Better Looking Skin

Age and years in the sun can do damage to skin, causing injury to the skin cells and wrinkles. Traditional correctional treatments damage the skin and allow it to heal. In fact, the laser procedure uses extreme heat that can sometimes cause too much damage, changing the skin's pigment. Now there is a new way that some doctors say is safer.

Two years ago at the age of 45, Vicki Kapitan began to notice what years in the sun had done to her skin. "I would have liked to be tan without skin damage, but that was not a possibility," says Vicki.

After seeing the damage, Vicki volunteered to try a new procedure to treat wrinkles and sun damage.

"People who have been in the sun a lot, when you look at their skin under the microscope, have a layer of damaged tissue," says Whitney Tope, M.D., a dermatologist at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Dr. Tope used a procedure called electrosurgical facial resurfacing to remove the damaged tissue on Vicki's face. Unlike traditional procedures that rely on extreme heat, the new procedure uses low radiofrequency energy. He says it's safer, leaves fewer scars and requires less healing time.

"We think at this point that this does have less chance of causing scarring, the reason being that lesser heating injury occurs," says Dr. Tope.

Before-and-after pictures show improvement just three months after Vicki's first treatment.

Vicki says, "I had lots of sun damage throughout my whole face from spending years in the sun, and it took off age spots that were on my face and along my eyes."

Despite the chages it makes, electrosurgical facial resurfacing won't give you the look of baby skin. Dr. Tope says, "I don't think you could say it takes you quite that far back, but it certainly will set the clock back."

Today Vicki can look in the mirror without make-up and be happy with what she sees. "I don't look any older than I did two years ago," she says.

Because the equipment to do electrosurgical facial resurfacing is less expensive than older treatments, it is available to people in areas that are more rural. Since treatment is usually considered cosmetic, it is not covered by insurance.

©Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. March 2001