A focus on cosmetic procedures is used in all applications in the clinic.
All excisions are treated as cosmetic procedures, with deep dissolving sutures used to minimise tension on the skin sutures, avoiding the ‘tram track’ marks that can be left by sutures that aren’t appropriately supported during healing. These deep sutures also minimise the risk of the wound stretching and tearing open.
Additional Cosmetic Procedures
Treatment of Facial Vessels
Cosmetic procedures include treatment of facial vessels using diathermy. The area is numbed using a small amount of local anesthetic for small areas of telangiectasias, or a nerve block if needed for larger, more sensitive areas such as the nose.
The treatment takes a brief period for small areas or up to twenty minutes for larger areas.
Afterwards the skin treated will have fine lines of scabbing where the vessel has been destroyed, and will heal in about a week, with some residual redness persisting in some skin types for up to several weeks. Repeat treatments may be needed for achieve optimal outcomes in some patients
Flap and Graft Procedures
Flap and graft procedures are used when required for optimal cosmetic results. This would include where a normal elliptical excision would result in excessive tension on the wound or difficulty closing the wound. Another instance would be when the normal elliptical excision would result in distortion of neighboring structures, such as the eyelid, eyebrow, nostrils or any facial structure that must remain symmetrical to preserve good cosmetic outcomes.
All wound closures are designed to put scars in anatomical skin tension lines (Langer’s lines) where possible to minimise scarring, and flaps are designed to bring skin from areas of skin laxity to areas where there is tension when closing a wound, to minimise any distortion around the scar, and /or stretch or hypertrophic scar formation.
