|
Manual Dermasanding - Facial Resurfacing
The idea of abrading skin to improve appearance is nothing new. Dermabrasion, a surgical skin planing technique using a high-speed rotary abrasive instrument, has enjoyed popularity for more than fifty years. More recently, however, manual dermasanding or gentle skin "buffing," with or without the addition of a mild chemical peeling agent, has in many instances replaced the earlier rotary abrasive method for treating a wide variety of scars, wrinkles, and complexion and pigment problems. The sanding action improves contour irregularities when a new layer of skin replaces the abraded skin. The result is a smoother, fresher, and more lustrous appearance.
Manual buffing has proven especially useful for treating the delicate skin around the eyes, nose and lips, areas much more difficult to treat with conventional high-speed rotary dermabrasion. There is also no blood splatter, which is typical of the latter procedure, significantly reducing the concern about possible spread of HIV and hepatitis infections. Buf-peels should not be confused with microdermabrasion, which is a much more superficial form of skin sanding. Although far less expensive than laser resurfacing, and with a generally shorter recuperation time, buf-peels can offer a reasonable alternative and often yield results that can be equally gratifying.
Uses of Buf-Peels
When dermabrasion was first developed, it was used predominantly to improve acne scars, pock marks, and scars resulting from accidents or disease. Today, skin sanding methods are routinely used to treat tattoos, age (liver) spots, wrinkles, "frown" and "worry" lines, as well as certain other types of skin lesions.
As with other resurfacing techniques, conditions for which dermasanding would not be effective include the presence of congenital skin defects, certain types of moles or pigmented birthmarks, and scars from burns.
|
|
