In partnership with SA’s top medical aesthetic companies
Acne and scarring can leave long-term consequences. Luckily there are solutions for you.
Men have thicker and tougher skin than women. You have more and larger hair follicles and higher sebum production, because of higher testosterone levels. This generally makes men’s skin less sensitive, and it’s the reason why it shows signs of ageing and sun damage a lot later. Unless, that is, you abuse it through hard living or being an outdoors man without sun protection, when craggy, lined skin can become your reality. Our advice: start using sunscreen from a young age, and ease up on the late nights out.
But men don’t get off completely scot-free. The skin issues that bother you most are acne (especially during the teen years when your hormones are a bit all over the place) and consequent acne scarring – possible pitting of the skin and permanent loss of firmness and elasticity, which makes your skin looks old before its time. Understandably, the scars from this are not only physical. Acne sufferers may experience long-lasting emotional scarring, social anxiety and loss of self esteem, too. This is the reason we urge you to treat acne early in order to get the eruptions under control, before they end up causing scars. If, however, you are already scarred from previous acne, there is a lot you can do to improve your skin’s texture and reduce the appearance of the scars.
Lucky for you, these concerns can all be treated under the expert care of medical aesthetic professionals at Skin Renewal clinics.
Acne can be treated successfully with a number of different chemical peels. The medical doctor will assess your skin’s individual type and the severity of your case and decide which peel works best for you. The peel itself involves application of a chemical agent (e.g. glycolic fruit acid or salicylic acid or azelaic acid or a combination of acids) to create controlled exfoliation and stimulate regeneration of new skin. If this sounds alarming, don’t worry. Peels have been used by doctors and skin-care therapists for over 60 years because they are truly effective and, when performed by a qualified professional, they are totally safe.
You may need a series of peels to experience the full effect, but they can make a serious difference to the appearance of your skin.
Acne scarring used to be a life sentence in days gone by. Luckily for us, technology gives us solutions that can improve the appearance of both fresh and old scars. For best results, it would be ideal to have these treatments while the scars are still fresh (red and active), but there will be an improvement on old scarring, too.
Skin Renewal recommends treatment with skin-needling procedures such as Dermapen, Subcision, Mesotherapy, or the Platelet Rich Plasma facial, which is also known as the “vampire facial”.
How needling works: the targeted ‘injuries’ to the skin created by the needling stimulate the skin’s self-repair function, which destroys old, damaged tissue and replaces it with new, healthy collagen and elastin. It can be used precisely on acne scars, which are smoothed and plumped up as the new collagen is formed over time.
Six to eight treatments are needed and there’s minimal downtime, barring possible redness for a few hours after treatment.
Next week we look at the treatment options for razor bumps, skin tags and warts.
To find out more about men’s skin care regimes, visit Skin Renewal on www.skinrenewal.co.za or contact 0861 SKIN SA (754 672).