As a young girl, I remember watching the scene from “Gone with the Wind” where Scarlett O’Hara tries to trick Rhett Butler into believing things are going well on her plantation during the Civil War and being shocked that he could tell by the state of her hands that conditions were not as she says. Now as an adult working in cosmetic and medical dermatology, I see that hands are one of the first places where the telltale signs of aging and sun damage can be seen. Many of our patients take concerted efforts to keep their faces and necks looking youthful but often unknowingly neglect their very visible hands.

Hand aging happens for a number of reasons. Years of the sun’s UV rays causes pigmentation issues as well as dullness, spots, wrinkles and creepiness. Also, natural collagen breaks down and fatty tissue is lost resulting in a heightened appearance of veins and tendons. Luckily, we have ways at Nua Medical Spa to address these issues in order to rejuvenate aging hands.

PIGMENTATION- If pigmentation is your main concern, I generally recommend an Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatment paired sometimes with liquid nitrogen treatments. The IPL is a light treatment that has a special wavelength of visible light that targets and destroys pigment clearing our hands of superficial spots. Some of the spots that we notice on our hands are keratosis which lie on top of the skin and are caused by sun damage and genetics. Keratosis generally require liquid nitrogen treatments to slough them off. Here at Nua, I analyze your hands at consultation and often find that patients need a combination treatment for the best results. This luckily can be done on the same treatment day and offers amazing results.
IPL HANDS BEFORE AND AFTER

PIGMENT, SUN DAMAGE, PRE-CANCEROUS LESIONS- Another option for pigmentation, sun damage, and pre-cancerous lesions for the hands is a TCA chemical peel. Here at Nua, we apply a non-toxic chemical to the skin which causes the top layers of the cells to dry up and peel off exposing a fresh new layer of undamaged skin with smoother texture and even color. After a TCA peel, your skin will continue to improve for 1-2 months and many patients even see improvement with wrinkling.

TONE, TEXTURE, WRINKLING- Some patients are most bothered by the tone, texture, and wrinkling of their hands. The Fraxel Restore laser is excellent at improving this degraded tissue and stimulating collagen to replenish the skin of its youthful appearance. The laser penetrates into the dermal layer of the skin causing new collagen production which leaves the hands looking fresher and younger. Many patients find the most benefit doing a series of 3 treatments and find the results to be very long lasting.

VOLUME LOSS- Many patients are bothered by the fat and tissue loss of their hands and come in complaining of skeleton looking hands where bones and tendons are prominent. This is a problem with volume and thankfully we now have two FDA approved treatments to correct this. At Nua, we use dermal fillers such as Radiesse and Restylane Lyft. These are injected into the backs of the hands and instantly and dramatically add back volume to the areas. The filler injections are dramatic, require no downtime, and results can last for at least a year.

Katherine Loose, PA-C, NUA Medical Spa