FotoFacial rejuvenation removes discoloration of the skin using intense pulsed light and radiofrequency.

• 90% Worth It according to RealSelf.com
• FotoFacial rejuvenation can also treat rosacea, age spots, sun damage, fine lines, enlarged pores and more.
• 50-75% improvement in appearance.
• 15-18 week program of several treatments.

Schedule a consultation here for the fresh, rejuvenated skin you deserve.

The post How to Treat Acne Scars with Fotofacial Rejuvenation appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

So it comes as something of a shock that this month the publishers of Allure, a leading fashion and beauty magazine, announced that they’re banning the term anti-aging from their editorial copy. Huffington Post quotes Allure‘s Michelle Lee on the thinking behind the change:

“Whether we know it or not, [the term is] subtly reinforcing the message that aging is a condition we need to battle — think antianxiety meds, antivirus software, or antifungal spray,” wrote Editor-in-Chief Michelle Lee on Monday, adding, “Repeat after me: Growing older is a wonderful thing because it means that we get a chance, every day, to live a full, happy life.”

Allure is putting its cover where its philosophy is, with a September issue featuring ageless cover woman Helen Mirren. (Of course, if we all aged as gorgeously as Dame Helen, maybe we wouldn’t be so anti-!) But the magazine isn’t content to police their own editorial team. Lee is issuing a challenge to all of us to rethink the way we approach aging, to think of it as something we do naturally, beautifully, gracefully, not an enemy in the mirror to vanquish.

Huffington Post points out that the idea that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages — by now a standby of fashion — has yet to catch on in the beauty biz:

Fashion has slowly but surely done a better job at being more inclusive and accepting of race, size, and age. The beauty industry has been a bit slower on its feet. Plus-size model Precious Lee previously pointed out that beauty advertisements exclude models over a certain size, for example, despite the fact that women of all sizes can wear makeup.

At Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena, it’s our motto that healthy skin is beautiful skin — at any age. Though we’ll continue to use the keyword anti-aging to describe many of our cosmetic treatments and products, the only aging we’re dead-set against is premature, preventable damage to skin that causes early wrinkling, sagging, and spots and can lead to skin cancer. Otherwise, we’re here to help you live gracefully and beautifully every year of your life.

What about you? How do you feel about the term anti-aging? Share your comments with us on social media, or talk to our cosmetic consultant Mary Lou Brimecombe today about protecting and reclaiming your own ageless beauty.

The post Anti-aging: Should we lose the term? appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

But part of the reason is also health. As we learn more about the physiology and psychology of aging, we discover that many of the qualities we used to associate with growing older — physical frailty, lines and wrinkles, loss of mental clarity — are actually preventable or at least postponable.

That’s especially true for the health and youthful appearance of our skin. As with many other health areas, skin aging does rely in some part on genetics. But environment and lifestyle play an even bigger role. A lifetime’s exposure to UV radiation, weather, and pollution takes its toll on skin’s clarity and elasticity. As strong and flexible as the amazing skin — our largest organ — is, we test and damage it by exposure to the same oxidation processes that cause rust in unprotected metal.

Our lifestyle choices can also speed — or slow — the aging of our skin. Unprotected UV exposure (including natural or artificial tanning), smoking, substance abuse, a sedentary lifestyle, even a constant diet of junk food can negate any anti-aging steps we might take, no matter how costly.

On the other hand, anti-aging lifestyle choices can be quite simple. The New York Times recently profiled the world’s oldest woman, who passed away on April 15 at the age of 117. Emma Morano credited her longevity and energy — she worked until she was 75, and entertained visitors from around the world until only recently — to the clean air of her home by an Italian lake, her simplified lifestyle of few possessions, the 3 raw eggs she had for breakfast every day, and her freedom from male bossiness after leaving a bad marriage in 1938.

Emma’s way may not be our way, but there are anti-aging strategies found in her example we can put to good use. Spend as much time as possible outdoors in good, clean air. Eat a simple diet rich in proteins, antioxidant fruits and vegetables, and good oils that keep the skin nourished from within. Drink lots of water. Avoid stress. Interact with lots of people.

Emma, old as she was, remained as concerned with her appearance as any younger woman would. “Inside the drawer of her night table,” the Times article noted, “was a supermarket-aisle anti-aging cream that she had applied every evening before going to sleep.” Until recently, she went regularly to the hairdresser, insisting that she couldn’t let her appearance go because so many visitors stopped in to see her unannounced.

We may not be aiming for 117, but anti-aging is a lifelong process. Take a few hints from Emma Morano, and contact us at Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena for a whole range of cosmetic treatments and skin care products that will keep your skin healthy and beautiful. Our cosmetic consultant Mary Lou Brimecombe can tailor an anti-aging plan just for you!

The post Anti-Aging: Even the World’s Oldest Woman Made Time for It appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

Nasolabial folds (also called static wrinkles) which add years to our faces, are one of the top reasons people seek treatment with injectable fillers. But until now the available treatments didn’t satisfactorily address moderate to severe parentheses lines, or didn’t provide long-lasting results.

With JUVEDERM Vollure, Allergan has addressed both of these treatment gaps. Like the recently released Voluma for cheek contouring and Volbella for lip enhancement, Vollure makes use of Allergan‘s patented Vycross technology. This creates a filler that combines the softness of hyaluronic acid with the ability to employ various molecular weights of the HA into one filler, extending the duration of treatment effect. In tests required for FDA approval, patients experienced at least a 12-month duration from the first or touchup treatment, with many patients seeing improvement that lasted up to 18 months.

Besides parentheses lines, JUVEDERM Vollure offers great results in facial contouring and addressing volume loss, which can make us look older and more tired than we are.

Also on the horizon from Allergan, with approval expected sometime later this year, is JUVEDERM Volite — one of the first injectables designed to increase skin’s hydration and elasticity from within. Also using the Vycross technology, Volite can be used to improve skin quality characteristics in the face, neck, hands, and decollete. Effects last up to 6 months.

At Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena, you don’t have to wait to ditch those parentheses lines — we have JUVEDERM Vollure treatment available now! Contact us today for your complimentary cosmetic consultation or to schedule treatment. And watch this space for more on when JUVEDERM Volite — along with all new cosmetic treatments and products — becomes available!

The post Vollure: Because Parentheses Belong in Sentences, Not on Your Face appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

Now a cosmetic surgeon is positing a completely new reason why older adults are drawn to cosmetic treatments: our grandkids.

In an interview with Lisette Hilton at Cosmetic Surgery Times, Dr, Edwin Williams, immediate past president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, says he’s seeing a trend of patients in their 60s and 70s who are moved to seek rejuvenation treatment by kids saying the darnedest things.

“I think it’s the result of Facetime with grandchildren. They’re more motivated by grandchildren, than by occupation,” says Dr. Williams.

The comments only kids can make, like, “Grandpa, you look tired,” Or “Grandma, why do you look sad?” are one factor.

“There was a guy in my office about three months ago. He was 73. You just wouldn’t expect a 73-year-old guy to come in and want his eyes done, right?” Dr. Williams says. “He said my grandson said to me, ‘You look sad all the time, Pappy.’”

Other factors fueling the trend are social media. Pictures on Facebook and smartphones show every sign of aging. Attitudes about cosmetic surgery have also changed. Twenty years ago, 70-year-olds really didn’t really think about cosmetic surgery. It wasn’t mainstream. But now it is, Dr. Williams says.

Today’s grandmas and grandpas, in other words, aren’t your grandparents’ grandparents. Dr. Williams calls them “glammas and glampas” — grandparents not afraid of glam. He notes that older patients have more reasonable expectations of cosmetic treatments than those under 60 do. They are more likely to be grateful for subtle, natural improvements, rather than holding out for miraculous transformations.

According to the Cosmetic Surgery Times article,

Patients 65 and older make up 7.5% of total surgical cosmetic procedures and 10.7% of nonsurgical procedures, according to 2015 American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) statistics. The most popular nonsurgical procedures in the oldest age group are botulinum toxin injections, hyaluronic acid filler treatments and chemical peels.

At Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena, we welcome potential glammas and glampas to explore these and many other nonsurgical cosmetic treatments. If your grandkids are asking pointed questions during Sunday dinner or those Skype or Facetime sessions, contact us today for your complimentary cosmetic consultation!

The post Cosmetic Treatments After 60: We’re Not Your Grandma’s Grandmas appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

A new study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology may indicate the reason that typical signs of aging, such as thinning skin and the emergence of wrinkles, appear later in life for those who have acne-prone skin than for those who never suffered outbreaks of blemishes.

The connection between acne and delayed aging is not a new finding. “For many years dermatologists have identified that the skin of acne sufferers appears to age more slowly than in those who have not experienced any acne in their lifetime. Whilst this has been observed in clinical settings, the cause of this was previously unclear,” said Dr. Simone Ribero, a dermatologist from the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College in London. Researchers once thought acne-prone skin continued to produce skin oils longer than non-acne-prone skin, thus postponing the thinning and wrinkling of dry, aging skin.

The latest study looks deeper, and poses a genetic solution to the riddle. There’s a strong correlation, researchers found, between acne and the presence of what are known as long telomeres — the protective coating on the ends of white blood cell chromosomes. (Think of telomeres like the reinforcing caps on the ends of shoelaces.) These protective coatings break down over time as a natural part of aging, but some people start with longer telomeres from the beginning. Geneticists have already shown a connection between the length of these telomeres and a person’s longevity; people with long telomeres live longer and show age more slowly. No one yet knows whether telomere length actually regulates the tempo of aging, or is just another measurement of it, like gray hair.

In studies with twins, those who had dealt with the severest acne had the longest telomeres — and tended to retain youthful looking skin and facial contours longer than their siblings who’d had smooth adolescent skin.

So the next time you’re tempted to curse that pimple in the mirror, remember the silver lining: acne just might be the fountain of youth!

Here’s more good news: Treating your active acne and reducing the appearance of acne scars won’t affect the genetic anti-aging advantage of long telomeres one bit. Contact us today for proven acne fighting solutions, and you’ll have clear, smooth skin now and for decades to come!

The post Acne: A Secret Anti-Aging Weapon? appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

Peels work through controlled injury to the skin, using an acid preparation to loosen and slough off outer layers of skin cells. Results and recovery time depend on the type and concentration of acid, the number of coats applied, and the amount of time it is left on the skin before the acid is neutralized. A light peel may leave you with a sensation like a mild sunburn, while deeper peels may result in increased pain and longer healing time.

Chemical peels address a broad range of skin issues, including:

• Sun damage
• Wrinkles and lines under the eyes and mouth area
• Acne scarring
• Blackheads and whiteheads
• Age spots and freckles
• Discoloration
• Uneven skin tones
• Excessive skin oils and breakouts
• Enlarged pores
• Dark spots from pregnancy (melasma)
• Strengthening the skin
• Acne
• Irregular hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation

In addition to addressing particular issues, chemical peels improve the overall strength, brightness, and smoothness of the skin by removing dulling dead skin cells and by stimulating your own natural collagen and elastin.

When performed by a licensed aesthetician or dermatologist, chemical peels are suitable for most skin types. If you have inflammatory acne or other chronic skin irritation, if you are sunburned, or if your skin has a tendency to form keloids, however, you should ask your doctor about other ways to refresh and rejuvenate your skin.

At Comprehensive Dermatology of Pasadena, we offer a wide variety of chemical peels, including the following favorites:

The Light Glycolic Peel uses fruit based alpha-hydroxy acids to gently strip away dead skin cells, promoting clear, smooth, younger-looking skin.

The Nourishing Pumpkin Peel mildly slough off dead skin cells, stimulates collagen and elastin, fights free radicals, and reduces sun damage.

The Perfect Peel, with the ultimate antioxidant Glutathione, works from the inside to repair and nourish the skin by giving it a radiant glow, refining pores, improving skin hyperpigmentations, lifting melasma, controlling acne and preventing acne marks.

SkinMedica Professional Peels, available in 3 levels: Illuminize, a great first-time pro peel that brightens and refreshes skin texture with little to no visible peeling; Vitalize, the most popular pro peel, smooths lines, erases sun damage, and restores youthful glow (some visible peeling); Rejuvenize, a full-strength peel for maximum rejuvenating effects (visible peeling and some downtime).

To learn more about what chemical peels can do for you, contact us today!

The post Chemical Peels: An A-peel-ing Lift appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

Once you get in the habit, nightly skin care need be no more burdensome than caring for skin in the morning. It’s still a case of 3 essential steps, but tailored to the way your skin works while you’re sleeping. Yes, that’s right — we said works. You may be snoozing prettily in dreamland, but your skin cells work the night shift! Here’s how to give those busy cells the tools they need to get the job done.

Cleanse

Nightly skin care starts with the same first step as your morning routine. But there’s a bit more to it, because at the end of the day your skin is carrying a lot more debris than it does when you wake up. Before using your preferred cleanser (which can be the same one you use in the morning, and may perform gentle exfoliation with AHA/BHA acids), however, you need to break up with your make up. (Sleeping in makeup is an invitation to irritation and inflammation, as bacteria easily multiply in makeup residue.)

Thoroughly remove makeup from your face, lashes, lips, neck, and decollete before cleansing. Use a specially formulated makeup remover — there are many disposable wipes and makeup removing liquids available, some incorporating micellar water. Once your skin is makeup free, cleanse and rinse thoroughly.

Treat

The second step in nightly skin care is custom-made for the night shift. While you sleep, your skin has time to absorb and make use of topical treatments that address particular skin issues, such as redness or dark spots, and work their rejuvenating magic on wrinkles, lines, puffiness, and other signs of aging. Retinols, the ingredients that work so powerfully to smooth wrinkles and stimulate new skin cell growth, do their best work at night because they break down quickly when exposed to light.

See your skin care practitioner (or contact our cosmetic consultant, Mary Lou Brimecombe) for treatment recommendations tailored to your skin’s specific needs. In addition to retinols, night treatments deliver peptides (special nourishing proteins), antioxidents, brighteners, and other refreshing and rejuvenating ingredients, These treatments are available in various combinations and forms. Serums are concentrated liquids. Apply these first after cleansing, to allow them to penetrate. Follow with creams or lotions in the order recommended by your skin care specialist. Apply treatments to the skin around the eyes last before moisturizing.

Moisturize

The third step in nightly skin care is to provide your skin with the moisture it craves. You can use your regular moisturizer, or choose a nighttime formula that is more dense and creamy. You may also use a combination product, like Neocutis’ Micro Night that includes nutrients, hydrating glycerin, and lipids — treatment and moisturizer in one. Apply moisturizer over your face, neck, and chest.

Every so often, give your hands and feet an extra moisturizing overnight treatment, too. Slather on a rich moisturizing cream or lotion (or even the old faithful petroleum jelly), pull on cotton socks and cotton gloves, and reward your hands and feet for their hard work all day long with a good night’s renewing rest.

Those few extra minutes of nightly skin care will pay off in years lost from your looks and healthy, beautiful skin 24/7!

The post Nightly Skin Care: Sleeping Beauty appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

Developments in laser technology have allowed this powerful form of harnessed light energy to be used as skilfully as a scalpel and as gently as a warm massage. Different laser properties can be combined to address multiple cosmetic issues in one treatment or series of treatments, says Dr. Tina Alster of Washington DC’s Georgetown University.

As a result, she says, a dermatologist may use one device to treat redness, another to treat brown spots and another to treat sagging skin — all during the same patient visit.

“These ‘mega combination’ treatments allow dermatologists to provide patients with truly revitalized skin in just one treatment session,” she says. “We can optimize their results while minimizing the amount of time they have to spend in the office.”

In our office you can see our registered laser nurse, Kimberly Bailin, RN, for a variety of cosmetic procedures. Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) uses photosensitizing medication and the application of blue light to treat acne and rosacea and to address the precancerous lesions known as actinic keratoses. IPL (intense pulsed light) Fotofacials zap away sun damage and stimulate the production of fresh new skin cells. Laser hair removal is an ever-popular solution for year-round skin-baring smoothness.

You can also see Kimberly for Pellevé^® tissue tightening, which uses RF (radio frequency) technology to firm and smooth sagging skin. For treatment of deep lines and wrinkles rejuvenation, Kimberly is also skilled in sublative rejuvenation with the Matrix laser.

Our Board-certified Dermatologists also specialize in the most popular advancement in laser rejuvenation, treatment with the SmartSkin^® Fractionated CO2 Laser from Cynosure. We offer full facial rejuvenation as well as the laser eye treatment known as the Madonna eyelift. As the AAD report notes:

Fractionated lasers use the same amount of energy as older models, but that energy is broken up into smaller doses, offering safer, more effective treatment. “Today’s lasers allow us to provide a rejuvenating effect with less trauma to the skin,” [Dr. Alster] says. “That means a lower risk of complications and shorter recovery time for patients.”

The AAD report reminds patients that even with all the developments in laser technology, it’s the human hands that wield the light that matter most. Always seek laser treatment from qualified medical professionals, preferably with experience in dermatological applications. At Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena, we’re proud of our experienced laser team of Dr. Sara Gaspard, Dr. Han Lee, and Kimberly Bailin. Contact us today to find out how laser treatments can light up your healthy, beautiful skin!

The post Let There Be Laser! appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.

We may be doing all the right things for keeping the years off our faces. We moisturize, wear sunscreen, apply retinols and serums, smooth away time with peels and masks, use injectables and tissue-tightening and laser rejuvenation treatments to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and sags. But we aren’t always aware of the unfailing giveaway of our real chronological age–our hands.

You can check for yourself. Place your hand on your cheek and look in the mirror. Does that hand belong to that face? Hands betray age the same way our faces do–with brown spots and dryness from sun damage, wrinkling and enlarged pores, broken capillaries, and dull tone. These can be prevented, and their appearance minimized, by many of the same techniques we use on our faces. (See Tips, below.) But there’s one way hands age that calls for special treatment.

As we get older, our hands can appear more knobby or skeletal, with the veins and bones on the back of the hands becoming more prominent as the tissues under the skin lose volume and resilience. Radiesse^®, an injectable dermal filler, is the first and only FDA-approved product for hand augmentation. Radiesse^® safely restores volume to the hands, while providing a smooth, natural look that is visible immediately and lasts for up to one year. Click here to learn more about Radiesse^® and to see a video about how it works.

At Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena, we are experts at Radiesse^® and other treatments to rejuvenate your hands. Call or email us today for your complimentary consultation!

Tips for Keeping Hands Ageless

In addition to Radiesse^® treatment, you can help your hands stay as young-looking as the rest of you by following these everyday tips:

• Apply a moisturizing hand lotion morning and night, and after outdoor exposure or messy chores.
• Don’t forget your hands when applying (and reapplying) broad-spectrum UV protection! Those freckles and marks we used to call age spots are actually areas of sun damage.
• Wear latex or nylon (if you’re sensitive) gloves when washing dishes or doing other wet chores. Use gardening gloves when working in the yard.
• Add a moisturizing, massaging hand treatment to one of our luxurious spa facials.
• Check with us for treatments to reduce brown spots and broken capillaries.

Don’t forget. Your face may be younger than springtime, but your hands never lie! Let us give you a hand in taking care of them.

The post Radiesse^®: Hands Up for Spring! appeared first on Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena.