Hi-Tech and Lo-Tech Treatment Options for Top 3 Skin Blemish Problems
With summer just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about your skin.
— -- With summer quickly approaching, Valerie Monroe, the beauty director of O magazine, says it’s a good time to start thinking about your skin, as it becomes more exposed to the sun's harmful effects.
“In the winter you're covering up with scarves and jackets and hats and hoods and gloves, and in the summer it all comes off, and then suddenly there you are exposed,” she said.
Monroe talked to “GMA” about the professional and home treatment options for the top three body blemishes that plague everyone: Visible veins, stretch marks and chest discoloration.
Visible Veins
Hi-tech: Sclerotherapy, a process through which a dermatologist will inject the veins "with a detergent, which will collapse them,” Monroe said.
Lo-tech: Drugstore body bronzer. “"You can just cover them again with a self-tanner, or with a wash-off body makeup,” she added.
Stretch Marks
Hi-tech: Laser treatments that can cost upwards of $1,000 per treatment.
Lo-tech:: Over-the-counter retinol. Use it on red stretch marks consistently and “you'll be able to see a difference ultimately in several months,” Monroe said.
Chest Discoloration
Hi-tech: Laser treatments at about $1,500 per session.
Lo-tech: Drugstore creams containing niacinamide. One such cream costs only $9. "You need to use it every day, and over time it will diminish the dark spots,” Monroe said.
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