McKeown Medical
167 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4SQ
Date posted — 13.08.24
Sun damage is, as the name suggests, changes to the skin due to long term exposure to the sun’s UV radiation.
And as the word ‘damage’ suggests, these are not positive changes.
These are changes to the structure and function of the skin that are initially visible in the way the skin looks and can eventually become severe enough that cancer cells start to develop.
So sun damage is a real problem, and something we should all take seriously.
If you think about the skin on a baby or a toddler and what it looks like, it’s usually quite pale, even in colour and smooth in texture.
Of course, this starts to change through the teenage years and the onset of puberty when the skin can become thicker with more sebaceous glands making the skin more oily.
But in general the skin remains relatively light in colour and smooth in texture.
The skin on the face doesn’t tend to stay that youthful dewy way for long.
By the time most people are in their 30s and 40s you can see visible changes have happened to the skin that continue to get worse into the 50s and 60s and beyond.
Almost all the changes we see to our skin as we age are the result of exposure to our environment and by far and away the biggest exposure is to the sun.
The next biggest environmental exposure is nicotine, although thankfully that is something we are seeing less and less of now.
To a much lesser extent, the changes to the skin we see are the result of environmental pollution and sugar (yes, too much sugar makes the skin look older too).
The first change that we see from sun damage is usually to the pigmentation of the skin.
The production of pigment – melanin – is the skin’s natural defence to protect our DNA from the harmful effects of the sun’s UV radiation.
This is the pigment we see when our skin looks tanned.
When we are young, most of us think a tan looks nice, which is why so many of us tan and don’t think about future consequences.
But years of over-production of melanin in our skin makes the mechanism by which we produce it become less well regulated, and so we develop patches of irregular pigmentation – often referred to as age spots, or hyperpigmentation.
The next change that you can see from chronic sun damage is to the vascular system on the face.
When the skin is exposed to the sun, blood is diverted to the skin to help defend it and restore normal function.
In the short term we see this as redness, often referred to as sunburn.
Due to chronic exposure, we eventually develop disregulated blood vessels on the face which cause patches of redness and visible dilated blood vessels, even when the acute effects of the sun have worn off.
This causes redness and thread veins.
The chronic inflammation caused by sun exposure also causes disruption to the collagen and elastin fibres in the deeper layer of the skin – the dermis – which is responsible for giving the skin its physical structure.
Healthy skin has well-organised patterns of collagen and elastin but with chronic sun exposure this becomes more hectic and chaotic.
The disruption of these structural molecules leads to changes to the texture of the skin – roughness, fine lines (rhytids) when the face moves and eventually even when the skin is at rest (static rhytids).
Over time, the elastin fibres can become so disorganised that they form visible little bumps on the skin referred to as ‘elastosis’ or ‘solar elastosis’ to indicate that it is caused by sun exposure.
Eventually the disregulation to the structure and function of the skin leads also to the formation of growths on the skin.
Sometimes these growths can be harmless, but sometimes the growths can become cancerous.
The effects of sun damage on the skin are cumulative – which means that they get worse over time.
I often hear patients tell me that they can’t have sun damage because they wear SPF every day and yet when I look at their skin they have plenty of signs of sun damage.
That’s because they may well take care of their skin now, but they didn’t when they were younger and it’s catching up with them now!
1 / 3
2 / 3
3 / 3
Jowls are one of the most common complaints that our patients come with - and so many of you want to avoid surgery, for a variety of very personal reasons.
So just what can we do for jowls without surgery? This!!!
Thank you so much to this patient for allowing us to share the results of her volumetric facelift. The volumetric facelift involves restoring volume to areas of the face that have lost volume as part of the ageing process - typically the cheeks, chin and jawline - which can really help to rejuvenate the face, especially reducing the appearance of jowls.
The patient is over the moon with this result. What do you think?
Varicose veins and thread veins might sound similar, but they’re actually quite different. Here`s Dr Alex, our vascular surgeon explaining the difference.
Varicose veins are larger, swollen veins that sit just beneath the surface of the skin. They often appear on the legs or feet and can cause discomfort, pain or a heavy, aching sensation.
Varicose veins and thread veins might sound similar, but they’re actually quite different.
Varicose veins are larger, swollen veins that sit just beneath the surface of the skin. They often appear on the legs or feet and can cause discomfort, pain or a heavy, aching sensation.
Thread veins, sometimes called spider veins, are much smaller. They appear as red, blue or purple web-like lines on the surface of the skin and are usually painless. You’ll often see them on the legs or face.
We can treat both types of veins. If you’re not sure what’s right for you, get in touch and we’ll be happy to talk it through.
Learn more about varicose veins and how we can help at the link in our profile.
Varicose veins and thread veins might sound similar, but they’re actually quite different. Here`s Dr Alex, our vascular surgeon explaining the difference.
Varicose veins are larger, swollen veins that sit just beneath the surface of the skin. They often appear on the legs or feet and can cause discomfort, pain or a heavy, aching sensation.
Thread veins, sometimes called spider veins, are much smaller. They appear as red, blue or purple web-like lines on the surface of the skin and are usually painless. You’ll often see them on the legs or face.
We can treat both types of veins. If you’re not sure what’s right for you, get in touch and we’ll be happy to talk it through.
Heavy periods can be more than just an inconvenience. They can cause anaemia, fatigue and have a real impact on your quality of life.
In this video, Dr Iain Martin @driainmartin martin explains the different treatment options available, from iron supplements and hormone therapy to ultrasound scans to check for fibroids or polyps.
If no clear cause is found and you`re not planning any more pregnancies, we offer treatment with the NovaSure® endometrial ablation device. It is a quick, minimally invasive procedure that can significantly reduce or stop bleeding altogether.
If heavy bleeding is something you’ve been putting up with, it might be time to explore your options.
Find out more about your treatment options at the link in our profile.
Another new exciting development in aesthetic medicine! The blockbuster drug Botox now has a license for treating the ageing neck.
The treatment works by relaxing the muscle in the neck, which improves the jawline and neck. Variations of this treatment have been around for a long time on an ‘off label’ basis. I’ve always been a little underwhelmed by this, but in the trials for approval they used higher doses than we typically used in the past and managed to achieve more consistent results.
The neck is an area that has a lot of anatomical variation, so the best treatment for each individual will vary. This is probably best for people with skinnier necks. If you have a bit of excess fatty tissue, then a treatment like CoolSculpting might be best or if you have loose skin then some Halo laser might be the option.
As always the way to find the best option for your concerns is a consultation with an experienced doctor!
This lovely patient is just three weeks on from her deep plane facelift, neck lift and upper blepharoplasty performed by @bramhallplasticsurgery and she’s been kind enough to share her own selfies to show how things are settling.
She also had full laser resurfacing with Dr Darren three months ago to improve deeper skin creases and texture, helping to enhance the overall result.
It’s still early days in her recovery, but you can already see the impact of combining surgical lifting with skin rejuvenation: a beautifully refreshed look and she`s absolutely delighted!
What do you think?
Find out more about the full facelift at the link in our profile.
Relfydess is the newest toxin on the market and we have been working hard in the clinic to test the claims of the manufacturer. Is it really as good as they claim?
This patient kindly allowed us to test the difference with her: she had Relfydess on the left side of her face and her usual Botox on the right, to compare how the two treatments performed. These photos were taken three weeks after treatment.
The Relfydess kicked in a day or two faster. However, what is really interesting is that on the side we treated with Reflydess she got a good result that didn`t need a top-up, whilst the other side did need a top-up, which you can see in these photos.
I will keep posting more updates as we find them about this new product!
I’ve been treating patients with Relfydess for the past few weeks now, and I was really curious to know how they were getting on. So, we reached out to the first 97 people who had the treatment and asked them how it felt, how quickly it worked, and whether they’d do it again.
In this video, I’m sharing what they told me – and a bit of my own perspective on how it’s shaping up compared to the other wrinkle treatments we have available. It’s still early days, but the feedback so far has been really interesting!
As we approach the summer holidays and get into the middle of wedding season, filler season is well under way! Thank you to this lovely patient for allowing us to share her results following a volumetric facelift, all performed with injections of dermal filler.
Her main concern was the development of jowls and the way it was starting to affect the shape of her lower face. By carefully restoring volume in the right areas, we were able to subtly lift and contour creating a more defined jawline while keeping everything natural and in harmony with the rest of her features.
This is a few weeks post-treatment and she`s absolutely over the moon. What do you think?
Find out more about our volumetric facelift treatment at the link in our profile.
Thank you to our lovely patient for allowing us to share these photos with you.
She came to see us with prominent varicose veins that had been bothering her for years. Just 8 weeks after treatment with VenaSeal™, you can already see a noticeable difference and the results will continue to improve as the treated veins fade further over the months ahead.
VenaSeal™ is a walk-in, walk-out treatment that uses medical adhesive to close the affected veins. No surgery, no compression stockings, and no downtime which made it the ideal option for this patient.
We’re so pleased with how things are progressing already. More to come as her results continue to develop.
Find out more about VenaSeal™ and our other treatment options for varicose veins at the link in our profile.