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In the West End: 708 - 1155 Robson St.
Vancouver

 
 
 

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What is Your Skin Concern?


Winter Skin Blahs

January 27th, 2012

Although we live in one of the best cities in the world for managing and maintaining beautiful skin, our coastal weather can still wreck havoc in the winter months.

No matter where you live, cold weather leads to dry skin which can often leave your skin looking dull, rough, scaly and flaky and can often lead to other skin ailments including redness, acne and even dermatitis.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The good news is that with a few simple changes to your routine, you can combat the effects of dry skin quite easily.
On top of drinking plenty of water and keeping your body hydrated internally, we recommend that you use a good moisturizer that restores your moisture balance while externally soothes dehydrated skin.

The other important element to incorporate into your skin routine is exfoliation. No matter the season, we typically recommend that you exfoliate your skin once to twice a week. This can be done at home using a high quality exfoliant and lukewarm water and will work to remove impurities and dead skin cells from the skin’s surface.

On top of regular at home exfoliation treatments, which help to treat the surface of your skin, it is equally important to get in and clean the core of your skin. For optimal results, this should always be done by a skin care professional. At The Centre for Skin Rejuvenation, we have 2 treatments that are quick, painless and work wonders for getting deep down into your skin and produce amazing results:

MICRODERMABRASION WITH DERMALINFUSION

One of the most widely used treatments to brighten the skin are microdermabrasion treatments, which work to exfoliate your skin and remove dead and damaged cells at the skin’s surface.

Microdermabrasion treatments use a medical grade diamond to “brush” the skin paired with a gentle vacuum that “suck” and eliminate the dead cells.

Instead of a typical microdermabrasion procedure, we perform the specialized treatments that include DermalInfusion which on top of providing the typical exfoliation benefits of a microdermabrasion also infuses a specialized serum for your skin type deep into the skin where it is most effective.

The typical improvements you can expect to see in your skin with a DermalInfusion Microdermabrasion treatments are:
• A beautifully smooth and even skin tone
• Plump and hydrated skin
• Reduction in fine lines and wrinkles
• Improvement in acne symptoms
• Pore size reduction
• A reduction in brown spots caused by sun damage

On top of providing immediate results, these treatments have no downtime, meaning that you can be in and out of our office within an hour you can back to your normal day. DermalInfusion treatments start at $150.

REJUVENATION PEELS

Over the years, peels have developed a rather unjustly bad reputation, due to a spread in popularity of at-home treatments. We can assure you that under proper medical supervision, these common treatments are very safe and can leave you with absolutely BEAUTIFUL results.

Facial rejuvenation peeling (aka chemical peels) works by stimulating exfoliation of your skin using a chemical solution. It removes the dry, dull outer layer of your skin leaving you with a radiant and luminous complexion with firmer and smoother skin.

The typical improvements you can expect to see in your skin with a chemical peel treatment are:
• A radiant and bright skin tone
• A significant reduction in brown spots, pregnancy dark spots and pigmentation spots
• Pore size reduction
• Reduction in fine lines and wrinkles
• Improvement in acne symptoms through sebum reduction

On top of the spectacular results that you can achieve, one of the best things about our peels is that they start at just $99!

Ultherapy

January 24th, 2012

Our lives are very much expressed by our faces.The effects of sun exposure,our genetics,and even our patterns of expressions are reflected in our facial skin.As we age the bone structure of our face also changes.The way we look as the years pass are indeed a sum of these and probably many other influences.
Surgery has always been an option to address facial concerns.Recently a remarkable new technology called Ultherapy that can tighten and lift our skin has become available.Ultherapy is a safe,effective, and non invasive method of improving the firmness of facial skin.The technology uses focussed ultrasound to stimulate our own collagen.
You are able to return to normal activities right after the procedure.A good candidate is generally someone with skin that has developed loss of skin firmness causing a less defined facial appearance.
A complimentary consultation in the office can determine if you are a good candidate for Ultherapy.

Microdermabrasion-An Exfoliative Procedure For All Skin Types

February 7th, 2011

Microdermabrasion has been widely available for many years as a tool to gently exfoliate the outer skin layer.It is usually performed using a diamond tip applicator or a jet of fine mineral crystals that pass over the skin’s surface.The exfoliated skin is gently suctioned away.

The procedure can be thought as a skin polishing treatment that may benefit  a variety of skin conditions.Microdermabrasion may be used to help unplug pores that occur in acne.Dry,thickened dull skin may become more lustrous after a treatment.Fine lines and uneven skin texture may be improved.It can be thought of as part of a good skin management program.

Treatments are not painful and can usually be done in thirty minutes.It is a gentle and effective procedure with no downtime.

Common remarks are ,”My skin looks and feels amazing”,”My skin is smooth and my makeup applies so smoothly”.

Microdermabrasions can be performed using a Silkpeel dermal infusion method.In this procedure different solutions can be gently applied to the skin during treatment for oily acne-prone skin and dry skin.Treatments are meant to be progressive.Generally,results are most noticeable after the third treatment,although the skin will look fresher after the first session.Usually treatments are performed about every two weeks for a series of six.Maintenance may be done every two months.

Treatment of Acne Scars

January 10th, 2011

Acne scarring is the devastating and difficult to treat consequence of active acne.  Some people seem more prone to develop this problem and scarring often occurs when acne involves the deeper layers of skin.

Essentially the causes are two fold:  the inflammation that occurs during the acne process and the skin’s attempts to repair the damage.  Some scars are depressed and called atrophic, while some involve increased tissue formation, which are referred to as hypertrophic or even keloid scars.

Some people call the red, purple or brown areas that develop after an acne lesion scars.  These will often fade with time.

People with darker skin usually develop pigmentation at sites of inflammation when active acne lesions have resolved.  These areas may take up to 18 months to fade.

It is important to classify the atrophic type scars (loss of tissue), because they may be treated differently.

  1. Ice pick scars.  These are found most commonly on the cheeks.  They are very tight small depressed scars.
  2. Boxcar scars.  These scars have steep angular slopes.  They most often occur on the cheeks and temples.
  3. Rolling scars.  They are characterized by a wave appearance.

Treatment options involve the use of fractionated laser devices to stimulate synthesis of and to remodel dermal collagen  (the structural protein in the skin).  Sometimes surgery is needed for some scars.  Dermal fillers may also be used to add volume to a depressed scar.

Treatment of acne scars is most often a combination of treatments (i.e.lasers, surgery and dermal fillers) and should be considered a project over time to obtain the best results.

Maintenance treatments for acne scarring, will often include the topical application of a group of substances called Retinoids.  These treatments help to reduce further acne and to provide ongoing skin stimulation.

Thank you for reading and please join me next time, when I will discuss a simple and gentle polishing tool for the skin, called Microdermabrasion.

Acne

December 11th, 2010

Acne is the most common disorder affecting the skin.   Most people will develop acne at some point in their lives.   Although acne most commonly affects people in the teens and early twenties, it can occur later in life.

Acne is essentially a disorder of something called the pilosebaceous unit of the skin. These are the oil glands and associated hair follicles. The sebaceous glands are mostly in the skin of the face, chest and back. They are enlarged and secrete excess sebum in acne. The excess sebum combined with “sticky” skin cells causes a plugging of the sebaceous gland ducts and leads to an inflammatory response with subsequent colonization of a bacteria called P.acnes. These are the classical 4 causes of acne in everyone. It is thought that acne is a chronic inherited disorder of skin.

The visible signs of acne vary from person to person. Comedomes or blackheads and whiteheads are the first part of the development of acne lesions. They can form the predominant lesions in some. Papules or red bumps may form. Pustules are also common. When acne starts to affect the deeper layers of the skin, painful cysts and nodules may develop. These commonly result in permanent scarring.

Acne in its various forms always needs to be treated by a medical doctor very assertively from the onset to try to prevent scarring. Treatment options include topical preparations in the form of antibiotics, retinoids or both. Other types of treatments include oral antibiotics, blue light therapy, microdermabrasion, and Accutane.

Scarring is a much more complicated treatment that I will discuss in my next posting.

Thank you again for reading.