GMA: Hand Makeovers Growing in Popularity

April 10, 2001 -- It's not enough to just get your face done to look younger these days, especially if your hands reveal your true age.

Two procedures that have been used on the face, microdermabrasion and light laser surgery, are now being used on the hands, and could soon become as popular as face lifts and tummy tucks.

Dr. Michelle Copeland, a plastic surgeon in private practice in New York who appeared on Good Morning America, says the hand-pampering procedures not only make hands healthier and better-looking, they also boost a patient's self-esteem.

Lasers Stimulate Exfoliation

If your hands are dry-looking, scaley, wrinkled, or have age or liver spots on them, perhaps because of not using sunblock, you are a good candidate for the procedures, Copeland says. Dry, cracked hands are not only unattractive — they can get infected.

Skin normally exfoliates itself, but as you get older, that process gets sluggish, and even stops. The laser stimulates the skin to exfoliate itself.

The sun induces pigmentation, and the aging process is speeded up with sun exposure, so often, those who forget to wear sunblock wind up with problem hands. The damage can't be corrected by creams alone, Copeland said. Some hydroxyacids can prevent spotting, but they don't have the effectiveness of light laser energy, which is focused directly on the pigment for removal.

One patient, Shirley Mueller, used microdermabrasion on her face, and thought her skin felt so smooth that she wanted to try it on her hands. She didn't feel they looked old, but she did feel they looked very dry.

She was always using creams to smooth her hands, and was always sensitive to how her hands needed some attention. But Mueller says she abused her hands by using them for paperwork, unpacking, and cleaning.

Skin Sanding and Lasers

For the procedure, first Copeland applied microdermabrasion, a sanding of the skin that smoothes skin off and removes irregularities. It is mild and gentle, and unlike acid peels, microdermabrasion takes the skin cells with it, so there's no flaking afterwards. She recommends four to six treatments.

For the laser peel, Copeland puts a black cream on the hands. The "soft light" laser, which is light energy, picks up the black cream, and the first layer of cells is removed with it. The thermal energy of the laser tightens the skin a little.

The light lasers are more advanced than earlier versions, which ran the risk of scarring. When the laser peel is used in combination with microdermabrasion, there's an added effect of more skin tightening and wrinkle-reducing.

Mueller noticed a difference immediately. The procedure took off the dead skin, and was like a great facial on her hands. She had a series of treatments — the dermabrasion five or six times, and the laser peel just once.

Zapping Age Spots

Another patient, Larry Linden, of Dallas, wanted to have her "age spots" taken care of. She is fair skinned, and spent too much time in the sun with her hands and skin unprotected, she says.

The versapulse laser removes the pigment of the skin on the liver spots. After the pigment flakes off, the skin underneath is red. How long it takes the spots to disappear depends on the kind of pigment in the skin. Brown pigment takes less time, while yellow/brown pigment takes more. But generally, it is gone in a few days to a week, Copeland says.

Patients often have little sores, but antibiotic ointment helps them, and the redness that is left also fades.

Costs of the procedure run a few hundred dollars per session, and insurance does not cover the procedures, Copeland says. She has had some male patients, but since men have hair on their hands, the aging is a little less visible.