Your skin takes on a lot in your lifetime, including injuries, scars, and sun exposure. Your skin also goes through a lot of changes in your life, starting when you hit puberty. The appearance of your skin contributes a lot to how old you look once you reach adulthood. That’s why the skincare industry has thousands of different cleansers, lotions, creams, and various other products designed to keep your skin looking healthy. There are also ways that plastic surgeons can help you keep your skin looking younger and brighter, including dermabrasion treatments.
How Dermabrasion Works
Your skin is made up of several layers of cells that are continually being shed. Whether you’re awake or asleep, your skin is regenerating all the time. When your skin gets damaged, whether it is through the sun or a physical injury, the damage starts to build upon itself. Eventually the damage accumulates to the point where it becomes several skin layers deep. The deeper the damage, the harder it is to get rid of it, even with the best skincare products.
Dermabrasion is used to help remove layers of damaged skin and it can improve acne scars, injury scars, and fine lines and wrinkles around the mouth. The procedure basically involves a process of extensive exfoliation to remove the damaged layers of skin. This goes deeper than your basic exfoliation products, which typically only remove the uppermost layers of skin. Dermabrasion removes more layers to tackle the damage that lurks further down.
The layers of skin are removed with a device that is coated in special particles designed to scrape away skin cells. The cells are removed carefully so as to remove the damage without causing more harm to your skin. Once the layers of cells are removed, your skin regenerates new undamaged skin as it heals, which gives your skin a healthier, more youthful appearance.
How Dermabrasion is Performed
For about two weeks before your procedure, you will apply lotion to your skin to help prepare it for the dermabrasion. The actual treatment only takes about 15 minutes on the day of your procedure. The doctor will use an anesthetic to numb you up and make you a little sleepy. You won’t actually go under full anesthesia, so you will still be awake for the treatment, but you won’t feel anything. The doctor will use the particle-covered device to carefully scrape away the skin in a controlled manner over the problem areas.
After the procedure, your skin will be a little uncomfortable and tender. Using ice packs and basic pain killers will help you deal with the worst of it. Your skin will be vulnerable after the procedure until it heals, so you will have to take especially good care of it. This includes using sunscreen, gentle cleansers, and antibiotic creams. Your doctor will provide you with a full set of post-treatment guidelines to follow while you wait for the skin to regenerate.
It could take more than one treatment or multiple treatments for you to get the results you want. Each time you have a treatment, your skin has to completely heal before the next one can take place. With each treatment you’ll see a noticeable difference in the look and feel of your skin. Your scars and lines will become less prominent and could eventually fade away altogether. Even if your problem areas are not completely erased, your skin will look much better overall and make your whole face look healthier.
Scheduling Your Dermabrasion Treatments
Dermabrasion is a procedure that can benefit just about anyone. Before you can have your treatments, you need to schedule a consultation with a professional who knows what they’re doing. Dr. Andres Bustillo offers dermabrasion at his practice in Miami, FL, to help with the treatment of scars and fine wrinkles around the mouth. Dr. Bustillo is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon with a high rate of patient satisfaction for dermabrasion and many other facial procedures.
To schedule an initial consultation, contact Dr. Bustillo’s office at (305) 663-3380.