Acne & Vein Treatment

For children, teens, and adults the effects of blemished skin aren’t just physical. Avoid embarrassment and increase your self-confidence without worrying about your appearance.

A consultation and skin evaluation with Dr. Desjarlais is the first step to treating and clearing your acne concerns. During your appointment, Dr. Desjarlais will evaluate your acne condition to establish a specific and effective diagnosis, define and eliminate potential flare factors, and explain the appropriate treatment.


What is Acne?
The acne blemishes you see today formed several weeks ago. Deep within your pores, sebaceous glands produce sebum, an oil designed to hydrate your skin and keep it supple. As skin is constantly renewing itself, old skin cells die and mix with your skin’s natural oils. 

Normally, these dead skin cells shed to reveal fresh, new skin but for some the cells shed unevenly and clump together to form a plug, or comedo. This traps oil and bacteria inside the follicle, causing it to swell. Your body responds by attacking the bacteria with white blood cells and a few weeks later, a pimple pops out. Acne ranges from mild flare ups (blackheads and whiteheads) to moderate (fluid-filled bumps) to severe, cystic breakouts. In many cases, several or all of these forms of acne can be present at one time.


How to Treat Acne
We have a number of different therapies to treat acne:

Topical acne treatments include cleansers to remove excessive surface skin oil; retinoids to unblock plugs from within the follicle; and benzoyl peroxides and antibiotics to suppress bacterial overgrowth and inflammatory activity in the oil glands. Oral acne treatments consist of various antibiotics and hormonal preparations, including oral contraceptives and Accutane.

Chemical Peels are especially effective in penetrating the skin to unclog pores and improve acne, skin texture and discoloration. All peels can be adjusted to your skin type and condition, making them extremely customizable. While patients see improvement with one treatment, up to six treatments may be necessary.

Laser Therapy with the FotoFacial Clear (in Cosmetic Dermatology) utilizes low energy laser light technology to fight acne deep within the pore to kill bacteria. A 3-step treatment program using the FotoFacial Clear can clear acne and acne scarring without the use of drugs or medication.

Treating Spider Veins

Spider veins, or telangiectasias, affect as many as 80 percent of all women as they age, and a large percentage of men, too. Causes are typically genetic but may also include pregnancy, childbirth, use of birth-control pills, estrogen-replacement, previous injury and use of corticosteroids.


What are Spider Veins?
Leg “spider veins” appear as wavy, thin, reddish-purple lines. They often cluster on thighs or below knees. Although spider veins don’t usually present a medical problem, they’re no fun when it comes to wearing a bathing suit or pair of shorts.


How to Treat Spider Veins
Sclerotherapy treatment, a well-proven procedure used since the 1930s, involves an injection of sotradecol with a very fine needle directly into the spider vein. The solution irritates the vessel’s lining so it to swells and sticks together, causing the blood to clot. Over time, the vessel turns into scar tissue and fades from view. Spider veins typically respond to sclerotherapy within three to six weeks.

The number of veins injected during one session varies, depending on the vein’s size and location, and the patient’s overall medical condition. Repeated treatments are typical, and patients experience 75 to 80 percent improvement upon completion of all treatments.

During this process, treatment areas often look worse before they look better. Mild bruising is common, and some swelling may also occur, particularly if a large number of vessels around the feet and ankles are treated. Tiny vessels (telangiectatic matting) or blush areas may also appear at the perimeter of the treated area and persist for several weeks. In rare cases, they become permanent. Brown streaks may appear, but this pigment usually goes away and can darken with sunlight. Therefore, patients should stay out of the sun while undergoing treatment. Infrequently, small ulcers occur, but scarring is extremely rare.

Unlike in stories, you cannot get warts from a frog or toad. They are passed from person to person, sometimes indirectly. The time from the first contact to the time the warts have grown large enough to be seen is often several months.

What are Warts?
Warts are non-cancerous skin growths caused by a viral infection in the top layer of the skin. Viruses that cause warts are called human papilloma virus (HPV). Warts are usually skin colored and feel rough to the touch, but they can be dark, flat, and smooth. The appearance of a wart depends on where it is growing.


How to Treat Warts
Treatment for warts vary depending on age of the patient, place of the wart and type of the wart. There are several different kinds including:

Common Warts – typically grow on the fingers, around nails and on the back of the hands, they are then called “seed warts” because the blood vessels to the wart produce black dots that look like seeds.

Foot Warts – are usually on the soles (plantar area) of the feet and are called plantar warts. Most do not raise up above the surface like common warts because the pressure of walking flattens them and pushes them back in the skin. They can be painful and feel like having a stone in your shoe.

Flat warts – tend to be smaller and smoother than other warts. They grow in large numbers 20-100 at any one time. Most common on the face but can occur anywhere. In adults usually in the beard area or legs in women. Irritation for shaving probably accounts for this.

Schedule An Appointment

Get started on a healthier you. Dr. Desjarlais and his amazing staff are ready to help you reach your skin and body goals! Contact us to schedule an appointment and explore your treatment options. 

Book Appointment