We knowthat looking after our skin is important.
But just as you begin to make sense of what active ingredients in skincare products mean, or why retinol is considered the gold standard of anti-ageing, skin treatments and therapies enter the picture.
"It's technology married with cosmeceuticals," explains dermatologist Michelle Rodrigues,founder and director of Chroma Dermatology.
"Healthy skin is the best way to combat ageing, and acombination of therapies is often best."
So, how do you decide which treatment, or therapy, to try?
First,it can be helpful to think of any treatments as complementing what you're already doing at home.
Then, consider what your specific skin concerns are, and visita dermatologist if you have things you want to target, like hyperpigmentation.
"Because there is little to no regulation in theindustry, you need to do your research …and look at thequality of the equipment and the experience of the provider," Dr Rodrigues says.
"You also want tothink about whether you can commit to aseries of treatments and maintaining those results over time."
To get you started, we're going to take a look at some of the more common skin treatments you're likely to come across.
Chemical peels
A chemical peel involves applying various strains of chemicals to the face in a higher concentration to encourage exfoliation,through asuperficial, medium or deep peel.
The majority of peels are superficial peels, painted onthe face like a maskto regenerate your skin before being washed off.
Chemical peels are used to treat common signs of ageing like fine lines and wrinkles, as well aspigmentation and sun damage.
"They usually consist of fruit acids, including glycolic acid, citric acid and lactic acid," dermatologistDavin Lim from Lasers and Liftssays.
"For acne, you mightwant to use salicylic acid. Patients with sensitive skin, you want to use something called mandelic acid.
"For something like fine lines and wrinkles, go with lactic acid or glycolic acid."
Superficial peels areoften called lunchtime peels — they can be carried out in the lunchtime period at a salon, and have little to nodowntime.
"The recovery's immediate," Dr Lim says, unlikemedium to deep peels, which are done by adermatologist and can cause redness and flaking in your skinin the days following treatment.
"[Peels done by a dermatologist] reach 10 to 20 times deeper than the superficial peels, and most of the time they have to be done under partial sedation," he says.
"[Superficial] peels are great in the sense that the vast majority [of people]don't need medium to deep, but the flip side is that because the deep and medium peels work so well, people think all chemical peels are equal."
Your dermatologist will help you decide which level of peel is best suited for your skin, and advise you of all the risks and downtimes.
And as for whether chemical peels are a good idea to administer at home, the answer is a firm no.
"There are certain treatments that are safe at home, and effective —chemical peels are not one of them," Dr Lim says.
"It's like standing with a petrol canister next to a fire — bad things can happen."
Microdermabrasion
Microdermabrasion is a skin treatment performed without the use of chemicals, but by usinga diamond-tipped operator orsuction device to remove the outermost layer of the skin, which iscalled the stratum corneum.
This process removes dead skin cells, and increases turnover of new skin cells.
"It is a good treatment to improve dull skin and pigmentation, but it needs to be repeated every three to fourweeks, because this is the turnover of cells," Dr Lim says.
Unlike a chemical peel, there is no downtime with microdermabrasion. However, the results are not longlasting.
"It's a good instant pick-up, but the longevity isn't there," Dr Lim says.
"It's like a polishing treatment for your car – it buffs really well, but after a week, the car gets dirty. After a month, you accumulate more dead skin cells.It'sa superficial improvement."
But just because the results are superficial, doesn't mean the treatment isn't worthwhile.
"When you look at treatments, it's not always the end results that count —sometimes the feel-good factor counts too," Dr Lim says.
"Basically, it's just a really nice, relaxing, luxurious treatment, with a very good feel-good factor. Your skin feels good afterwards."
If you do want to see changes in your skin, Dr Lim says chemical peels or superficial laser treatments are a better investment.
Laser treatments
There are many kinds of laser treatments available,designed to treat a range of skin concerns from texture to tattoo removal, by beaming focused light onto the skin to repair and regenerate.
"They should all be viewed as tools in a toolbox to treat certain conditions," Dr Lim says.
"A laser is best used for a particular problem."
For example, red lasers, or vascular lasers, areused to treat broken capillaries and facial redness.
Fractional lasers — and the popular laser treatmentFraxel is a form of this — are best used to treat signs of ageing like wrinkles, pigmentation, and havea three- to five-day downtime, withpeeling and redness expected.
"It drills tiny microscopic holes with precision [to]getthe epidermis to regenerate itself," Dr Rodrigues says.
"It stimulates a whole lot of growth factors, healing properties, collagen, [and] gets everything revved up."
Superseding Fraxel, but still in the fractional laser family, is a treatment known as CoolPeel.
"It has less downtime than with Fraxel, and is goodfor anti-ageing, sun damage, fine lines wrinkles, andcertain types of acne scarring," Dr Rodrigues says.
Yet another type of treatment is a Pico laser.
"Pico laserstreat dull, pigmented skin, hormonal pigmentation and sunspots," Dr Lim says.
With so much variety, it's unsurprising laser therapies are one of the most popular treatments around.
But their success isdependent on pre-existing physical traits like hair and skin colour —for some people, laser procedures can have little impact.
So how do you decide which laser is best — if at all?
First, be clear about your skin goals, and ask lots of questions.
"My advice would be, if your skin is normal and if you're just looking for a little bit of pampering, a salon is a great place to start,"Dr Rodrigues says
"If you have skin concerns like acne, eczema, rosacea,hyperpigmentation, you're best placed to get advice from a health care provider or dermatologist.
"Diagnosis is really important— there are over 49 causes of pigmentation of the face, and each can have different treatments including lasers, so get the right diagnosis first."
Unfortunately, theregulations around who can and cannot administer laser treatments differ from state to state, ordon't exist at all.
An incorrectly performed laser session could result in blistering or burns to the skin,pigment changes and scarring, and eye protection must be worn.
The government's Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency suggests looking for any training or qualification certificates and, if applicable, licences, when choosing your provider.
"At the end of the day, it's the training of the laser operator that's most important," Dr Lim says.
"Book by reputation —if [your skin concerns] are more complex, a dermatologist will be able to help. But if you want a quick fix, or have less complex problems, they can be sorted out by a licensed therapist."
LED light therapy
Another kind of light-based treatment is LED light therapy.
LED blue lightand LED red light therapies are non-invasive treatmentsthat try to work at a cellular level to improve certain conditions.
The clincher here is "certain conditions" — LED lights can be effective, but only when used for specific reasons, and not necessarily in the form of those masks you see celebrities sporting on social media.
"There is quite a bit of literature that reports blue LED light can reduce acne when used as an additional treatment," Dr Rodrigues says.
"There is definitely evidence that blue LED works as an anti-inflammatory treatment. It can be effective for wound healing or post-Fraxel laser.
"Red light therapies are used to treat sun-damaged skin, but after a topical prescribed skin medicine is administered. The cells absorb the cream first, then the red light is shone to try and kill off those damaged cells."
LED light therapies are popular because they're quick and non-invasive, but Dr Rodrigues says there are "definitely differences" between at-home and in-clinic ones, both in terms of their power and because they are best used when paired with other treatments.
"Their true potential lies with treating sun-damaged skin when used with skin medicine, or with acne treatments as an adjunct," she says.
People at risk of hyperpigmentation and people with skin of colour should "exercise caution", as LED therapies can cause hyperpigmentation in some people.
Microneedling
Just as there are different kinds of light-based treatments, there are also different kinds of microneedling treatments.
Microneedling is as it sounds: the skin is penetrated with tinyneedles on a roller device, to rejuvenate the skin andstimulate collagen production — the component in our skin that keeps it looking plump.
Studies have shown that this treatment is useful for treating wrinkles, and to improve skin texture.
"It's also suited to certain kinds of acne scarring when paired with topical treatments," Dr Rodrigues says.
Whether your treatment is regular microneedling, radiofrequency microneedling with insulated needles, radiofrequency microneedling with non-insulated needles, or the "optional extra" vampire facial, they all have thesame goal: promoting collagen.
"Insulated needles allow for the needle to move directly to the dermis, in order to heat the surrounding collagen,"Dr Rodrigues says.
"This is best for people with skin of colour, or pigmented skin types.
"Non-insulated needles heat the dermis and the epidermis, so they are heating the entire top and through to the second layer of the skin."
A microneedling treatment shouldn't be painful — a topical numbing cream is applied to the skin at the clinic.
"Multiple treatments are needed and they should be spaced over a number of months, but you don't have to have a minimum of 10 — it could be three or six or more," Dr Rodrigues says.
"The depth of penetration of the microneedling device, the type of needle chosen, and pre- and post-treatment care, are critical to maximising the benefits and minimising the risks of the procedure."
Following a microneedling session, your skin might be red and a little swollen.
Complications like skin infections or pigmentation have been reported, but are not very common, althoughit does depend on the type of microneedling you have.
Because of the way microneedling penetratesthe skin, Dr Rodrigues says it's not be used for people with pigmentary disorders,and recommends people with skin of colour opt forinsulated needles.
And as for whether a "vampire facial" — where a little bit of your blood is drawn and massaged into the skin after microneedling —is needed, Dr Lim says most dermatologists believe it's optional.
"It's basically like saying, would you like to upsize your fries," he says.
"It doesn't actually help the treatment, but it can improve your healing times marginally."
