My Hands Age Me: Can You Help?
No matter how diligent you are about applying moisturizers, your hands age faster than your face and most other body areas. Then one day you realize your hands don’t just give away your real age; they make you look way older.
If you hide your hands out of embarrassment, it’s time to meet with Rafael C. Cabrera, MD, FACS, at Plastic Surgery Specialists of Boca Raton to learn about his hand rejuvenation treatment to restore supple, youthful-looking skin.
Why your hands look so old
The skin on your hands goes through the same changes that cause aging in your face, losing moisture, strength, and elasticity. And that’s only the beginning.
Sunlight causes age spots and skin damage. Chances are you don’t diligently apply sunscreen to your hands. Or if you do, the protection disappears as soon as you wash your hands.
In addition, the thin layer of fat under the skin disappears as you get older. You need this fat to gently cushion your skin. At the same time, the skin on your hands becomes thin and fragile, and the veins stand out.
If your hands simply aged like the rest of your body, they wouldn’t look so ancient. So what accelerates hand aging? The wear-and-tear they sustain over the years — exposure to water, the environment, and manual labor take a toll.
All of these factors conspire to make your hands look old before their time. But don’t lose hope because we can refresh their appearance and turn back time with hand rejuvenation.
Hand rejuvenation explained
Our hand rejuvenation produces remarkable results because we follow a two-step process that tackles all of the different age-related changes. Your treatments are nonsurgical, both steps only take about 40 minutes, and you can get back to your daily activities as soon as you leave the office.
Step 1: Restore natural fullness
Losing the cushion of fat leads to loose skin and makes veins and tendons stand out. We reverse this problem and replace the lost fat by injecting a dermal filler, often using options like Restylane® Lyft™ or Radiesse®.
Restylane Lyft is a hyaluronic acid gel that plumps up your skin, restores the cushion, and smooths away wrinkles. Radiesse produces the same results but also contains spheres of calcium hydroxylapatite (the substance in bones). The spheres trigger collagen production, creating results that last longer.
The great thing about dermal fillers is that you can see immediate results. Over the course of six months to a year, your body slowly absorbs both fillers and the results begin to fade. But fillers are safe to use, and you can get a repeat injection to maintain the same appearance.
Step 2: Tighten skin and eliminate age spots
In this step, we use intense pulsed light (IPL) or radiofrequency devices to treat your skin. Though they use different techniques, they produce the same results.
As light or radiofrequency energy passes through your skin, the heat reaches cells below the surface, activating cells that produce collagen. The extra collagen tightens your skin and treats wrinkles.
If you have brown spots, the IPL device sends out wavelengths that the pigmented cells easily absorb. As the cells take in the heat, they break into small pieces. The dark spot fades as your body gradually clears away the pieces.
If you’re ready to rejuvenate your hands or if you have any questions about the process, call Plastic Surgery Specialists of Boca Raton today.