Rejuvenate Your Hands: Solutions for Younger-Looking Skin & Nails

Get Younger-looking Hands

Get Younger-looking Hands

A kiss on the hand may be quite continental...unless you're embarrassed by your brittle nails, cracked skin and wrinkled bony knuckles.

Maybe you can hide them at business meetings and in dark restaurants but if you make a champagne toast, hold hands on a date or sign a credit card transaction...there is no hiding. People take a good long at your hands.

What do they see? Are they youthful, moist and touchable? Or are they brittle, scaly and cracked? Here are some new secrets to beautify those hands so you can begin to wave them with pride.

According to Dr. Roberta Palestine, who completed her residency in dermatology at the Mayo Clinic, your nails get more brittle as you get older. They suffer more in winter too, so now is a great time to pay them some attention.

Here's what you should do:

• Protect and defend your nails. When you rummage into your purse, empty dishwashers, hammer a wall...you ruin your nails. If you forget your sunscreen or wash your hands too much, you're in for more trouble. "Make sure your general health is good, first," says Palestine, "by getting a complete physical exam with blood tests." Poor nails can sometimes be a symptom of internal ailments.
• Balance your diet. You need enough protein for good hair and nails. "Drastic low-calorie diets or protein in short supply will cause the body to divert resources to more vital areas and your nails will suffer," explains Dr. Palestine.
• Moisturize the cuticles. "Cuticles provide the protective barrier that prevents yeast, bacteria and fungus from starting infections," explains Palestine.
• Be careful with artificial nails. They can invite infection - and cause permanent damage - if you keep them on too long. Be sure to inspect the nail bed routinely for infection.
• Go easy on polish changes."Manicures help for appearance," says Palestine, "but always ask what the sterilization routine is, even in an upscale salon." If there is any doubt, politely get up and leave.

So many women spend all their resources and attention on their face and neglect their hands.

With time, the skin on your hands develops wrinkles, becomes discolored and loses its elasticity. After 40 you begin to see this accelerate each year.

Reversing Damage to Your Hands

But now you can actually remove the damage from age and sun. Dr. Palestine is seeing mostly women patients, 40 and over, take advantage of new chemical peel treatments - for the hands.

These peels can actually remove the damage caused by aging and, if you use sun protection, the youthful results should be long lasting.

Hand Treatments Worth Considering

Individual brown spots or "liver spots" on the hands from age or sun respond well to the Diolite laser and body peels. Your dermatologist can assess whether you need both or a combination of these treatments.

Laser Resurfacing for Hands

For very sun-damaged and aged skin, consider microdermabrasion or laser resurfacing. This is a mini sand-blaster that polishes the skin surface painlessly. According to Palestine, "The skin may appear slightly flushed or wind burned for a few hours and usually you need several treatment sessions."

Laser resurfacing has been revolutionized by the Erbium laser. (Erbium is the type of wavelength used.) This delivers "dramatic rejuvenation" but requires more down time.

"Discolorations and wrinkles are removed or greatly improved and the skin is tighter and smoother," says Palestine. Expect a local anesthetic and then reddish hands for a week, pinkish hands for a month.

The Body Peel

For fast healing, the body peel is probably the most appealing option. This is a special chemical peel for non-facial skin, usually used on hands, neck and chest.

"Expect pink and scaly skin for a few hours to a few days, requiring moisturizer and sun protection but not the raw-red aftereffect of laser," says Palestine.

Lipo-injection for Hands

Remember starring at your grandmother's hands when you were very young? If your hands have that bony, veiny appearance, as you get older, consider lipo-injection. Yes. Fat transplants.

"We can move fat from the hips, buttocks or other areas by a minor procedure under local anesthetic. The skin of the hand is numbed and the fat is injected beneath the skin for an instantaneous improvement. Any mild bruising or swelling at the tiny injection sites subsides within a few days," explains Palestine.

Dr. Palestine starts injecting the fat at the wrist and then manipulates and massages it to fill the hollows of the hand.

Moisturizing and Sun Protection for Hands

Keep a tube of moisturizer in your purse, in your car, in your home, at work. It's a wonderful ritual to stop for a moment to nurture your hands. Moisturizing will pay off for a long, long time.

Start with products in drug stores or department stores that have the weaker strength ingredients and then move up to the products from dermatologist offices, with higher strengths.

Look for new skin rejuvenation creams designed for aging hands. These use stronger ingredients than department-store moisturizers and are distributed only through dermatologist offices.

Now go love those fingers, wrists, nails and palms. Make a special effort this month. Soon you will show off your hands and nails instead of hide them.