Hand Rejuvenation | Dr Dheeraj Bhar, Cosmetic & Aesthetic Surgeon, London

While most people regularly use anti-aging skin care products and sunscreen on their face, they neglect other areas like the neck, chest and hands.

Is Hand Rejuvenation For You?

Because our hands receive so much exposure, it is one of the first places to start showing visible signs of aging. Natural aging, and exposure to sunlight, causes this appearance.

The more common visible signs of aging include darkened spots (a.k.a. “age spots”) and precancerous growths. A loss of fatty tissue also occurs, making our hands look bony.

Hand rejuvenation treatments can help restore the hands to a more youthful appearance. Various treatment options are available, so one treatment or a combination can be used to help achieve a look you may desire. If you are looking to enhance the appearance of your hands, you will be an ideal candidate if you are looking into:

Enhancing appearance and boosting self-confidence.
Becoming less self-conscious about appearance.
Achieving smoother looking skin.
Regaining a more youthful look.

The Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® Journal, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), published a study in the past discussing the importance of hand rejuvenation. According to the study, most people can accurately tell a person’s age by viewing only their hands as it is the second most visible, tell-tale sign of one’s age.

In the study, people examined photographs of female hands and were asked to estimate the women’s ages, i.e., younger than 20 years, 20 to 30 years, 30 to 40 years, etc. In the majority of cases, participants were able to accurately estimate the age of each woman in the photographs.

Overall, the physical characteristic which most commonly gave away age was prominent hand veins. Other characteristics associated with older looking hands include thin skin, age spots, wrinkles, deformity, blemishes and prominent joints.

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What to Expect

Two issues need to be addressed for hand rejuvenation. The first is the skin appearance. Brown spots, red spots, broken capillaries, crepey skin, and wrinkles need to be smoothed using resurfacing procedures along with the regular application of skin care products. Secondly, the visibility of the underlying tendons, vessels and joints (skeletonization) needs to be minimized.

Injecting fillers under the skin surface hides these structures, while thickening the overlying skin. Prominent veins can be treated with sclerotherapy, lasers, or direct excision.

Skin Resurfacing - A routine skin care program is an important part of hand rejuvenation. The products that you use regularly on your face can and should be used on your hands. Sunscreen is essential.

Light chemical peels of glycolic acid or transchloroacetic acid in low concentration can be used to improve discolorations. Multiple treatments are usually required. Hand skin is different than facial skin, lacking sebaceous glands that are the source of new skin cells. Therefore, hand resurfacing treatments need to be conservative to avoid scarring. Multiple sessions are usually required for desired results.

Lasers and other thermal resurfacing treatments such as Fraxel, Carbon Dioxide laser, IPL and Thermage can be used, but at lower settings than typically used for the face. So again, multiple treatments are usually required for desired results.

Treatments For Skeletonization: Visible Veins, Tendons, And Joints

Various injectable fillers can be placed under the skin of the dorsum of the hands to hide vessels and tendons, while thickening the skin. RADIESSE works well in this area, as it spreads evenly and results are immediate, lasting about 9 months. Injections in this area are relatively painless and there is little to no downtime. RADIESSE not only adds immediate volume, but it is also stimulatory so it tends to thicken the skin.

Hyaluronic acid products such as Juvederm and Restylane can also be used in this area.

Fat transfer to the hands is another option, but is more invasive with more risk and downtime. Usually the abdomen or thigh is liposuctioned to obtain fat, which is then injected to fill the dorsum of the hands. Because the skin here is very thin, contour irregularities or imperfections in the fatty tissue layer are perceived if it is not precisely performed. Results are very operator dependent. In addition, the results can be unpredictable as a portion of the injected fat can get reabsorbed. Over correction or lumpiness is very difficult to correct.

Vein prominence is usually treated with lasers or sclerotherapy. Certain skin lasers are useful for treating tiny spider veins. Other lasers can be directed inside larger veins for eradication. Lasers can be used in conjunction with sclerotherapy. Sclerotherapy involves injecting a solution (sclerosant) directly into the veins. The solution causes damage to the vein causing it to collapse.

Harley Street Surgery of London has been on the forefront of medical innovation. We continuously offer patients the most cutting edge techniques in medical treatment. If you would like to learn more about how your skin could benefit from this treatment, please contact our office for a private consultation appointment.