Facial Resurfacing Treatments for Photoaging May Also Help Prevent Skin Cancer (Part 1)

If you think facial resurfacing procedures are just cosmetic, think again.

Facial resurfacing techniques - treatments that improve the look and feel of skin - are popular with clients looking to treat signs of photoaging (premature aging caused by ultraviolet exposure) like wrinkles, fine lines, leatheriness, discoloration, and sagging skin. But research now shows that chemical and laser peels (as well as other techniques) similar to the ones dermatologists use to restore skin's youthful appearance may help prevent skin cancer, too.

In a recent study conducted at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Medical Center in California, facial resurfacing methods including carbon dioxide (CO2) laser resurfacing and trichloroacetic acid (TCA) peels successfully treated actinic keratosis (AK0, the most common skin precancer. These scaly or crusty growths often appear on areas of the body requently exposed to the sun, such as the face, ears, lips, bald scalp, backs of the hands and forearms, shoulders and neck. Up to 10 percent of AKs develop into squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), the second most common skin caner; in fact, many dermatologists believe that AKs are actually an early stage of SCC. Since 40-60 percent of all SCCs start as AKs, the success of these facial resurfacing techniques in treating AKs suggests that the procedures can help prevent many skin cancers.