Category: acne scars
Conquering Acne: Understanding and Treating Your Skin Woes
Acne is a universal skin condition that affects millions worldwide, transcending age, gender, and background. Whether it’s the occasional blemish or a persistent battle, the journey to clear skin can often feel like an uphill climb. But fear not, for there’s hope and help available for everyone grappling with this common affliction.
Understanding the root cause of acne is paramount to effectively addressing it. It begins when pores become clogged with dead skin cells, exacerbated by the overproduction of sebum—the skin’s natural oil. This creates a fertile ground for bacteria to flourish, leading to inflammation and the dreaded appearance of acne.
The manifestations of acne vary, from the familiar blackheads and whiteheads of acne vulgaris to the redness and pustules associated with acne rosacea. Some individuals grapple with chronic, persistent acne, while others contend with the aftermath of scarring and pigmentation issues.
However, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We offer a range of treatments tailored to address diverse acne concerns. Here’s a glimpse of what’s available:
INFINI: A cutting-edge treatment targeting acne scars and texture irregularities by stimulating collagen production.
PDL (Pulsed Dye Laser): Ideal for reducing redness and inflammation associated with acne rosacea.
Fraxel Dual and Fraxel Repair: These lasers work wonders in resurfacing the skin, addressing both active acne and scarring.
Dermal Fillers (Belotero, Juvederm, Restylane, Restylane Lyft, Radiesse): Effective in restoring volume loss and minimizing the appearance of depressed acne scars.
Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to acne treatment. I will work closely with you to develop a personalized plan that caters to your unique needs and concerns. So, take heart—clear, radiant skin is within reach, and you don’t have to face this journey alone. With the right treatment and support, you can bid farewell to acne and embrace the confidence that comes with healthy, beautiful skin.
See you soon.
Out, Spot!
Some blemishes can make you feel as bad as Lady Macbeth did, but fortunately, some spots can be banished.
Dark spots and blotchy patches, whether brown, red or pink, large or small, are all classified as hyperpigmentation. Meaning, simply, extra pigment, dark skin discoloration can appear anywhere on your body. Typically, sun exposure and aging are to blame.
Various types of hyperpigmentation can emerge, due to different triggers, and we have treatments for all of them. Take a look below at which type you may have…
Melasma: Look for light to medium brown discoloration, usually on the cheeks, sides of your face, upper nose, forehead and lips. You may see splotchy patches in irregular sizes and shapes. Often, melasma appears when you are pregnant or have just gone through childbirth (it’s sometimes called “The Mask of Pregnancy”). A hormone surge during these times can cause the changes in your skin. Combined with excessive sun exposure, the effects may be pronounced.
Our treatment: Fraxel Dual Laser
Sunspots, Age/Liver Spots: These are light to dark brown in color, and appear on the face, chest and hands. Usually, they are small and flat and caused by sun exposure.
Our treatment: Fraxel Dual Laser, IPL (Intense Pulsed Light), Diolite
PIH: Look for flat pink, red or brown spots on the face. If you’ve had inflammatory acne, you may be prone to this sort of hyperpigmentation.
Our treatment: Light salicylic acid chemical peels
Freckles: You may notice small brown, red or black spots on your face, chest or arms. Sometimes, they appear quickly, after a long day in the sun, even with sunscreen.
Our treatment: Fraxel Dual Laser, IPL, Diolite
Facial Blood Vessels: Vascular lesions, commonly called “spider veins” are extra blood vessels that are superficially located in the skin. Often, the skin of cheeks, chin and forehead appear red.
Our treatment: Diolite, IPL
Our best advice for minimizing spots, of course, is to stay clear of the sun and wear sunscreen–and more sunscreen–every time that you go out, even when it’s cloudy.
For a specialized treatment plan crafted just for you, call our office for a complimentary consultation.
See you soon.
Refresh Your Face for Fall Holidays with Fraxel
One of the best options to rejuvenate your skin for Fall is with a FRAXEL laser treatment. You’ll love your smooth, clear complexion that radiates a youthful glow. Available in three different strengths, FRAXEL lasers offer a versatile, effective treatment option that provides the best non surgical results:
- CLEAR + BRILLIANT is a great option if you are new to laser treatments. It is the most gentle of the 3 lasers and is still effective at the early signs of aging.
- FRAXEL DUAL effectively addresses more moderate aging concerns. You can experience a remarkably more youthful appearance without any downtime.
- FRAXEL REPAIR penetrates deeper into the dermis to stimulate the rebuilding of collagen. It is the most intense of the 3 lasers, but requires fewer treatments to see rejuvenating results more quickly. Results are amazing and recovery is more of a “social downtime;” it is minimal, especially compared to the stronger chemical peels and surgical alternatives.
What is on your Fall beauty wish list? I’m sure some of these issues that can be treated with FRAXEL lasers are on there:
- Age & Sun Spots pop up with exposure to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. These brown patches plague the face and body with an aged look. FRAXEL lasers can lighten this pigmentation to restore clear, bright, and even toned skin.
- Skin Resurfacing restores the smooth texture, tightness, color, and brightness that diminishes over the years. While most treatments only address the externally affected skin, FRAXEL lasers resurface your skin from the inside out. They can reverse skin damage created by exposure to the sun, air pollution, stress, and fatigue. Harmful lifestyle factors can also cause the skin to lose its radiance, such as smoking, poor diet, and dehydration.
- Wrinkles and lines that age the face can creep in as early as mid 2os, but usually are more noticeable starting in the 30s. They only get deeper with years of expression and muscle movement, reduced cellular turnover and increased moisture loss. Amazingly, FRAXEL lasers actually stimulate collagen rebuild and therefore the skin acts younger and tighter, reducing wrinkles.
- Acne and Surgical Scars can mature the face years beyond natural age by causing an uneven, rough texture to the surface. In addition to being bumpy or pitted, the skin can be discolored.
- Actinic Keratosis is a medical condition caused by pre-cancerous skin cells. More professionals are turning to FRAXEL lasers to help treat these scaly or crusty growths, and to provide relief for thousands of people.
- Melasma presents as dark blotches caused by the hormonal changes in women’s bodies throughout the stages of life. Melasma is commonly associated with pregnancy and breastfeeding, oral contraceptives, or hormone replacement therapy. These dark brown spots are different than sun damage. FRAXEL can lighten melasma anywhere, but it most commonly appears on the forehead, lower cheeks, nose, and upper lip.
Refresh your face with FRAXEL and be ready for the social holiday season coming soon! Visit www.DrCovey.com to learn more and schedule a consultation to see which FRAXEL laser is best for you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Covey
Most Common Skin Fixes with Fraxel
Last week I introduced the amazing Fraxel lasers, and now we will go more in depth on what results you can get from them. To review, you learned that Fraxel Repair is the strongest of the lasers, Fraxel DUAL is the medium level laser and Clear + Brilliant is the most gentle. Fraxel lasers have so many capabilities and can be used for a wide variety of skin conditions. Let’s explore the most common skin conditions Fraxel lasers can treat to restore a youthful appearance to your skin without surgery.
Wrinkles
The unwanted yet unavoidable sign of aging are those creeping skin creases called wrinkles. Most noticeable on the face, neck, chest and hands, wrinkles are caused by a few factors. Combined with years of expression, muscle movement, and skin drying factors, as we age, the skin’s collagen and elastin break down faster than the body can repair and rebuild them. This causes the wrinkles, furrows, and fine lines.
Fortunately, Fraxel lasers actually stimulate collagen to be rebuilt. You don’t have to freeze your expressions like smiling, laughing, to lessen their appearance. Now with Fraxel, you can stimulate your skin to act younger and tighten back up to where those creases aren’t as noticeable.
Age & Sun Spots
Your body reacts to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays by producing a pigment called melanin to try to protect itself. We commonly call this pigmentation, age spots or sun spots, although they are due more to sunning than aging. This pigmentation is cumulative and tends to show up more and more as we age.
These flat, brown patches give a blotchy, aged look to the face, neck, chest, arms, and hands. Though usually harmless, these blotchy brownish patches can make you look and feel older than you really are. I have seen spectacular results with Fraxel lasers lightening these dark spots so that the skin looks clear, bright and even toned.
Skin Resurfacing
Skin’s texture, color, brightness, and tightness fades as we age. This is caused prdominantly by sun exposure, air pollution, stress, fatigue and lifestyle factors such as smoking, poor diet, and dehydration. Instead of resurfacing the skin topically through peels and microdermabrasion, Fraxel laser treatments have been cleared by the FDA to safely, gently and effectively resurface your skin from the inside out. Some of the Fraxel laser treatments can have even less downtime than a deep chemical peel, so that means smoother, brighter skin without missing a beat.
Acne and Surgical Scars
These indented or raised marks that usually are discolored can really put a damper on anyone’s confidence in their appearance. No one wants to remember their awkward high school years with acne scars, and adult acne is more common than you think. Fortunately, Fraxel lasers can significantly improve the skin coloration, as well as smooth out the sometimes wavy appearance that scars leave on the face and other areas of the body
Do you have any of these common skin conditions? Visit www.DrCovey.com or call us to discuss which level of Fraxel laser would be right for you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Covey
Lasers Reverse Aging…and much more
Laser treatments are performed hundreds of times a day around the world, to treat all kinds of problems ranging from skin pigmentation, scars, acne and acne scars, sun spots,wrinkles and much more. I have many lasers in my offices and am able to offer patients laser options to treat just about every cosmetic problem.
My last 3 blogs have been about the amazing laser treatments we can offer today to reverse aging and/or correct problems such as those mentioned above. In review, the bullet points highlight some of the many uses for lasers:
- Reverse the signs of aging
- Reduce deep lines and scars
- Resurface the skin
- Tighten “lax” skin
- Reduce unwanted hair
- Reduce or eliminate skin pigmentation
- Correct textural abnormalities, sun damage and more…
A LASER IS light amplification by simulated emission of radiation using a crystal to produce a targeted beam of light. One type of laser does not work for every problem. There are many types and strengths of lasers being employed today to perform both “ablative” and “non ablative” treatments. See: www.DrCovey.com for complete information on lasers I use.
SMARTLIPO TRIPLEXis the newest, most advanced system that replaces the original SmartLipo technology. It is less invasive and actually melts fat, stimulates skin tightening and re-sculpts facial and body contours with safe, fast, comfortable treatments. This amazing technology enables me to achieve more precise results in smaller, hard to get to places.
AREAS PATIENTS GET TREATED: neck, jawline, inner arms, men’s breasts, abs and love handles, women’s bra fat (overhang) inner/outer thighs, inner knees, chin, hips, buttocks, pubic mound, back of neck. See my website for more info on SmartLipo Triplex: www.DrCovey.com.
CELLULITE is RELENTLESS! You can see it on your thighs, buttocks, stomach, upper arms and other body areas.
CELLULAZEtm LASER is the world’s first minimally invasive way of attacking cellulite where it begins…under the skin. You can have smoother skin on your abdomen, hips, thighs, buttocks and arms, or anywhere cellulite appears, with just one treatment.
I’ve reviewed just a couple of the many lasers I offer my patients, but that’s it for this blog. My patients are waiting for their laser treatments.
Sincerely,
Dr. Covey
RIGHT LASER at the RIGHT TIME to Correct Skin Problems
Choosing the right laser treatment at the right time can treat a host of skin problems…in fact, just about every problem under the sun. Age reversing laser treatments have become an integral part of the anti-aging revolution as proven by the thousands of men and women, of all ages, who now include laser procedures in their regular cosmetic/health regimen.
Laser treatments can be fractional ablative or non ablative. Fraxel Re:Pair fractional ablative lasers remove part of the top layer of skin tissue. Fractional ablative lasers can be powered up or down to increase or decrease penetration. The deeper the laser penetration, the more dramatic the results will be. Nonablative lasers penetrate the skin without affecting the outermost layer of skin tissue.
Laser treatment I offer my patients include: Fraxel Re:Pair, Smartlipo TriPlex, Cellulaze, Clear+Brilliant, Pulsed Dye laser, Laser Hair Removal, Laser Wrinkle Reduction.
THERMAGE CPT…is today’s most effective “lift” treatment (Thermal Lift) for sagging under the eyes, arms, legs, thighs and even the buttocks. Thermage has been featured on Oprah and in many Women’s magazines as the “no downtime non surgical facelift” that tightens the eyelids and under eye areas of the face.
Treatments we do using Thermage CPT also include hand treatments to reduce the excess wrinkling and sagging of skin. We can also use Thermage CPT to give patients a flatter, smoother tummy, thighs, buttocks, arms and more.
Thermage firms sagging skin, corrects skin laxity and is a very popular treatment today in the war against aging. Thermage helps to restore youthfulness!
MORE COMMON PROBLEMS WE TREAT WITH LASERS:
- ACNE responds well to pulsed dye lasers. Often, I use lasers in combo with microdermabrasion and dermal fillers to successfully treat acne and acne scarring.
- DISCOLORED SCARS can be treated with fractional ablative and non ablative lasers depending upon your condition and goals. Fraxel lasers, Diolite and IPL are all used for these treatments.
- VEINS and BLOOD VESSELS are commonly treated with non ablative lasers such as Diolite, pulsed dye or IPL.
- NORMAL AGING and WRINKLES can be effectively treated with fractional ablative and non ablative lasers depending upon your condition and goals.
- HAIR REMOVAL is done using laser or IPL treatments. Several treatments are required to achieve permanent hair reduction because the hair grows in cycles…so treatments are scheduled to address this effectively.
- SUN SPOTS and FRECKLES are treated with fractional ablative and non ablative lasers…such as Fraxel Dual, Fraxel Re:Pair and Diolite as well as IPL for pigmented lesions. The lasers attack the pigment to cause “a lightening of the spots” that flake away within a few days.
There are so many more laser treatments that we do at East End Laser Care. I’ve been expertly performing laser treatments for well over two decades and have witnessed the unbelievable power lasers offer to combat aging, sun damage and so much more.
Spring is finally here…and beach time is not far off. Are you “Beach Body Ready?” Let’s talk soon!
Sincerely,
Dr. Covey
Hot Cosmetic Trends for Men in 2014
Today’s Men are clearly in on having anti aging cosmetic procedures! My male clientelle is growing by leaps and bounds the same as others across the nation. There are a few differences between men’s demands and those of our female patients. Basically, Men want to look younger, more energetic and healthy simply because they want to…and because the competitive career market today demands that men and women look good. Our society equates looking good with youthfulness, thus the tremendous upsurge in age defying cosmetic treatments this past decade. Men also want their treatments to be “subtle”…they simple don’t want anyone else to know they’re having Botox® (Brotox) treatments for a smoother, younger looking face. Men want “in and out” no downtime options. That means treatments like Botox with reduced redness, swelling and bruising. (Be sure you use only a Certified Expert Injector).
We offer many Men’s anti aging cosmetic treatments that are safe and effective without surgery…that’s right no knife, no cutting and no downtime.
TOP COSMETIC TRENDS for MEN
- American Board of Plastic Surgery reports Male cosmetic treatments are up by 258% over 10 years
- Men are opting for more laser treatments to promote health and youthfulness
- Rhinoplasty, Hair Removal and Blepharoplasty (for the eyes) is still at the top
- Botox (Brotox), Hyaluronic Acid Fillers e.g. Juvederm, Restylane etc for lines and wrinkles and stressed look removal
- Microdermabrasion for skin resurfacing reveals younger, healthier skin, removes scars, sun damage and discoloration
- Men are starting cosmetic treatments at younger ages and then maintaining on a regular basis
- The Millenials treat cosmetic anti aging procedures as part of their regular health regimen
- Cosmetic treatments for men and women of the younger generations are the “New Beauty Economics”
- The stigma for men and cosmetic treatments is gone…men are in the deal to stay
- I offer non surgical alternatives to surgical procedures
Ok, we have the treatments and they work. But preventive measures are important too. Here are a few that can really make a difference in your quest for anti aging:
- Start now and do these the rest of your life to make a difference
- SKIN CARE is critical at every age. To maintain healthy skin keep well hydrated, including your facial skin. Yes, men need good skin hydration and protection against harmful environmental agents.
- Use Sunscreen – UVA and UVB rays are responsible for 90% of the early signs of facial aging
- Stress…manage it or it will manage you! Daily stressors contribute to acne, facial lines and grooves especially around the eyes.
- Exercise for Stress Reduction. Go to the gym and workout, ski, swim, bike etc to get the blood flowing and strengthen those heart muscles.
- Maintain a “healthy” diet. Get rid of the junk food. Instead, eat raw vegetables, fruits, good oils, drink at lest 64 ounces of water daily, eat more fish etc.
- Sleep is critical to good overall health. Lack of adequate sleep shows up in facial aging.
- Live a Healthy Lifestyle. Don’t smoke, limit alcohol consumptions, get over the party life and into a daily healthy routine.
- Visit my website for info on procedures/products: www.drcovey.com.
This post is an overview of future articles I’ll write educating on the procedures I offer to both men and women. Look for great info as we go through 2014… helping you to be your very best!
Dr. Covey
Focus on Fraxel
We see it each autumn – summertime tans fade away but brown spots do not, fine lines have cropped up where they weren’t before, and skin tone and texture looks a bit worn out. Your skin needs rejuvenation!
For this and many other reasons, Fraxel treatments top our list of treatments in the fall. And with new improved technology in our Fraxel restore® DUAL Wavelength System we can rejuvenate your skin and give you smoother, fresher younger looking skin better than ever before.
Before and After Fraxel
How is this NEW Fraxel re:store DUAL technology different? Fraxel uses a laser to resurface damaged skin. With this new cutting edge technology, there are now two laser treatment modes. The Erbium laser treatment mode specifically treats concerns such as wrinkles or acne scarring that are deeper in the skin layers. The NEW Thilium laser treatment mode effectively targets sun spots, age spots, tone and texture, which are more superficial. These modes can be combined to offer you unparalleled resurfacing results, quickly and more comfortably than the older Fraxel re:store could.
Before and After Fraxel
The true Fraxel is a device capable of being individualized to each patient’s needs, operates safely and uniformly, and delivers outstanding results!
And, the ground-breaking laser technology in Fraxel re:store DUAL can be used on ALL skin colors and types to restore and rejuvenate the skin on many parts of your body including your face and the delicate skin on your neck, chest and hands.
With predictable, consistent results, and a simpler, faster and more precise treatment, Fraxel restore DUAL quickly resurfaces your skin and uncovers the skin of your youth with little or no downtime.
