Chest Sun Damage and IPL vs Peels vs Active Fx

Hi Dr. Rivkin,
I have sun damage on my chest from years of sunbathing when I was young - which I no longer do.
I also have flat white acne scars in the same area, which show up even more due to the darkness of the skin caused by sun damage.
I had one IPL treatment but did not notice even a slight improvement and it was around 500.00 to have it done.
I was told by the woman who gave me the treatment in my dermatologist's office that microderm would work just as well.
I have always been self conscious about my scars, and feel like there has to be something that will be effective on them and the sun damage.
Can you look at my album photos and advise me on the best procedure and how many I will need? Also, the estimated cost if possible.
Thank you,
Pamela

Hi Pamela,
I do not think that microdermabrasion will do much, but it certainly will not hurt and it may help over time.

There are some decent chemical peels out that may work - Vi peel is something we've been doing in the office - seems to give good results so far. It's pretty cheap - $300 or so some of the more aggressive lasers may help with the hypopigmentation - active fx is a good one. there is some downtime with these lasers, however. its expensive - about $1000 or more.

Another option is to try the IPL again on higher settings, making sure that you are not suntanned at all prior to treatment. you can pre-treat with a hydroquinone cream for 2 weeks and that should let your doc use higher settings.


http://www.westsidemedicalspa.com/IPL_photofacial.html
http://www.westsidemedicalspa.com/activefxlaser.html