Hand Rejuvenation
Anti-aging Hand Treatment in the San Diego Area
Dr. Melanie Palm is a nationally recognized dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon specializing in treatment of the aging hand. Her offices are located in Solana Beach, CA just north of San Diego. Dr. Palm lectures nationally on hand rejuvenation and is a key opinion leader and advisory board member for Merz, the makers of Radiesse which is used to rejuvenate volume loss to the hand. She offers many effective treatment options for improving the appearance of the back of the hands.
Aging of the Hands
Hands are glorious to the body. Their dexterity, sense of touch, and motion provide vital functions for our daily living. However, hands do not lie, and they are often the giveaway for our true chronological age. For the most part, we tend to take better care of protecting our face than other areas of our body, such as the hands, neck, or chest. This shows with time and a clear aging division begins to exist between the appearance of our face and our hands.
What are the characteristic features of aging changes to the hands. Listed below are common findings on the hands as we age:
- Skin textural changes: With time, the skin on the hands thins and skin markings become more prominent. Elasticity of the skin may become compromised, and easy bruising may become more prominent.
- Discoloration and age spots: Chronic sun exposure over time causes pigmentary changes to the skin. Sun spots, brown discoloration, and even white spots may appear due to UV exposure. Chronic light exposure may even cause the appearance of precancerous spots and skin cancer.
- Loss of fat and visible tendons: Soft tissue support, largely fat, becomes increasingly scarce over time. This leads to a more skeletonized appearance to the back of the hands including visible tendons.
- Visible, enlarged veins: A loss of tissue support and aging changes over time allow veins to become more tortuous, enlarged, and visible with age.
Treatment Options for Hand Rejuvenation
The correct choice or combination of treatment options for hand rejuvenation depend on the underlying cosmetic concern to be treated. This is extremely important not only to successful procedures but also for patient satisfaction.
The following treatments are commonly used alone or in combination for hand rejuvenation and reversing the signs of aging on the back of the hand:
- Skin Concerns of the hand:
- Sun spots/brown discoloration: Laser and light treatments are usually the treatment of choice for brown discoloration of the skin including age spots. IPL and Spectra can target these spots on the skin
- Precancerous lesions: Actinic keratoses are precancerous lesions on the skin due to chronic sun exposure. They can be treated with liquid nitrogen cryotherapy, topical chemotherapy medications, and a light-based procedure called photodynamic therapy (PDT).
- Skin textural changes: topical retinols and retinoids are helpful for maintaining and building collagen with an at home procedure. In-office procedures for boosting collagen production include the limited downtime ResurFX procedure and laser skin resurfacing.
- Loss of Volume and Visible Tendons:
- Radiesse: this calcium-based filler is FDA-approved for restoration of volume loss on the back of the hands. It provides instant results that last approximately 9-12 months. 1-2 sessions are typically necessary for best results.
- Fat transfer: One’s own fat can be taken from a donor site and implanted subtly into the back of the hands during fat transplantation. Results are typically longer-lasting than temporary fillers, and may persist for years.
- Prominent and Tortuous Veins:
- Volume replacement: as mentioned above, injectable fillers and fat restore volume but help to camouflage underlying structures of the hands such as visible tendons and prominent veins.
- Sclerotherapy: injection of veins can reduce and eliminate the appearance of unsightly and enlarged veins. Treatment is recommended of only one hand at a time, but can be highly effective.
A combination approach is sometimes ideal to improve the appearance of the back of the hands. Non-invasive and minimally invasive techniques are often combined with topical skin care regimens at Art of Skin MD to achieve the aesthetic goals of our patients in regards to aging changes of the hand.
If you are in the San Diego area and would like to discuss your hand rejuvenation treatment options, call Dr. Melanie Palm at 858.792.SKIN (7546) to schedule your appointment.
