Helping Hands
In general, people are now in the habit of using some form of sunscreen on their face each day to protect their skin from sun damage. Hands are another story.
Patients often complain that their hands either “give away” their age or they seem prematurely aged compared to the rest of their skin. Our hands are constantly exposed to environmental elements like water and temperature and they receive a tremendous amount of sun. Yet knowing all the abuse our hands endure, they are often overlooked when it comes to skin care and sun protection. Wrinkles, brown spots and precancerous lesions on hands can nearly all be attributed to sun and UV ray exposure. Also, the skin on the hands is thin, so further breakdown of its collagen by UV rays causes it to become even thinner more quickly than other body parts. Not only does this effect its texture, but aging and unattractive veins and tendons can show right through!
So, what can be done for these under cared for extremities? First of all, prevention is key. Keep a tube of moisturizing sunblock in your purse or carry all and apply often, especially after washing. We recommend sunblocks with at least an SPF 15 that contain some zinc or titanium dioxide (physical blocks that do not degrade as quickly). This will keep your hands from being dry and keep them consistently protected. Consider keeping a pair of gloves in your car and slipping them on before you hit the road. This will keep the sun off your hands when holding the steering wheel, especially for long car rides. Treat the skin on your hands with anti-aging and collagen building products. This is usually easiest at bedtime when you are washing your hands less frequently. We will often recommend that patients use Retin-A mixed with a bleaching cream to lighten brown spots and build collagen. Use caution with any products on your hands as the skin can become irritated more easily. Ask a professional for proper instructions with any product.
There are many treatment options available to help reverse damage on the hands. Chemical peels and lasers are very effective in making your skin look less spotted and wrinkled. Fillers can also be used to plump up the skin on the hands and help reduce the appearance of veins. Please contact our office for more details. In the meantime, be good to your hands, they deserve it!
Tags: collagen, hand, retin-a, skin, sun damage, sunblock, sunscreen, uv ray
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 1:30 am and is filed under Products, Skin Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
