Make Hands More Youthful Looking, Instantly

When it comes to aging, everyone thinks about the face and neck, but one of the surest ways to reveal your age: your hands. The skin on the back of hands is extremely thin and can lose volume over time. As they lose volume, the bones of the hand and veins become more prominent—both of which age you. But hand rejuvenation, which I offer in my practice, is a non-invasive way to turn back time and make hands more youthful looking, instantly.

As a board-certified plastic surgeon, many people—both women and men—come in to see me about hand rejuvenation. The most common problems they’re concerned about: thinning skin on the back of the hands; visible veins that protrude, hyperpigmentation spots (also called sun spots or age spots), and loss of elasticity that can trigger a crepey texture and sagging skin.

What I tell my patients: The latest hand rejuvenation techniques are simple, non-invasive procedures with little to no downtime. And, what’s more, these techniques can make hands look more youthful, instantly.

There are two effective hand rejuvenation techniques I offer to my patients; these correct the most common problems men and women have with their hands:

To correct skin tone and texture, I recommend a retinol mixed with a hand cream on a daily basis. Consistent use of this at night can help prevent and/or improve the fine lines that develop on the skin of the hands, another telltale sign of age. I also perform chemical peels on the back of the hands. Chemical peels, including light trichloracetic acid or TCA peels, slough off the outermost dead-skin layer of the epidermis, or top layer of the skin, and—in some cases—can also reach the deeper layer of skin, or dermis.

As with the face, chemical peels can remove pigmentation like brown spots, making the skin more even toned. Chemical peels can also improve the texture of skin by boosting, over time, the production of skin-firming collagen. This increase in collagen can help firm fine lines and wrinkles over the long term.

Chemical peels can be done in office with no side effects (other than a slight, temporary redness), so patients can return to work immediately. But it’s important to wear daily sunscreen on the backs of your hands—and reapply after every hand washing—particularly after using retinol products or having a chemical peel done (both of which can make the skin sun sensitive); otherwise, the brown spots (which are triggered by exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays) will quickly return.

When it comes to sunscreens, I prefer sunscreens that are water resistant. I recommend the Colorescience Sunforgettables SPF 50 sunscreen. This mineral-based powder sunscreen is water resistant and stays on longer than most other sunscreens. It comes in several shades, so it blends with your skin tone, looking very natural.

To hide prominent veins and add youthful volume to the hands, I recommend injectable fillers like Juvéderm and Radiesse to my patients. These fillers help to restore the volume, camouflaging the veins.

• Juvéderm is a smooth injectable gel made of hyaluronic acid, a natural component of the skin that gets depleted over time. When injected into the hollow spaces between veins, Juvéderm can add natural-looking volume and smooth out skin. Though Juvéderm itself tends to last about six months, Juvéderm has been shown to boost collagen production in the skin—which keeps skin youthful looking longer.

• Radiesse is a long-lasting wrinkle filler—already in use for the face—that has been recently approved by the FDA as the first injectable for hand rejuvenation.

Radiesse is composed of microscopic calcium spheres in a water-based gel. When injected into the hand around prominent veins, it fills out the contours of the hand—adding volume and instantly smoothing the skin, making it more youthful looking.

Over time, the Radiesse stimulates the body’s own collagen production. This provides long-term volumizing results. (Radiesse has been shown to last up to seven years, though with the collagen-boosting effect, patients may see results longer than that. Every patient, however, is different and will get different results.)

Because Radiesse contains lidocaine, an anesthetic that reduces pain, injection pain is reduced. Potential side effects include temporary redness and swelling at the injection sites.

Juvéderm and Radiesse are safe, effective non-surgical volumizing treatments for thinning skin on the backs of hands.

Results with Juvéderm and Radiesse are instantaneous. I typically recommend that patients have a chemical peel first to improve skin tone and texture, followed by an injectable filler.

With these simple, in-office hand rejuvenation techniques, women and men can have more youthful-looking hands instantly.

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