Prolonged exposure to the sun, while giving a tanned and healthy appearance in the short-term, can lead to health problems in the long-term, such as skin cancer. Scaly, red lesions on the skin, known as solar keratosis, are early signs of skin cancer and can develop into squamous cell carcinomas.
Sun damage is also a leading cause of wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. There are multiple procedures designed to help rejuvenate your skin if it's been damaged by the sun. In your consultations with our experienced facial surgeons, you may want to consider laser skin resurfacing to counteract sun damage.
Laser resurfacing uses high-energy light in brief doses to vaporize layers of skin and remove damaged areas or to smooth wrinkles. During the healing process, your skin produces new growth to replace the small areas removed during the treatment. For sun damage, abnormal skin cells are usually seen in the top layers of the skin, making laser treatment a good option.
Since laser resurfacing is tightly controlled, it does little damage to surrounding areas. Newer laser treatments, such as fractional or plasma resurfacing, cause even fewer complications than the most common type of laser, the CO2 (carbon dioxide) laser, resulting in faster healing and recovery.
