Getting your skin on your face, neck and chest to match.

I have some light scarring from skin pen microneedling on the neck. It’s now been a year. Is there anything that can be done to help repair the area? Can RF microneedling help? Love your website Dr. Irwin!

This really isn’t a direct answer to the above, but it brings up a good issue. How do we get our skin on our face, necks and chest to match up? We all have friends and family where maybe their facial skin is lovely, but the neck is crepey, or the chest is brown, spotted and leathery. I have a good friend, a cyclist, who’s neck is amazing at 60, good facial skin, and then has sun damage on her chest and arms. Many of us have had a sunburn on our chests at some point.

I started protecting my face in my 20s, but then didn’t get around to doing the same for the other areas until my 30s. What was I thinking?

Some ideas to consider:

• Put your sunscreen on every morning on your face, neck and chest so you don’t have to think too much about it later; unless you’re sweating, working out, out all day, etc. In which case you’ll want to reapply according to what you’re doing. That way I don’t have to think “Oh…it got hot and I changed tops. Gotta go find the sunscreen.”
• Consider using the same skincare products you use on your face on your neck and chest daily. It’s more expensive for sure, but over time it pays off. If you’re interested in this, consider using the Niacinamide+Copper Deaging Serum, then Triple Antioxidant (or CE Ferulic) under sunscreen in the morning, and the retinol over moisturizer at night.
• Many of us like a tinted sunscreen to use on the face and an untinted, or “clear”, to use on the neck and chest to not stain clothing.
• If you have short hair, pay particular attention to the sides of your neck, back of your neck and ears. Brimmed hats are great for necks, but don’t do much for chests.
• If you have a “red neck”, that’s sun damage, and you’ll need multiple IPL or VBeam treatments to get rid of it, and it may never be totally gone.
• If your chest is brown, blotchy and wrinkled, you may need a combination of IPL, Fraxel Dual, and even CO2 laser, and Scultpra (body dilution).
• Remember that topicals are best for prevention, maintenance and minor repair. They can’t repair truly saggy, blotchy sun damaged skin. For that, consult your favorite dermatologist/plastic surgeon who does lasers, devices and aesthetics.

Hope this helps,

Brandith Irwin, MD