How To Fix Uneven Skin Texture And Tones

uneven skin toneEveryone wants radiant, youthful skin – if we’re being honest, we’re all dreaming of airbrushed perfection (especially as we age). While some of us surrender and resign ourselves to fate, while others secretly hide our uneven skin texture and tones with primers and makeup – but we don’t have to do either.

Wait, what? Uneven skin texture? I thought I only had to worry about skin tone!

Take a moment to close your eyes and run your hands over your face (makeup free and clean, of course). Do some areas feel rougher than others? Bumpier? Between dead skin cells and sun exposure, your pores can expand, and your skin can look duller. Where you live and how you live, not just how you wash your face, can impact the way your skin looks and feels.

For example, colder climates (like Edmonton’s) are tougher on your skin: cold temperatures, especially in combination with cold winds, strip moisture from your skin and can leave it rough, tight, cracked, and red (read: terribly uneven). But where you live isn’t as easy to change as how you live.

Bad habits like poor eating, poor sleeping, and poor skin care regimes can all impact the look and feel of your skin. And smoking is even worse: if you smoke, you’re more prone to dark circles and bags under your eyes, you’re at higher risk for psoriasis, and you’ll age quicker and look grayer.

But we can’t go back in time and wear more sunscreen, stop smoking, or start washing our faces regularly. So, whether your cursed with a dry, flaky forehead and an oily chin, you’ve been fighting against acne scars your whole life, or you’re suddenly swimming in melasma and wrinkles, soft, supple, luxurious skin is still within reach with one or more of the following treatments:

1. Microdermabrasion

Arguably the number one treatment for improving skin texture and tone, microdermabrasion boosts collagen production and cell regeneration by removing the top layer of dead, damaged skin to reveal the smoother, new skin beneath. Microdermabrasion also minimizes pore size and improves scarring – making your skin smoother and brighter overall. Over and over again, microdermabrasion is praised for its effectiveness, but while it’s quick and noninvasive, the results aren’t instantaneous – depending on your skin and the issues you’re trying to correct, you may need several treatments to achieve your desired results.

2. Laser Treatments

Laser treatments are often dubbed “skin resurfacing” which means that laser treatments remove the top, damaged layer of skin. Like microdermabrasion, laser treatments encourage healthy skin growth and promote collagen production. Ultimately, laser treatments retexture your skin, removing lines, wrinkles, and minor scars as well as correcting sun damage, discolouration, and tightening up limp or sagging skin.

3. Chemical Peels

At Rao Dermatology, we customize our chemical peels using medical-grade products to your specific skin type and its tone and texture issues. Both your skin type and your goals will determine the depth of your treatment. Again, the basic result of the treatment is the same as microdermabrasion and laser – a peel removes the top layer of dead skin using a solution, but the dead skin will peel away gradually after the procedure to reveal a smoother, more even complexion. Chemical peels tighten, brighten, and smooth the skin.

4. Daily Advanced Skin Care

While our treatments can offer quicker results, a daily advanced skin care regime is also an effective treatment – but you must be diligent and consistent about it and you must use high quality products. On its own or in combination with one of our treatments, taking good care of your skin is essential to fighting the impact of a lifetime of UV rays and aging. We’ve chosen SkinCeuticals as our skin care brand because they’re committed to the highest, medical-grade formulation standards (they’re products win awards repeatedly). At your consultation, we can work with you to determine the best SkinCeuticals products to help you fix your skin’s texture and tone.

Our Treatments For Acne Scarring

Suffering with acne is bad enough, but dealing with acne scarring just adds insult to injury. Toss in aging and sun exposure to the mix, and those scars inevitably become more noticeable as time passes. Since approximately 95% of acne sufferers end up with permanent scarring that causes both hyperpigmentation (brown and red marks) and pitted scars, its impact, emotionally and psychologically, is substantial: acne scarring is a risk factor for suicide and is linked to poor self-esteem, depression, anxiety, embarrassment, anger, and even unemployment.

acne scarring treatment edmontonBut you don’t have to suffer in silence because Rao Dermatology offers a number of customized treatments that can erase or minimize acne scarring’s marks and indentations.

Our experienced and knowledgeable doctors will assess your type and extent of scarring (atrophic, hypertrophic, or keloidal) together with your age and specific skin type to develop a course of treatment tailored just for you.

Below is an overview of the acne scarring treatment options we offer at Rao Dermatology in Edmonton:

Laser Treatments
Laser treatments are the quickest way to reduce the impact acne has on your skin. An extremely precise procedure that produces intense monochromatic light, laser treatments use photothermolysis to breakdown selected tissues in the skin. Dermatologists have been using laser therapies for over 35 years, and Dr. Rao is an acclaimed international expert and researcher in the laser field. Under his skillful guidance, we choose the most optimal treatment for your skin. We offer a variety of laser treatments to reduce or eliminate acne scarring: Intense Pulse Light (IPL), Laser Genesis, Nano Laser Peel, Sciton Profractional, Q-Switch Laser, Excel V, Cynosure Smart Xide, Sciton Halo, and Micro-Laser Peel. All of our laser treatments are non-invasive and proven to reduce skin damaged by acne scarring.

Dermal Fillers
Known for plumping up skin, dermal filler aren’t only used for aging, they are also an effective acne scarring treatment. Dermal fillers add volume to the skin using natural or synthetic materials that are injected into the face to increase volume and smoothness. Particular effective for pitted scarring, dermal fillers provide almost instant results, but they do require follow up treatments to maintain the effect. At Rao Dermatology, your doctor will determine which filler is best for your skin, but we carry Juvederm®, Restylane®, Revanesse, and RADIESSE®.

Medical Facials
On their own, medical facials can minimize acne scars, but depending on your scarring, they may work best in combination with laser treatments. At Rao Dermatology, the medical facials we offer include chemical peels, microdermabrasion, and microneedling. Medical facials are known to reduce superficial scarring by removing the top layer of skin; as the skin heals, its surface appears smoother and fuller. In contrast, microneedling uses tiny needles to penetrate the dermis, which also stimulates healing to treat texture and tone.

Daily Advanced Skin Care
A proper skin care regimen is essential to maintain healthy, youthful skin by preventing, treating, and maintaining your skin’s health. Typically used in tandem with other treatments, our skin care products optimize and prolong the benefits of our acne scarring treatments like laser treatments, dermal fillers, and medical facials.

Our product of choice is SKinceuticals, an advanced skin care line backed by science and committed to the highest, medical grade formulation standards. SkinCeuticals’ acne products not only fight and prevent acne, but they also help improve the skin’s acne scarring by lightening dark spots, evening skin tone, and firming complexions.

Do you suffer from acne scarring? Book your acne scarring treatment consultation by filling in the form below.