What ages skin?
For many women, heredity or environmental factors (think pollution in urban areas) will determine how your skin ages. However, there are steps you can take to help keep the aging process from taking its toll on your skin. "Sun exposure is probably the number one preventable cause of skin aging." says Dr. Wu. "Patients often complain of age spots on their face or hands, but I point out that the smooth skin on their buttocks or under their arm is the same age. The only difference is the amount of sun exposure."

Solution: The innovative science behind Portrait Plasma skin regeneration allows it to regenerate collagen and elastin - the key conponents present in healthy, youthful skin. Portrait works to simultaneously brighten, slightly tighten and improve skin tone while smoothing fine lines, eliminating discoloration and improving skin laxity. During the 20 to 30 minute procedure, nitrogen plasma energy is transferred to the skin via a hand-held device, where it goes to work by destroying damaged collagen and elastin deep within the skin's layers so it can be replaced with new, healthy collagen and elastin as the skin heals. You may feel a warming sensation, as Portrait creates a thermal response in the skin. Expect little downtime and on going improvement, since Portrait is designed to continually regnerate skin for up to a year.

At this time, Portrait is the only available plasma resurfacing procedure, and it utilizes pulses of nitrogen to resurface the skin. Treatment can range from a single high-energy session to multiple low-energy sessions, depending on the extent of your sun damage, the overall state of your skin and your goals. Portrait leaves the surface of the skin intact after treatment (so there's no raw skin to contend with), acting like a protective dressing before it begins to slough off about three days after treatment. It can take up to 10 days to recover from one high-energy treatment, and results continue to improve for upward of a year.