BoomerGirl Diary

I know that headline reads like an ad for a product in the back of a cheap magazine, but there actually is a proven way to restore youthful firmness to sagging skin on the arms, legs and abdomen.

Now I sound like an infomercial!

But if you're like me, as swimsuit time draws near you start to look at those areas with a more apprising eye and until recently there wasn't much you could do to improve matters.

So what's changed? Laser technology is exploding.

You may remember that last November I had my face resurfaced by an ActiveFX lazer, one of the newest and most powerful ones on the market. The results were extraordinary, and for the first time in my life I have porcelain-like skin.

There are now a number of so called skin-tightening systems on the market. However, the gold standard is a combination treatment using Infrared Skin Tightening followed by Fractional Skin Resurfacing and can be applied to any part of the body. Before you say WHAT? I'll try to explain in less technical terms.

Infrared light has been proven to tighten loose or wrinkled skin by causing immediate collagen contraction and long-term collagen stimulation. As a result, skin tightens and fine lines and wrinkles even disappear over time. Infrared Skin Tightening treats the deepest layer of skin 1-3 mm beneath the surface. There is no downtime, and the recovery is immediate.

Fractional Skin Resurfacing uses a nonablative (non damaging) fractional laser to deliver energy to the upper and middle areas of the skin, stimulating collagen production in these layers and creating a smooth even toned and even textured surface. When used together, all three layers of the skin are treated and there is virtually no discomfort.

Dr. Scott Wells, a plastic surgeon in New York City and Great Neck, N.Y., who has pioneered this groundbreaking method of treating damaged skin, calls it Skin Refabrication. It is especially effective when used in conjunction with liposuction.

Many women, while delighted to have the fat removed, are sometimes less than happy with the sagging skin that they're often left with. The results when the two procedures are used together is nothing less than amazing. This is also the solution for those who are not overweight but whose skin, in spite of hours spent at the gym, has that less-than-firm look or whose slack belly skin announces their motherhood. It is recommended that four treatments be administered in a series of one a month.

Most amazing of all is that this even works on areas for which it was once believed nothing could help, such as knees and elbows.