Psychology & Me

In May, I had the opportunity to attend my husband’s national meeting of the Association of Psychological Science. When Roger decided in his mid life to go back to school for a PhD in Psychology, we had fun teasing him about it not being a “real” science. This was, of course, ignoring several weeks where he was immersed in the anatomy, physiology and chemistry of the brain and learning a lot more information than was available during my med school days. There were many studies presented at this conference and not only do they use a complex descriptive language, they have many more variables to control in these studies. It was fascinating but I still haven’t found the answer as to why many of us are so self critical of our appearance. It is true that as females we grow up surrounded with the focus of beauty and fashion. As a physician, I wish we grew up with the focus on health and the value of who we are as “a person”. I know this is unusual for a doc who enjoys providing aesthetic “treats” for people but I sometimes wish I could nurture the self awareness and joy of discovering the person who exists under that skin.

What's New in Cosmetic Dermatology?

What’s new in cosmetic dermatology? Chemical peels are being rediscovered. I was first introduced into this area in the late 80’s when alpha hydroxys were discussed by Doctors Van Scott, Yu, and Dietre at our dermatology conferences. Glycolic and Salicylic acids helped sun damaged and acne prone skin without the significant downtime needed for the medium and deep peels. Lasers then pushed to the forefront but now chemical peels are coming back with exciting new combo variations which include some of our deep peel chemicals (phenol, trichlorectic) but in much lower strengths. While there is peeling that occurs after the peel, it is much more superficial (like a mild sunburn) and can be timed to coordinate with a person’s social schedule. The key here is to do a series of 4-6 treatments, 2-4 weeks apart and to be on a good home care program to maintain the improvement. I think the boomer generation is finally understanding that our years of fun in the sun took a toll on our skin. The chemical peel is our “resurfacing” tool and is much easier than redoing grandmother’s dresser. Check out Young Pharmaceutical’s Gloss peel and Melanage peel, Caleel’s VI peel, SkinCeuticals Pigment Balancing peel, Skin Medica’s Rejuvenize peel, Envy Medical’s SilkPeel and the new kid on the block, Ascend Pharma’s Apeele peel.

Dr. Ann