• Red patches on your cheeks, nose, chin or forehead
• Visible blood vessels on the face
• Pimples or bumps

If so, you may have rosacea, a common skin condition that affects over 16 million Americans.

The Effects of Rosacea

At the Elizabeth Roche MD Med Spa we treat a number of patients with this common skin condition. Rosacea sufferers often tell Dr. Elizabeth Roche about how rosacea affects their social life and interactions.

Treating Rosacea Naturally

Rosacea has no known cause or cure – however at the Elizabeth Roche Med Spa we’ve developed a treatment with natural ingredients such as Vitamin K, green tea, ginger root and the Chinese Evoida plant for rosacea to effectively treat its symptoms.

Out with the Red is a natural skin care line that gives rosacea patients a simple 3-step treatment that you can use every day.

Using powerful natural ingredients, the treatment soothes inflammation, calms sensitive pores and leaves your skin tone looking clear and even.

Ending the Rosacea Battle

Used in tandem with skin consultations and laser light therapy, rosacea patients at the Elizabeth Roche Med Spa have seen significant improvements in their skin and quality of life.

Learn more about our New Jersey rosacea treatments by calling 1-201-505-1020 or contacting Dr. Elizabeth Roche via the web.

At the Elizabeth Roche MD MedSpa, we treat our patients with Skin Tyte, a laser technology that uses a series of rapid light pulses to deeply heat the soft tissue below the skin. This stimulates the body to produce collagen, tightening skin in the process of a natural healing response.

Plastic surgery for tightening skin can be a frightening and overwhelming prospect.  Along with the risks that surgery has for a neck lift, facelift or other invasive procedures, there are many additional factors to consider such as cost and recovery time.

Today, there is an alternative to undergoing a surgical procedure and it’s called Skin Tyte. Skin Tyte is a non-surgical skin tightening procedure that is becoming one of the most requested treatments for firming up sagging skin.

Natural Healing through Heat

To avoid having surgery or to begin reversing the aging process, more and more women are opting for natural treatments for sagging skin. With new infrared light technology, patients can come into our office and emerge in less than an hour with no scars and the beginning of visibly tighter skin over time.

For optimal skin tightening results, a series of treatment are needed.  Let’s face it, skin did not become loose over night, it has been subjected to years of aging so the repair of your collagen will take several treatments over one to two months to see results.

Safe, Quick and Painless

Skin Tyte also has a number of other patient advantages that we like:

• quick and pain free with no need for a topical anesthetic
• can tighten skin on most parts of the body, including the neck, face, abdomen, thighs and arms
• sapphire contact cooling protects the entire skin treatment area
• safe for all skin types
• patients may resume regular activities immediately following treatment

If you live in the New Jersey or Tri-State area and are considering non-surgical skin tightening options for facelifts, neck lifts or any other area of your body, call us today at 1-201-505-1020 for a consultation.

The polls are now open so please vote for us!

Fortunately, BOTOX® injections are highly effective in treating abnormal perspiration. Approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004, BOTOX® is proving to be a safe and smart solution for sweat.

Clinical Results

In a 2004 clinical study at the St. Louis University School of Medicine, 322 patients with severe underarm sweating were treated with BOTOX®.

• 81% of the patients receiving BOTOX® injections achieved a greater than 50% reduction in sweating.
• In addition, 50% of the patients had their excessive underarm sweating relieved for at least 201 days (nearly 7 months).

The Elizabeth Roche MedSpa is licensed to perform BOTOX® injections for excessive underarm sweating. If you live in the New Jersey area, we’re here to help you solve a lifelong worry.

For more information or to schedule your appointment for underarm treatments, please call us at 1-201-505-1020.

Photo-rejuvenation, also known as a photo-facial, is a revolutionary advanced anti-aging treatment. Using light in just the right way, doctors are reversing the signs of aging, repairing skin damage and even improving skin conditions such as rosacea, discoloration, broken capillaries, redness, freckles, fine lines, uneven pigment, enlarged pores, and textural irregularities such as acne or chicken pox scarring. The result? An improved appearance and healthier more vibrant  skin.

Photo rejuvenation works by using Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) or Broad Band Light (BBL) with selected filters to deliver precise dosages of energy to the skin. This light energy and filter is specific to the target such as sun spots, vessels, collagen. The energy damages the target and triggers the body’s natural healing response to promote collagen production and reveal a new layer of healthy skin.

A photo rejuvenation can take anywhere from 15 minutes for a spot treatment or up to an hour when we perform our four filter all inclusive full face photo-facial. The procedure has minimum to no discomfort involved. A numbing cream is applied to the face fifteen minutes before the procedure to assure that it is a comfortable experience. Most patients describe the pulses of light energy as a snap of a rubber band followed by a cool sensation from the crystal tip of the hand piece.

After treatment, discomfort is almost nonexistent, allowing you to resume your normal activities immediately. Your skin may appear pink to red at first, but this usually fades within a day leaving the skin looking younger. Brown spots and freckles temporarily become darker before they fade away over the next week or two. The skin tightening filter will continue to stimulate your collagen months after the treatment has been done resulting in a gradual overall tightening of your skin. Fine lines and wrinkles soften with each treatment as well. Extra attention is taken around the eyes so that the thin loose skin, which tends to have fine lines and wrinkles, benefits from the tightening effect of the treatment.

For optimum anti-aging results this exclusive Four Filter Photo-Facial treatment is preformed once a month for 3 to  5 treatments depending on the baseline condition of your skin. Since we continually are exposed to environmental  elements which age us and due to the natural aging process itself, one to two maintenance treatments every six months is recommended after the five treatments are completed.

Studies have shown that overall skin conditions improve more than 75% on average.
However, the best indicator of improvement is that your friends will tell you how great your skin looks! Who wouldn’t want to hear that?

The Mélange Peel is the newest treatment in deep peels to help with pigmentation, fine lines and wrinkles. It works extremely well on pigmentation problems such as melasma, sun damage, freckles, and uneven complexion.  Unlike laser and photo-rejuvenation procedures, The Mélange Peel is safe for all skin types, including darker complexions. Best of all, the is no pain at all with this peel!  How can that be?  Aren’t most peels, acid that burn?
Not this one. It is a high potency resorcinol and hydroquinone peel. The combination of these high dose medications work together to produce an amazing outcome.  The hydroquinone will stop the melanocytes (pigment producing cells) from causing the skin to have brown spots. The resorcinol (high dose retin A) sheds the dead  wrinkled skin from the surface revealing the fresh new skin beneath.

The peel is a 20-minute in office procedure. The face is cleansed and a pre peel solution is applied. Next, the peel which is an ointment like mask is applied and the patient goes home with the peel on. It is kept on between 6 to 10 hours depending on the skin type. At home after the designated time, the mask is washed off with the take home products that are included in the peel. Each day the patient follows a morning and evening routine with products that include a cleanser, an anti-redness cream and a sunscreen for the daytime and a melange cream for nighttime.

How much peeling occurs you ask? The first day after the peel the skin is red and may show slight swelling. The next 3 days, significant peeling that occurs. After that, the flaking appearance will be moderate and controlled with an at home regimen. This is continued over the next month. The result of clear, smooth, radiant skin is seen in the following months.

In some patients with severe melasma, the peel may need to be reapplied within 6 weeks to achieve greater results, however one treatment is usually sufficient.

If you have any questions regarding the peel, feel free to call the office.

Let us first explore the reasons the fine lines have formed. The mouth is a very active muscle that undergoes repetitive movement throughout the day. This repetitive movement causes the overlying skin to crease. With repetitive creasing the line becomes etched in the skin and overtime are present at rest as well. Certain behaviors, such as smoking and drinking from a straw can cause these wrinkles from the puckered lip repetitive movement. Sun exposure is always a big culprit causing wrinkles and collagen break down not only around the lips, but anywhere skin is exposed to the sun or tanning beds. Always use sunscreen, everyday, and don’t forget the lip area! Sleeping habits can lead to wrinkles if one tends to sleep on their side and compress the skin around the lips. Aging with a loss of volume in the lips and around the mouth is probably the most common cause since it happens to all of us. Not only tissue volume loss, but aging of the bone structure occurs in the mouth and can lead to a sunken in appearance. Overall lack of hydration adds to wrinkled skin, so remember to apply your moisturizer and skin care products to the skin around your lips as well as something on the lips directly. Prevention of line formation is always better than treatment. Perhaps now you can understand why the peri-oral wrinkles, or lip lines, are some of the toughest wrinkles to treat

Now what can be done to eliminate those nasty little lines? I take a four-step approach.
First, we want to eliminate the existing line and start stimulating the collagen. Depending on the severity of the lines, I recommend resurfacing with microlaser peels at different depths. For the very fine lines, a more superficial resurfacing will work, for deeper lines, a deeper peel will be needed. This can be either done in a series of gentle peels with quicker recovery, or one deeper peel with a longer recovery period. See microlaser peels on our website http://www.elizabethrochemedspa.com for more information about this procedure.

The second step involves Botox. Some patients have very strong muscle movement in this area and need to have these muscles relaxed with a touch of Botox. Be aware though, in the initial two weeks the muscles may be a bit more relaxed than wanted and certain letter formations such as “p” and “b” may be awkward to pronounce. This however dissipates by the third week and gives the wrinkles a softer look over time.

Many patients also have volume loss, therefore replacement of that volume with dermal fillers is the third step. A small amount of filler in the lips to reduce the lines makes a big difference. I have found that when a little is added to the actual lips, less is then needed in the lines above the lips. Another trick is to add filler to the naso-labial folds (the lines that form from the nose to the corners of the mouth). This helps pull and smooth the skin above the lip.
The fourth and final step is to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. When the lips have moisture in the skin, the are plumper and the wrinkles are reduced. Whenever I use my effusion gel, which is part of the elizabeth roche m.d. med spa product line, or Hydrating Complex by Skin Medica, my lips are fuller. Both effusion gel and Hydrating Complex are made of hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring substance in the skin which attracts fluid and moisture as well as protecting against degradation of naturally occurring hyaluronic acid and elastin. When these products are used, the lips become plumper and the finer wrinkles disappear.  Remember to apply sunscreen on the lips and around the peri-oral area. For the area around the lips and the rest of the face, I use solareclipse, which is also part of the elizabeth roche m.d. product line.

Remember that prevention is always better than treatment especially when it comes to the difficult area of peri-oral wrinkles.

As with any part of the body, be it the face, neck or hands, remember the sun and it’s harmful rays are the biggest agers. The sun gives off both UVB rays which brown or burn us and UVA rays which age us. These UVA rays are the rays that break down the collagen and elastin and make your skin look wrinkled and old appearing. Therefore one of the first and easiest steps to younger hands is to keep them protected from the sun. Sunscreen on your hands everyday is important and will protect you for years to come. Remember this especially when driving. Our hands are exposed to the sun right through the glass of the windshield and for some are exposed to hours of these aging rays. Not only does the sun break down the collagen and elastin, it also stimulates the pigment producing cells in the skin, the melanocytes, to produce those ugly brown spots sometimes called sun spots or age spots.

So that is prevention. But you are saying, “I already have damage. What can be done to correct it?”
There are several methods to correct the damage. One is to continue to wear sunscreen. Yes, it will help lighten the already formed spots. The next is to use a prescription product such as 4% hydroquinone. This medication suppresses the production of melanin, the pigment released from the melanocytes which causes the brown spots. We have a product which combines the 4% hydroquinone and the sunscreen together called Sunfader by Obagi. This is what you can do to help your hand everyday. At night follow with a collagen and elastin building cream.

The next treatment option is to have photo-rejuvenation treatments to your hands. This is similar to the photo-rejuvenation treatment we preform on the face (See our blog for sun damage). This is a  light energy based treatment. It works by “burning out” the pigment fro deep inside so the cell no longer functions. Immediately after the treatment the spots will become darken. Over the next one to two weeks they will begin to fade away.  The treatment feels similar to a rubber band snap and after there may be a slight warmth sensation. This will leave the complexion of the skin on your hands looking even.

But you say that your problem is also bony, spindling looking hands. Not to worry, there is a treatment for that problem as well. As we age we loose volume not only in our faces bur in our hands as well. The solution to that is to replace the lost volume with dermal fillers. My preference is Radiesse. The procedure is very simple and virtually pain free if done by an experienced injector. A local anesthetic is first injected which makes the top of the hand numb. This is followed by injection of the dermal filler. Most patients will need one syringe for each hand. There are two methods of injections which can be done, one which I have developed. I have learned after years of experience injecting hands that not everyone needs the fillers injected in the same manner.

After the numbing medication wears off, it does feel as if you have hit the back of your hand and an achy sensation may be noticed for a few days.

The results of injecting the hands with dermal fillers takes years off of your hands. It leaves the skin firm and wrinkle free. The tendons are hidden and your hands regain that plump youthful appearance. As for the veins, some of them may not as obvious, but they may not all be hidden. From a medical point of view, it is actually important and beneficial to have some visible hand veins.  If you ever need surgery, elective or emergent, it is important for your doctor to be able to locate a vein. This could be life saving. So some visible veins on your hand are a beautiful thing.

Having dermal fillers in your hands should last about one year. However I have found having a small touch up at about six months, with less than originally placed during the first treatment, makes your hands appear more youthful for a longer duration.

With the new techniques in used in combination, you can regain and maintain your youthful hands.  So make the move and put your hands forward because help is within reach.