As I got in the car and put on my gloves, I could almost read my kids’ minds: “Oh, mom!” and “She’s at it again!” (There may have even been a teenaged eye-roll.) The three of us were getting ready for a long day of activities and errands.
It was a beautiful day — crisp air and blue, sunny skies. And actually, it wasn’t chilly at all. The gloves were part of a routine I wish I had started 20 years ago. I was putting them on to protect my hands from sun damage.
The hands are an area that we often forget to protect from the sun and they’re also one of the first areas to show signs of aging with brown spots and wrinkles. Often times a person can look ageless in the face, but their hands give it all away. But there are ways to reverse aging in your hands.
For the hands alone, the Elizabeth Roche MD MedSpa can offer lasers, fillers, and skin lightening products, such as Lytera from SkinMedica or my “All Even” spot treatment product.
With aging, the backs of our hands lose volume, just as our faces do. To replace the volume loss, I inject Radiesse dermal filler. It’s a procedure that takes approximately 15 minutes. I first numb the hand with a numbing cream. Then I follow with a little injection of local anesthetic. Once again, my pain management training comes in “handy” – pun intended! Once your hand is nice and numb, I inject the dermal filler and massage the area. Here’s a short clip of the procedure being done.
And here are before and after photos of some other hands that I’ve injected with Radiesse:
Of course, it’s never too late to take preventative measures to protect your hands from sun damage. Here are my five tips to avoid premature aging of the hands:
- Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen! Please everyone, wear sunscreen. Even on your hands!
- Use a product with growth factors to help replenish the skin’s epithelial cell such as Skin Medica Recovery Complex.
- Use my “Saturday Night Brightener” pads once a week to help gently exfoliate the dead skin cells, reducing dead dry skin brown spots.
- Use a moisturizer each day. Since we don’t have oil glands on our hands as we do on our face, our hands need as much moisturizer as our face, if not more!
- And of course, keep your hands well protected with a physical barrier such as gloves while outdoors, as I mentioned at the beginning of this blog.
My children may chuckle a little bit at my preventative measures, but they also understand the value of my experience. Prevention starts at an early age, but it’s also never too late.
Call the Elizabeth Roche MedSpa at 201-505-1020 for more information and an appointment.