Dr. Shuba Dharmana

Do you ever wish you could start all over and take better care of your skin? A chemical peel could give you that chance. Peels can dramatically reduce lines, wrinkles, acne scars, dark spots, and roughness caused by years of sun.

A chemical peel is a solution applied to the face to remove the outermost layer or layers of skin. It's a technique used to improve the appearance of the skin on the face, neck or hands. A chemical solution is applied to the skin that causes it to exfoliate and eventually peel off. The new skin that grows in its place is softer, smoother and has fewer imperfections. The new skin is also temporarily more sensitive to the sun.

There are three basic types of chemical peels:

Superficial or Lunchtime Peel: Alpha-hydroxy acid or another mild acid is used to penetrate only the outer layer of skin to gently exfoliate it. The treatment is used to improve the appearance of mild skin discoloration and rough skin as well as to refresh the face, neck, chest or hands.

Medium Peel: Glycolic or trichloroacetic acid is applied to penetrate the outer and middle layers of skin to remove damaged skin cells. The treatment is used to improve age spots, fine lines and wrinkles, freckles and moderate skin discoloration.

Deep Peel: Trichloroacetic acid or phenol is applied to deeply penetrate the middle layer of skin to remove damaged skin cells. The treatment removes moderate lines, age spots, freckles and shallow scars. A thorough evaluation by a dermatologic surgeon is imperative before embarking upon a chemical peel.

When is a chemical peel appropriate?

Chemical peels are used to treat a number of conditions including:

1. Pigmentation on face or body

2. Tanning

3. Dyschromias

4. Fine Wrinkles

5. Acne

6. Acne marks and scars

7. Dullness

8. Aging skin

9. Crow's feet

10. Sagging skin

Who should not opt for chemical peels?

Generally, light-haired and fair skinned people are the best candidates for chemical peel. The procedure does not work as well on dark skinned patients. The procedure is not recommended for individuals with infections, active skin disease, cut or broken skin, or sunburns. Other contraindications include patients who are:

1. Nursing or pregnant.

2. Have taken Accutane in last six months.

3. Have psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis or rosacea.

Possible complications

Temporary change in skin color, particularly for women on birth control pills, who subsequently become pregnant or have a history of brownish facial discoloration.

Changes are transient and easy to take care of if taken care properly.

1. Scarring

2. Reactivation of cold sores

3. A variety of chemical treatments can be used to exfoliate and rejuvenate the skin.

Depending on the depth of treatment required, your surgeon may choose one of the following peels:

1. Alpha-hydroxy acid peel (AHA)

2. Trichloroacetic acid peel (TCA)

3. Phenol peel

4. Croton oil peel

Aftercare and recovery

Your dermatologist will discuss how long it will be before you can return to your normal level of activity and work. After surgery, you and your caregiver will receive detailed instructions about your postsurgical care, including information about:

1. Normal symptoms you will experience

2. Potential signs of complications 

Ageing is often the harshest foe to the skin. The years will take its toll on the skin’s tightness, resulting in loose saggy skin. However, there are many techniques which allow for the rejuvenation and tightening of the skin and help you get your youthful look back. Most of these are usually non-invasive or minimally-invasive and include creams, peels, dermabrasion and other such forms of treatment. One such method which has become quite popular is laser skin tightening.

What is Laser Skin Lightening?

As is evident from the name, this method uses a laser or an infrared light source of a specific wavelength to heat up the treated area. This method of treatment specifically heats up the collagen present under the skin and stimulates it to cause tightening. This treatment also encourages the growth of new collagen under the skin.

Benefits of Laser Skin Tightening:

Some of the benefits of laser skin tightening are mentioned below –

1. It works deep beneath the skin– While most other treatments make you look younger by treating the superficial layers of skin, laser skin tightening works by stimulating the collagen under the skin and thus works from way deeper, making it a more effective treatment. It can easily correct all forms of lines on your neck, forehead, eyes, wrinkles and blemishes.

2. Minimally invasive– There is no involvement of surgical tools and thus no incisions, stitches or even injections are used. Although the skin is heated up from beneath the surface with the help of a laser, it is still a minimally invasive procedure.

3. Less painful– Although the lower layers of the skin are heated up, the laser mechanism allows for the top-most layer of the skin to remain cool, thus lessening the pain and discomfort faced during the procedure.

4. Minimal downtime– Laser skin tightening is a minimally invasive process and is usually done on an outpatient basis. The total downtime is quite minimal and you can resume daily activities quite quickly after the procedure.

5. Lasts for longer– As the new collagen develops under your skin, the effects start to show in full swing in about a couple of months. You may at best need a follow up treatment to ensure that the best results are achieved. However, once the treatment is completed and the skin tightens, the effects do stay for quite a while.

Are you unhappy with the results of shaving, waxing or tweezing for removing the unwanted hair from your body? You should opt for laser hair removal for this purpose, which is considered to be much more effective than the regular methods. Laser hair removal is a very common cosmetic procedure which is undertaken popularly. It involves the exposure of your body hair follicles to beams of highly concentrated laser light. The pigments present in your follicles absorb this light, which results in the destruction of the hair.

Benefits of Laser Hair Removal-

Lasers are quite effective in removing unwanted hair from areas such as the legs, face, arms, underarms and other different body parts. The various benefits of laser hair removal include the following:

1. Precision: Lasers can target dark, coarse hairs selectively without causing any damage to the surrounding skin.

2. Speed: Every pulse of laser takes less than a fraction of a second, during which many hairs are treated together. The laser is capable of treating an area which is the size of a quarter within a second. Areas such as the upper lips take less than one minute to be treated, while large areas may require an hour.

3. Predictability: The results of laser hair removal are highly predictable and most people get to have permanent hair loss after undertaking three to seven treatment sessions.

Procedure-

Your hair, which will get treated is usually trimmed to a few millimeters above your skin surface. The laser device is adjusted according to your hair colour, thickness and location.

You will be made to wear proper eye protection, depending on the type of laser being used. The outer layers of your skin are also protected using a cold gel or a cooling device. This helps the laser to penetrate your skin. After this, a full pulse light is exposed to the area concerned. After completion of the process, you will be given ice packs, cold water and anti-inflammatory creams for easing any discomfort you feel.

For a few days after a laser hair removal session, your treated skin area may look and feel like a sunburn. You need to apply moisturisers for healing. You can wear make-up if the treatment has been undertaken on your skin. The treated hair falls out within the next one month. You should wear sunscreen for preventing colour changes on your treated skin area. In people with a dark complexion, blisters are sometimes likely.

What is Hair transplantation?

Hair transplantation is a method of Hair restoration surgery used to treat baldness and hair loss. Follicular unit transplantation or FUT is the latest method of Hair restoration surgery whereby follicular units are transplanted from the donor area (i.e. area where there is abundant hair usually in the back of the head) to the recipient area( balding area usually front or top of scalp). The follicular units occur naturally in groups on the scalp and contain 1,2,  3or 4 hairs along with oil glands, nerve and blood vessel bundle and are enveloped by a sheath of tissue.

How many types of hair restoration surgery are available?

Follicular Unit Transplantation or FUT is of 2 types: Strip method and FUE ( follicular unit extraction). They both differ in terms of how the follicular units are harvested. In the strip method of harvesting, the strip bearing the follicular units is removed from the back of the head and this is dissected into individual units under magnification. After the strip is removed, the edges of the skin are sutured. This leaves a scar in the back of the head running from one ear to the other. In the FUE method, the units are harvested directly from the back of the head using a tool that makes punches. There is no scar with this method and the healing time of the wound is quicker.

What factors does the result depend on?

There are several factors that influence who will have better outcome from the transplantation. Not only the method of surgery chosen but factors like hair density, waviness of the hair, colour contrast between the hair and scalp, thickness of the hair, size of the donor area, elasticity of the scalp are all important. Besides this different practitioners have different results, so the skill of the surgeon is also a factor.

What does the surgery involve?

A. In the Strip harvesting method, after the strip is removed, it is sent for dissection to the team of technicians. Meanwhile, the skin is closed with stitches in layers. The surgeon then sits the patient upright and then designs the hairline in the front and on top of the head with a marker pen. After numbing the skin with local anesthetic injections he then makes tiny holes in the areas of balding. The team then starts starts inserting the follicles or grafts into the prepared holes in the recipient area.

In the FUE method , units are removed directly from the back of the head and are trimmed by the technicians. The rest of the steps are similar to that of the strip method.

How many Transplant sessions will I need?

This will depend on the amount of hair loss. Unless it is a small area of balding, usually there will be 2-3 sessions needed.

Will I have a scar?

With the strip method there will be a scar on the back of the head but with improved surgical methods used nowadays, it will be a fine scar. Whilst closing the wound, a Trichophytic type of closure is employed which allows hair to grow through the scar that will camouflage the scar. In the FUE method th,ere is no visible line like scar. There is tina dot like scars from the areas where the punches were taken but this is hardly visible.

What precautions should I take prior to surgery?

• Make sure you have all your questions and doubts clarified in your consultation with your doctor. Write down on a piece of paper.
• Get good sleep the night before the surgery
• Get a cap with adjustable clasp with you on the day of the surgery
• Arrive on time. Hair transplantation surgery takes plenty of hours, you don’t want to delay the whole team working for you into the late hours of the evening.
• Wash your hair on the morning of the day of the surgery.

What happens after surgery?

• You will be given instruction, painkillers and antibiotics by your doctor.
• Get your hair washed at your doctor’s if you live locally
• Redness in the donor and recipient area is common and will take time to resolve.
• Avoid exposing your scalp to the sun too much.
• Scabs will form and will remain for about 10 days after which they will begin to fall off.
• Sutures are removed 10 days after the surgery.
• Over the next few weeks, the hairs will shed . This means that the grafts are in resting phase and will remain so for about 3 months.
• After this period over the next few months, the hair will start to grow from the grafts.
• Take pictures regularly to note the developments.