Why are medium peels used for actinic keratoses?
Advantages include a limited recovery time of 7 to 10 days, with little postoperative erythema (reddening) after healing. Risk of pigmentary change with either hypo or hyperpigmentation is small. Thus, the patient can return to work rather quickly after healing. There is a long remission period when the patient can expect few or no actinic keratoses to recur. When is dermabrasion your treatment of choice? Dermabrasion is my primary treatment of choice for scars. For actinic keratoses and photodamaged skin, I would make chemical peels my first selection, laser resurfacing second, and dermabrasion third. For wrinkles and photodamage reaching the dermal (second) skin layer, either dermabrasion or laser resurfacing is needed. While dermabrasion improves wrinkles, the change is not as long-lasting as deep chemical peeling or laser resurfacing. This may be because heat produced by the laser has a greater thermal effect on collagen contraction and, therefore, on deep wrinkles. The degree of c
