Smokers have a difficult problem with aesthetic concerns besides the well known health issues. Constant smoke exposure causes an accelerated aging process damaging the skin’s cell and collagen structure.  Smoking also causes microcirculation arteries to constrict limiting the flow of nutrition and oxygen to the skin as well.  This increases the risk of complications with any aesthetic procedure both non-invasive and especially so for surgery.

A high school friend via our wonderful social media on Facebook inquired; “for people who smoked for years…..what is the current solution to the lines? 

My response was below based on a minimally invasive program.

Hello _____,  for long term smokers there is still hope. Obviously the first step is to stop smoking. Otherwise the patient is wasting their time and money.

One should start with an exfoliating facial skin peel. This is followed by a daily skin care line initially for exfoliation/repair such as Obagi products then an antioxidant line with Vitamin C, etc. http://laserandvein.com/skincareproducts.php.

Depending on the degree of skin damage Fraxel – fractional laser resurfacing will soften many of the fine lines.http://laserandvein.com/fraxel.php. This is peformed sequentially over 4 treatments to avoid downtime. (In the past full thickness laser resurfacing was the only hope.)

Directly one can inject traditional fillers such as Restylane (http://laserandvein.com/wrinklereduction.php) but the Selphyl platelel rich plasma is very exciting as it has the potential for cellular reparative properties. This is ideal in a previous smoker’s skin. Lastly facial fat grafting would be the ultimate final step in the rejuvenation process (http://laserandvein.com/facialgrafting.php). I hope this helps!