun damage on the arms and legs has been difficult to treat.   Not only is it often unsightly – blotchy brown and red – but also is the area where skin cancers and precancerous spots begin.    Treatment has been more difficult by the fact t arms and legs take longer to heal.  If the face (for deeper treatments) is about 1 week, the chest and arms will take about 2 weeks and the back and legs about 3 weeks.   The areas around the ankles and feet are notoriously prone to healing problems.

Now several researchers are using a a multilayered approach to treating sun damage on the arms and legs which makes sense to me and is yielding good results (in expert hands only please).  For the arms and legs, combining a glycolic or light TCA peel (for the texture) , with a pulsed dye laser (for the red), with a light Fraxel (for the brown) and often done in one visit is yielding good results.    1-4 treatments may be needed depending on the amount of sun damage.    4-8 week intervals are recommended.

Again –  there is potential for serious complication with the above if not done correctly.  Choose only very experienced, board certified dermatologists for this.  There are a few plastic surgeons that may be good at this, but in general my opinion is to avoid these combination treatments with them.

Dr. Irwin

IMCAS Paris Conference on Skin

IMCAS Paris Conference on Skin

Dr. Brandith Irwin, MD

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Hi, I’m Dr. Irwin. I believe that consumers deserve a medically trained and unbiased skin care advocate.

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