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Sun Damage

Has too much sun made you look older than you are? Get your radiant skin back at Reflections.

Sun Damage Removal: CO2 Laser, RF Microneedling, Clear + Brilliant, & More!

Did you know sun damage is responsible for 80% of visible aging? But much of sun damage can be undone with laser skin resurfacing, microneedling, and other rejuvenation technologies. Reflections Center has the region’s largest array of lasers, radiofrequency, microneedling, and other skin rejuvenation technologies, because there is no one treatment that’s right for everyone.

Whether you have sensitive skin, a need for a no-downtime option, a small budget, or a need for quick results, our team of experienced physicians will help you achieve your goals.

Erase Sun Damage From Your Skin with Laser Therapy

You love to have fun in the sun, but too much sun exposure can wreak havoc on your skin. Sun damage can make you look older than you are, and in some cases can be dangerous.

The good news is that Reflections has many light and laser treatments to reduce the telltale signs of sun damage and get your skin back to looking its best.

Top Asked Questions About Sun Damage

  • Can your body repair sun damage?
    Not on its own. There are ways to stimulate the body's natural healing process, but sun exposure damages skin cells to the point where they cannot heal themselves.
  • How do you fix sun-damaged skin?
    With an appropriate laser or light therapy, pigmented, red, or unevenly textured skin can become smooth and even.
  • What are the signs of sun damaged skin?
    Sun Damage causes many different symptoms, including: brown spots, red spots, and dark spots, fine lines & wrinkles, raised patches, roughness and texture irregularities, looseness (laxity), sagginess, crepeyness, and loss of firmness, uneven and dull complexion, enlarged pores, broken capillaries and visible broken red blood vessels.
  • How many years does it take for sun damage to show?
    Sun damage occurs in the deepest parts of the skin, meaning sun damage that happens when you’re young becomes apparent years later. That’s why it’s essential to start early and take a preventive approach toward sun damage by wearing sunscreen daily.
  • How can I restore my sun-damaged skin?
    Repairing sun damage can be a complex process that requires a few different approaches. Most important is building new collagen to replace the proteins that become damaged by UV rays. Then, laser treatments can be used to fade pigmentation like sun spots and uneven skin tone. Finally, protecting your skin from further sun damage is essential.
  • Does sun-damaged skin ever heal?
    Sun damage in the skin is effectively permanent, but you can reduce its appearance with the right treatment approach. Because it can’t be easily reversed, prevention is the best approach to sun damage.
  • What is the best laser treatment for sun damage?
    This can depend on factors like the extent of your sun damage and which concerns we’re treating. Lasers like Clear + Brilliant and IPL are great options for pigmentation but more aggressive lasers like Fraxel might be needed for deeper treatment.
  • How do you know if you have permanent sun damage?
    All sun damage is effectively permanent, but concerns like age spots, liver spots, lax skin, and wrinkles are signs of significant sun damage over time. These concerns are unfortunately much harder to treat than early signs of sun damage like dryness, texture, and brown spots.

Erase Sun Damage From Your Skin With Laser Therapy

While many facilities might have a single laser or IPL device to address sun damage, we’re proud to offer a whole host of options that will rescue your skin from years of exposure to harmful UV rays. This allows for a safer, more effective treatment that’s tailored to your needs and not the limitations of a single device.

Here are some of the signs of sun-damaged skin that laser therapy can improve:

Age Spots

The sun revs up melanin production within the skin, causing age spots, which can be brown, black or even gray. You may see them on your chest, shoulders, hands, arms, and forehead.

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Seborrheic Keratosis

While it’s not known if these larger brown and tan spots are caused by sun exposure, they often appear on areas of the skin that get the most sunlight. Sometimes raised off the skin and having a waxy appearanceseborrheic keratosis is usually found on the chest, shoulders, back, and face.

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Broken Capillaries

As the sun’s harmful rays come into contact with your skin, they rupture the structural walls of the tiny blood vessels in the skin. The result is red, broken capillaries.

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Lines, Folds, and Wrinkles

Because the sun breaks down collagen and elastin, what begins as fine lines will eventually turned to deep set-in lines, wrinkles, and folds, given enough time in the sun. We naturally lose collagen and elastin as we age, but the sun dramatically speeds up this process, and several studies have shown the sun can be blamed for over 80% of visible aging, including many of the wrinkles we’ll see.

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Dryness

Since the sun literally sucks out moisture and natural oils that lubricate the skin, years of repeated sun exposure can leave your looking dehydrated and flaky from the tips of your fingers to your toes.

Texture Changes

Constantly exposing your skin to the sun causes it to become rough, thin and irregular because of the depletion of collagen. UV rays can also cause other textural anomalies, as well as skin cancer and pre-cancer.

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Our Favorite Treatments For Sun Damage

Until recently, our ability to reverse these signs of sun damage was limited to technologies that had high complication rates and significant downtime. This has all changed with today’s leading laser treatments that are minimally or non-invasive, fast, and effective. Our wide range of treatment options in the hands of our expert physicians lets us tailor a treatment plan that works for your particular skin type and personal treatment goals.

Here are some of our leading treatment options for sun damaged skin:

  • Brown Spots & Discoloration
  • Fraxel Re:Store Dual, Fraxel Re:Pair, and Clear + Brilliant

    The Fraxel Re:Store DualFraxel Re:Pair, and Clear + Brilliant lasers work below the skin’s surface producing thousands of tiny columns of microscopic treatment zones in your skin, leaving the surrounding skin unaffected. This “fractional” treatment approach allows the skin to heal much faster than if all the skin was treated at once. Following each treatment, the body’s natural healing process creates new healthy tissue to replace skin imperfections. These treatments give wonderful, long lasting results.

    Q-Switched Lasers

    Q-Switched lasers, such as the RevLite, Sinon Ruby, and TriVantage’s Alexandrite, focus energy in a narrow beam, enabling them to land directly on sunspots, remove them quickly and leave the skin looking completely normal post treatment.
    We will often use a Q-Switched laser in combination with the Fraxel laser, for an amazing one-two punch.
    Our Q-Switched Yag laser is appropriate for skin of color, making it a top choice amongst our patients of Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, and Mixed-Race heritage.

    Starlux IPL

    For some patients, the best option is the Starlux IPL (Intense Pulsed Light), which uses high intensity pulses of visible light to improve the appearance of aged and sun damaged skin. This treatment is especially effective for sunspots, requires little to no downtime, and is very cost-effective. It is not, however, appropriate for all skin types.

  • Red Discoloration & Red Spots
  • VBeam

    Vbeam is the world’s best laser for treating redness of all kinds. With sun damage, the typical presentation is broken capillaries or cherry angiomas (those bright red spots that bleed if you pick at them).

  • Crepey & Rough Skin Texture & Deep Lines
  • CO2 Lasers

    Description of this treatment as it relates to this concern. Speak to downtime, intensity, when results appear, magnitude of effectiveness, price, etc.

    RF Microneedling

    These treatments are appropriate for patients of all skin types.

    Ultrasound: Ultherapy & Sofwave

    Ulthera and Sofwave are two of the best treatments to target the deeper changes that the sun causes, within the collagen and elastin of the skin.
    This is a great option for someone who has an area with many wrinkles or lines, as that’s a good indication that the collagen layer underneath is damaged.
    These treatments are appropriate for patients of all skin types.

    Patient Sun Damage Treatment Before & Afters

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    More Before & Afters

    Our Patient’s Stories About Sun Damage Treatment

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    “The IPL treatment you did wiped the sun damage away and my skin is clear. ”

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    “Sun damage made me feel so old. The IPL treatment you did wiped the damage away. I now use sunblock religiously thanks to Reflections! - Kim”

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    “Everyone says, I look 10 years younger so that's always really good to hear.”

    View My Story

    Why Choose Reflections For Sun Damage Treatment

    Whichever treatment is best for your sun damaged skin, it is imperative that you protect your skin from the sun to maintain your great results. Our doctors and aestheticians can help you select a top quality sunblock to protect your skin from further damage and keep your skin looking radiant.

    Be Transformed – Inside and Out

    With Reflections’ approach to treating sun damaged skin, you will look like yourself again. Enjoy a new confidence when you’re out and about, knowing everyone can see the real you!

    While the number of treatment options we offer might seem overwhelming, they allow us provide you with a treatment that’s perfect for your particular skin type, degree of sun damage, treatment goals, ability for downtime and your budget. Our physicians and skincare specialists will take the time to create a personalized treatment plan to help you achieve optimal results.

    Are you ready to take the first step toward treating sun damaged skin? All you have to do is come in for a complementary consultation and we’ll take it from there. Our friendly team is here to ensure that your experience with us is professional and positive.

    Some questions to ask when you’re considering a treatment:

    1. Does this treatment work best for people of my skin tone/concern? For example, RF microneedling works really well for medium-dark skin tones, but can’t remove dark spots or red spots.
    2. Does this treatment require a lot of treatments, or just one?
    3. Does this treatment have downtime afterward? Be specific about this: Do you want all of the redness to be gone before you go back to work, or are you okay with covering redness with makeup?
    4. Is this treatment within my budget? Ask about the price and number of treatments.

    If you’re ready to talk about how you can remove sun damage safely, effectively, and within your budget, please call our office to schedule your free consultation with one of our physicians.

    Read Our Blogs About Sun Damage

    Blog

    Laser Alternatives for the Summer: What You Can Do, even if You’re Tanned

    If you still want to make progress on your skin during the summer but are...

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    Blog

    Ultherapy skin tightening is the latest tool in OUR chest to help rejuvenate YOUR chest

    Ultherapy promotes a regenerative response in your own skin to grow new...

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    Blog

    Shining a spotlight on sunspot removal.

    Sunspots are dark, flat lesions that are brown, grey or black in color....

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    Dr. Mitchell Chasin is a Cosmetic & Laser Physician at Reflections Center. Dr. Chasin believes strongly that the best cosmetic physicians are those who are dedicated to mastering their craft through continuing education and collaboration with the industry’s top doctors.