Don’t Neglect These Areas When it Comes to Your Skin Care Routine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to making a healthy skin care routine, your face takes priority. Not only is it the most visible and prominent area of your skin, it also develops wrinkles more quickly than other areas of your body due to the amount of fine muscle movement eroding its elasticity, so clearly, it needs the most attention.

Unfortunately, for many, their face is the beginning and end of skin care planning. However, since your skin is your largest organ and your first line of protection against the risks of the world around you, plenty of other places on your body need just as much attention to detail as your face.

Hands

Your hands are one of the most incredible parts of your body, and over your life, you will use them for hundreds of everyday tasks. However, we often take the skin on our hands for granted. When it gets dry, we often forget to moisturize until skin becomes painful and cracked. Many of us overlook the need to apply sunscreen to the backs of our hands as well, which means they could suffer more sun damage than the rest of your body.

If your hands are showing wrinkles, volume loss, age spots, and other signs of premature aging, don’t fret – you have options. For example, Fraxel is a laser treatment that can turn back the clock on your hands, erasing discoloration, uneven skin tone, and scarring. It will also stimulate your body’s natural collagen production, encouraging your skin to make more of this structural protein that is so essential to healthy skin.

Cosmetic fillers like those in the Juvéderm family can also help improve the appearance of the backs of hands that have become sunken or bony due to age-related tissue loss. With nearly immediate results, minimal risks and side effects, and no downtime for recovery, Juvéderm is undoubtedly a skin care tool to add to your arsenal.

Décolleté

It’s all too easy to overlook skin care for the chest, but it’s certainly an area that deserves protection and treating since it often gets just as much damaging UV exposure as your face. Décolleté, meaning “lower neck” in French, is a term that describes the skin stretching from your cleavage to your collarbone. Even people who have diligently followed a skin care regimen may have a dramatic difference in the degree of aging between their face and décolleté.

Some of this is because most people’s skincare routine doesn’t extend beyond their faces – but beyond that, this area often ages more rapidly than any other part of the body, even for those who take good care of the skin on their chest.

What’s the reason for this difference? The skin covering the décolleté is thinner and has fewer oil glands than most other parts of your body, making it more sensitive to irritation and sun damage. The thin skin on your décolleté is even more sensitive than your facial skin, so it requires at least as much attention. For patients who are concerned about premature aging on their décolleté, we recommend non-invasive procedures such as microdermabrasion and Ultherapy to smooth out skin and jumpstart collagen production.

Neck

Most of us know about the benefits of cleansing, moisturizing, exfoliating, and applying sunscreen to our faces, but unfortunately, many people’s skincare regimen stops at their jawline. As a result, neck skin is often one of the first areas where the obvious signs of aging like sagging and wrinkling become evident. Unless you are a fan of turtleneck sweaters, most clothing doesn’t do much to cover up your neck, which exposes it to sun damage year-round. If you aren’t diligent about protecting the skin on your neck, you may wake up one morning to realize your neck looks several years older than your face.

In addition to making sure to start including your neck in your daily efforts to keep your skin clean, hydrated, and free of impurities, you can get laser treatments such as IPL to enhance the look of your neck and bring it in line with the appearance of your face.

Love the Look of Your Hands, Décolleté, and Neck

Are you ready to improve the quality of your skin without committing to surgery? Contact our San Francisco office today to schedule a consultation with the board-certified dermatologist, Dr. Seth L. Matarasso.