Don't Forget The Ears!

Skin inflammation of the ear skin

Shampoos, cleaning compounds on your glasses, and chemicals from your hands can cause the skin condition pictured here. Ears can also burn, they can dry out and get flakey patches,  and they can get moles. It's important to get sunscreen that will be protective but not greasy and irritating to the ears or surrounding scalp. In this picture the ear is very irritated and inflamed, and yet will still need sun protection. The inert compounds in powdered sunscreen such as what is available through Hada Cosmetic Medicne's Colorescience line can provide protection which will enable protection against the ravages of the sun, and in this case, in addition to treatment, the skin can be shielded safely.

Dark Circles Under the Eyes

Dark circles might just be temporary from a poor night sleep, but those with the deepest dark circles know it's not a quick fix in them. But there's no reason to dispair! First fix would be to get a cover-up mineral make up that has anti-oxidant treatment power as well as making you look and feel good. One recommended at Hada Cosmetic Medicine is Colorescience, and you can check their Facebook Store if you can't run right in downtown and get color matched. The next fix is sun screen. If you have your coverup on, it's sun screen as well, but double protection, and ideally every 2 hour application! The next fix is a quick trip to your physician. Several nutritional deficiencies can lead to dark skin pigmentation, and if your undereye area is one of your problem areas it will show this the worst! For instance, poor Vitamin D levels will manifest as dark pigmentation, and this can be simply corrected with the approprate supplements and medical monitoring. Lighteners do work, some are more chemically based, others just have botanical lighteners such as the Revale, or Skin Sceuticals pigment correctors which are safer and we recommend as your first line! Intense Pulsed light as well as laser treatment can treat pigmentation of various depths. To minimize the accentuation of the pigmentation appropriate use of fillers and botox can help, but in and of themselves won't likely make a dramatic effect on the pigment. The point is, a lot can be done, an there's no reason not to evaluate the options!

AK Treatments that Beautify

It is possible to get a successful treatment of actinic keratosis (AK) due to sun exposure on the face and other  body parts.These spots develop on the face, but can be found on the scalp (especially in men), on ears, and in the decolletage and forearms preferentially, because these areas get the most sun exposure and are often sites forgotten by your sunscreen touch ups! If not treated they can progress, after further sun exposure, to squamous cell cancer of the skin.  They look like areas of abnormal pigmentation (could be brown, often red), which is patchy and often flaky. Treatments include watching: if you are young, they might go away; freezing with liquid nitrogen, surgically scraping, Some topical therapies actually do show promise, from creams used to treat warts to the anti-inflammatory medicine called diclofenac cream (one brand is Voltaran).Using a fractional laser non-ablative treatment also works. Devices called 1540 or 1550 wave length lasers are these types of treatments. Interestingly the skin is significantly improved in terms of texture and wrinkles while treating the precancerous condition.  Other FDA approved non-ablative fractional laser treatments include  laser include skin resurfacing procedures and the treatment of  wrinkles around the eyes, the treatment of acne scars, improvement and treatment of surgical scars,treatments to even out abnormal skin coloration  and pigmented lesions, such as age spots, sun spots, the AK, and deeper, more difficult to treat melasma. As with other laser treatments, your medical treatment provider can evaluate your skin and decide if these are AKs to be treated, or other conditions. Once you have a diagnosis, you can decide what treatment best suits you. Considerations such as location, your skin type, your tendency to hyperpigment, any recurrences, the amount of time you are outdoors will all factor into what she or he will recommend. But once all factors are weighed, the laser treatments both treat the AK, and are significant anti-aging treatments.