Q:

When I look at old pictures of myself, I looked good. Now my skin looks dull and tired. I moisturize my skin and wear sunscreen every day, but do you think I need to have some kind of laser treatment or chemical peel?

A:

When we are children, our skin is effortlessly healthy and beautiful. Just like the rest of our body, however, our skin deteriorates as the years go by and we start to notice dullness, dry skin, discoloration, wrinkles, and sagging.

Healthy skin is smooth, even-toned, hydrated, tolerant and not sensitive, free of diseases such as acne, and firm. It looks good, and it feels good. This is what we have naturally as children, and if we care for our skin properly we can maintain or restore our skin’s vitality.

This is largely accomplished by using medical-grade products that improve our skin health on a cellular level. The exact products you’ll use depends on your specific skin problems. Patients can see the improvement within a few months of starting their skin care program.

Procedures such as lasers and chemical peels are sometimes needed to achieve our desired results, but we always start by improving skin health first. If you do end up having a procedure, you’ll have better, longer-lasting, and safer results because of your skin care program.