“Thank you so much for the artistic work that you so carefully applied to my face. It’s natural, beautiful, and I do love it.” — JG

Sure, you enjoy the warm golden sun warming your skin, toasting away the winter blues. The best news is we would all be back in the dark ages without those golden rays. However, as the adage goes, nothing is free in life; the sun causes permanent damage to our skin.

Pigment is stimulated to rise to the surface; delicate elastic fibers that function as a supportive network are fried. We form lines; wrinkles and age spots appear (liver spots) which have nothing to do with your liver unless you imbibe lots of booze. Uneven pigment and broken vessels abound – costing you big bucks to find the perfect cover up makeup.

Well, we now know that sun block is crucial to protecting our lovely skin. If you wish to visibly see what happens with years of sunning, take a look at the covered part of your derriere.

Enough distressing news, especially if you have not had your morning cup of java yet. Shall we delve into some of the remedies? We all enjoy options in life; as well you should.

Start by protecting your skin with medical grade skin care products that really do something. Choose a reflective block during the peak of the day and chemical absorbent block at other times. Use products with glycolic acid ingredients to remove the outer uneven layer of the skin where pigments dwell, soothing moisture creams to hydrate the dry skin and by all means use facial cleansers which will not dry your skin.

Now we need to survey what can be done to improve upon your years of skin abandonment. Out of darkness and despair arises the IPL or Intense Pulsed Light. IPL is an intensely bright light that is focused through various specific filters that target brown and red pigmentation. The technology has been established over years to be highly effective for those uneven brown spots and fine vessels that suddenly have appeared, or what you think is sudden. It also snugs up those ghastly pores that have found their way onto your face and does a bit of fine line tuning. Another wonderful aspect of the IPL is to attack unwanted dark facial hair. The question at hand is what areas of the face or body are exposed to the heaviest doses of sun and can be successfully improved with the IPL? I gave you a hint. The tops of the hands show early signs of aging and pigmentation. If you wish to cover your age after a facelift you will have to improve the appearance of the hands. Likewise, the face, neck and décolleté are bombarded with solar radiation. Skin in these regions is thin, delicate and does not withstand harsh treatment. Unlike some of the lasers, the IPL has little or no down time, hardly any discomfort and visible results that you will be pleased to see.

After each session the brown areas darken and then break up and either disappear or become less intense. Red pigment and fine facial vessels are reduced after each session. Often more than one session is necessary to improve upon what years of sun exposure has bestowed upon us. Your skin will look and feel more lustrous.