We’re taking better care of our facial skin these days, which is great, but it’s spawned kind of an unnatural look, where a youthful face is paired with a neck and chest that show the signs of sun damage and premature aging.
Devoting some of your energy to that highly-visible part of your body, which is otherwise referred to as the décolletage (everything sounds better in French, right?), will eliminate the striking contrast and focus the attention on your glowing appearance.
Like the face, the best course of treatment for the décolletage is comprised of few different in-office treatments, each meant to target specific concerns.
So long dark spots
Dark spots become much more numerous and pronounced on the chest after years of sun exposure. An intense pulsed light (IPL) breaks up the pigment so that it can be absorbed by the body. It’s also effective for treating broken blood vessels.
Generally, people undergo a series of three to six IPL treatments, which are spaced about a month apart.
Halo is another option. It’s the first fractioned laser that combines both ablative and nonablative technology. In other words, it targets the epidermis and dermis layers of the skin, enabling it to minimize the appearance of pore size and cut down on dark spots.
What lines?
Injectable dermal fillers, like Sculptra Aesthetic, can plump the skin, minimizing and, often, even eliminating those vexing fine lines. It was approved by the FDA in 2014 for treating wrinkles on the face, but it has a number of off-label applications, too, including correcting chest, elbow, and knee wrinkles.
Sculptra’s main ingredient is poly-L-lactic acid, a collagen stimulator that creates natural-looking results that can last up to a couple of years. It’s not uncommon to see results after a treatment, but they typically take a few months to fully develop.
The contours of a young woman
The treatment for loose neck skin depends on the severity of the sagging. For those on the mild end of the spectrum, there’s Ultherapy, an ultrasound therapy which triggers a healing response that creates more collagen. In turn, the skin tightens and lifts gradually.
For those with very loose skin, there are minimally-invasive variations of the facelift that specifically target the neck.
What I’ve described here, essentially, is an investment of a few months for a return of 10 or even 20 years. It sounds almost too good to be true, I know. But it is.