You may think of wrinkles as an inevitable part of aging. However, wrinkles are both preventable and treatable. Dr. Zena Gabriel and her team at ZENA Medical can help each individual develop a plan to restore and preserve youthful-looking skin.
Wrinkles can be defined as a crease in the skin deeper than the epidermis. Dynamic wrinkles appear when your facial muscles contract to create facial expression lines. This muscle contraction creates creases in the overlying skin in areas such as crow’s feet (around the eyes) and the frown lines ( between the eyebrows) also known as the glabellar lines. These wrinkles may only appear during facial motions initially, but they can become permanent over time.
Wrinkles in the skin not caused by movement are called “static wrinkles”. These develop over years of sun exposure and other environmental factors. These wrinkles are best avoided by taking steps such as using sunscreen daily, not smoking, and using medical-grade skincare.
These injectable treatments include Botox®, Xeomin®, and Dysport®. They all work by preventing muscle contraction. As a result, dynamic wrinkles are prevented from becoming permanent ones. The results from Neuromodulators only last 2-3 months, depending on the product and your response. An experienced injector can create a relaxed, natural, and never “frozen” appearance.
Deep laser resurfacing with a CO2 or erbium laser penetrates the epidermis to treat wrinkles and other textural abnormalities. Lighter lasers like Fraxel® or ULTRA™ do not penetrate as deeply into the skin, but a series of treatments can be highly effective in treating static wrinkles. These treatments trigger new collagen production to improve the skin’s smoothness and texture and erase lines.
Chemical Peels
Chemical peels such as phenol or croton peels can improve the appearance of wrinkles. Wrinkles are deep; deeper than brown spots. Deep peels penetrate below the surface, deeply into the skin, to smooth lines, wrinkles, and textural issues. Like deep lasers, these powerful peels have the potential to scar, so only trust your care to an experienced dermatologist like Dr. Zena Gabriel.
You can prevent wrinkles by preventing sun exposure with sunscreen, preserving collagen through the daily use of medical-grade skincare and increasing skin cell production with retinol. Retinols are prescription creams that exfoliate your skin and increase collagen production to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Early studies of tretinoin (retinol) have shown that it can reduce eyelid wrinkles by up to 40% over a year of use. Dr. Zena and her skincare specialists recommend medical-grade skincare for wrinkle prevention.
However, all dermatologists agree that daily sunscreen and protection from UV exposure are the most effective ways to prevent wrinkles and many other types of skin damage. Prevention can begin at any age, so it’s never too late to prevent wrinkles from worsening. Your team at ZENA Medical will help you develop a skincare routine that prevents and even helps reverse the damage from sun exposure.
