Today, Dermatologist Raleigh NC looks at Botox treatments.

Got frown lines between your eyebrows? I did, too, until I did some research on Botox and then contacted a board certified dermatologist in Raleigh NC. Botox, a prescription medicine that’s injected into the muscles, improves the look of those moderate to severe frown lines. It took years off my face, and that’s something we’re all interested in. In fact, your Raleigh NC dermatologist can do wonders for your appearance, too. That’s the reason I put together this website, Dermatologist Raleigh NC. I wanted to help you in your search.

For several years I put up with those ugly frown lines on my forehead, not to mention those awful lines I was getting at the corners of my mouth. But with the help of Botox, my Raleigh NC dermatology clinic had me feeling better about myself in no time. It’s amazing what a difference it made in my self-confidence. Whether you’re experiencing acne scarring, age spots, allergic contact dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, or any other skin conditions, Raleigh NC dermatology clinics can put you on the right track to improve your looks. If that small mole on your neck has turned into a source of concern for you, a dermatologist in Raleigh NC can do a skin cancer screening for you. Laser hair removal may be another thing of interest to you. Dermatologists have the latest resources to offer to keep you looking your best.

Before I discovered Botox, people often asked me if I was tired. I suppose those huge furrows between my eyebrows made them think that about me, but since my treatments began, I haven’t had anyone else ask me that. In fact, most of them now ask me ‘what’s your secret’ or ‘have you been on vacation.’ One friend even asked me if I’d had a facelift! They know something’s different, but they can’t quite figure it out. The good part is that no surgery was required, plus I can keep it a secret! I didn’t need any chemical peels, and the procedure was simple. The medicine was injected into the muscles. It works by blocking nerve impulses to the injected muscles, which reduces muscle activity that causes those lines to form. Within days I saw a marked improvement, and the lines continued to improve for up to thirty days. Even though the results vary from person to person, they can last for up to four months. Health care providers can give you detailed information as to what to expect from the treatments.

No matter what kind of cosmetic dermatologist treatments you have in mind, Dermatologist Raleigh NC can speed up your search. For anything from collagen injections, hair loss, liposuction, microdermabrasion, tattoo or wart removal, treatments for stretch marks, sun spots, or acne scars, you’ve come to the right place. Your American Academy of Dermatology care provider offers such things as cryosurgery, advanced dermatology laser treatments, help with cellulite, mole removal, skin cancer screening and treatment, and skin care regimens to suit each individual. Your dermatologist in Raleigh NC can make you feel better and will become your best friend. Trust me – mine is.

Okay, so why a site called Dermatologist Raleigh NC and why should you listen to what I have to say?

Have you been looking for the best Raleigh NC Dermatologist too? Shortly after my family and I relocated to Raleigh, NC, and like many people who move to a new city, we needed to get our medical affairs in order. With the help of our neighbors and my husbands’ coworkers we were able to quickly find a family physician, orthopedist, dentist, and chiropractor. However, nobody we asked was able to recommend a dermatology clinic in Raleigh, which left us in a bind, as we needed an excellent one to handle our skin care needs. So I went to the computer and typed in Dermatologist Raleigh NC into Google to try and determine whom the best skin doctor in our area was. Unfortunately, the search was inconclusive, as the combination of location, reviews, and skin specialties by each physician listed did not meet the needs of my entire family. That is when I decided to develop this website, Dermatologist Raleigh NC.

As I previously mentioned, every person in my immediate family has had varying skin conditions that have needed a form of medicine for each skin condition. Each has varied in severity, but each skin affliction was no less important to my husband, son, daughter, and me.

Due to the history of skin cancer on my side of the family, I have been on high alert with any changes in the look and condition of moles and birthmarks I was blessed with. It has been important enough that I make sure I speak with the proper health care providers and realize that detection and prevention through skin cancer screening is actually more important than aggressive treatment. It has also been important that my son and daughter understand that they may be more susceptible to different skin cancers.

I not only visit dermatologists for skin cancer screening, but also to keep my appearance looking youthful. It is my opinion that there is nothing wrong with wanting to look your best, and utilizing the recent innovations in dermatology have kept years off of my look.

Before I began Dermatologist Raleigh NC, I was regularly seeing my regular cosmetic dermatologist for chemical peels, cryotherapy and laser treatments for age spots. The intense pulsed light was far more comfortable than I expected and it has made me look younger than I did fifteen years ago. In my opinion, the best Raleigh, NC dermatologist will not only have these skin treatments available, but will have a wide variety of age reducing modalities. Some of the treatments I have considered but have not yet tried are botox, collagen injection, and laser hair removal. I may be tempted to in the future since many of my close friends have had successful rejuvenation of their appearance.

While the main area of focus is typically on my face, my former certified dermatologist suggested that I have similar work done on each of my hands. I am unsure if you have noticed like I have, but you can often detect who has had skin treatments done by how their hands look. It is currently rare to have popular skin treatments like laser therapy on your hands, but this can be another excellent way to appear more youthful. It is something I have recently done to lessen the appearance of liver spots that started to show up on each of my hands.

My husbands’ company transferred him to North Carolina, again the reason why I found the need for my Raleigh Dermatologist site, but until we met, he never knew how a dermatologist could help him. He had the impression that all they did was focus on mole removal and cancer screening, but I pointed out a few areas that he might like improved for him.

When my husband was a teenager he suffered from moderate acne on his face and back. While his body was spared from acne scarring, his face and neck were not. While it does not change how I feel about him, I know his acne scars have caused him to be shy in social situations, and I knew if they could be helped he would have much more self confidence. I explained to him that the right skin doctor could treat these acne scars, lessen their appearance, and potentially eliminate them altogether. He was reluctant at first, but when he realized the chemical peels and laser treatments were covered by his insurance, and did not involve any invasive surgery, he attended a number of appointments before we moved to Raleigh.

The difference in his skin texture, due to the work at the dermatologist’s office, has been amazing. Years of pitting and scarring have been improved by at least 60-100% and it has been like he has been given a second chance to be the person he has always wanted to be. He has been more social at work functions, and in my opinion the improvement in his acne scars led to the promotion that allowed us to move out here.

During this process, he finally began tattoo removal treatment via laser, of a tattoo he has regretted since he was a teenager. He has also gone through some electrolysis for hair removal from the back of his arms and back which began to grow shortly after we were married. It is great to see how proud he is from the improvements, and he has been very supportive of my Dermatologist Raleigh NC venture. It also goes to show you that it is never too late to look your best and to look into a quality skin care program. If you are as lucky as we have been, your insurance will cover all of your visits to a certified dermatologist.

With the history my husband and I have had with our skin, we have made sure that our two children have the resources necessary to prevent and limit the chances of the same conditions. We have done our best to supply better nutrition and cleansers, but for certain skin conditions it hasn’t been enough.

At the age of nine years old my son began suffering from a form of psoriasis or eczema on the back of each hand. We felt terrible for him as his hands became chronically dry and cracked in the winter, and no amount of therapeutic lotion seemed to make a difference. When we visited the doctor to determine why these symptoms wouldn’t go away, he was diagnosed with contact dermatitis. Essentially, contact dermatitis is a fancy way to say that there is something rubbing against your skin that is irritating it and causing the rash. We were able to pinpoint the cause of the contact dermatitis, which was the batting gloves he was wearing for baseball. The synthetic material was not breathing efficiently, so we switched to leather gloves and the symptoms got much better. The doctor also recommended a potent steroid cream for his hands, which not only brought relief but cleared things up within a few days. Knowing how irritating his condition was raised the importance of finding a top dermatologist in Raleigh, NC.

We have also considered the potential use of medicine to prevent the possibility of acne, since it does run on my husbands’ side of the family, but his skin has shown no signs of acne breakouts yet.

My daughter’s skin is very similar to mine, so it is rather resilient. We took her to a pediatric dermatologist to have a small procedure performed on a port wine stain on her cheek when she was younger, as we did not want that to be the main focus when people met her. Even though it did not seem to be affecting her self-confidence we made the executive decision to have a board certified dermatologist eliminate her birthmark. However, since she is fair skinned and has a number of beauty marks and moles, we have made skin cancer screening a priority. She has also seen the improvement of my skin from many of the treatments, however we have done our best to educate her that avoiding sun damage is the best way to remain youthful looking, and an excellent way to prevent the various types of skin cancer.

As you can see, even though I am not a dermatologist, dermatology has played an enormous role in my life. Through my experience and understanding of my own skin conditions I have been able to improve the life of my loved ones. While thoughts of clean, clear, and young looking skin dominate my thoughts, the prevention and detection of preventable disease are so important.

There is absolutely no reason not to take advantage of the advances in medical skin care. Whether it is for disease prevention, self-confidence, or any combination of the two. I am positive that a visit to an American Academy, board certified dermatologist will be one of the best decisions you have ever made.

Thank you for visiting my website. I plan on periodically adding relevant articles and videos here, and it is my hope that this Dermatologist Raleigh NC website will be your favorite place for finding the best qualified dermatologist for your family in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.

As many of you have quickly found out…it is Winter Time!  Dermatologist Raleigh NC has came across this very interesting Winter Skin Care Tip Video.

Q. What is melanoma?
A. Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is characterized by the uncontrolled growth of pigment-producing cells. Melanomas might appear on the skin suddenly, but they also can develop on an existing mole. The overall number of melanoma cases continues to rise.

Q. Is melanoma a serious disease?
A. Approximately 75 percent of all skin cancer deaths are from melanoma.1 Advanced melanoma spreads to lymph nodes and internal organs and may result in death. One American dies from melanoma almost every hour.1 Melanoma is the most common form of cancer for young adults 25-29 years old and the second most common cancer in adolescents and young adults 15-29 years old.2 If detected and treated before it reaches the lymph nodes, melanoma patients have a 98 percent five-year survival rate.1 Five-year survival rates for regional- (lymph nodes) and distant- (other organs/lymph nodes) stage melanomas are 62 percent and 15 percent, respectively.1

Q. How many people will develop melanoma this year?
A. It is estimated that there will be 114,900 new cases of melanoma diagnosed in the United States in 2010 — 46,770 noninvasive (in situ) and 68,130 invasive. In 2010, about 38,870 men and 29,260 women will be diagnosed with invasive melanoma.1

In addition, 8,700 people are expected to die from melanoma — 5,670 men and 3,030 women.1

Q. How much does melanoma cost society?
A. In 2005, the American Academy of Dermatology Association and the Society for Investigative Dermatology released a comprehensive study to quantify the toll skin diseases take on the nation’s economy and health care system. The estimated total direct cost associated with the treatment of melanoma in 2004 was $291 million.

Q. What causes melanoma?
A. Excessive exposure to the ultraviolet radiation of the sun is the most important preventable cause of all skin cancers, including melanoma. People who live close to the equator where the sunlight is more intense are more likely to develop melanoma than those in other regions. Not all melanomas are exclusively sun-related — other possible influences include genetic factors and immune system deficiencies.

Q. Who gets melanoma?
A. Melanoma can strike anyone. Caucasians are more likely to be diagnosed with melanoma than other races. However, even among Caucasians, certain individuals are at higher risk than others.1 For example:

• You have a substantially increased risk of developing melanoma if you have greater than 50 moles, large moles, or atypical (unusual) moles.
• Your risk is increased if a blood relative (e.g., your parents, children, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles) has had melanoma.
• If you are a Caucasian who has fair skin, your risk is higher than a Caucasian who has olive skin.
• Redheads and blondes have a higher risk of developing melanoma. Blue or green eyes also increase your risk of developing melanoma.
• Your chances increase significantly if you’ve already had a previous melanoma, but also increase if you have had either basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma, the more common forms of skin cancer.5-7
• Your risk for melanoma might also be increased if you have had other previous cancers, such as breast or thyroid cancer.8-11

Q. What are atypical moles?
A. Most people have moles (also known as nevi). Atypical moles are unusual moles that are generally larger than normal moles, are variable in color, often have irregular borders and might occur in far greater number than regular moles. Atypical moles occur most often on the upper back, torso, lower legs, head and neck. It is important to recognize that atypical moles are not limited to any specific body area — they can occur anywhere. The presence of atypical moles is an important clinical risk factor for melanoma developing in a mole or on apparently normal skin.

Q. What does melanoma look like?
A. Recognition of changes in the skin is the best way to detect early melanoma. They most frequently appear on the upper back, torso, lower legs, head and neck.3 In females 15-29 years old, the torso is the most common location for developing melanoma, which might be due to high-risk tanning behaviors.3 If you have a changing mole, a new mole, or a mole that is different, see a dermatologist as soon as possible.

If you notice a mole on your skin, you should follow the simple ABCDE rule, which outlines the warning signs of melanoma:

• Asymmetry: One half does not match the other half.
• Border irregularity: The edges are ragged, notched, or blurred.
• Color: The pigmentation is not uniform. Different shades of tan, brown, or black are often present. Dashes of red, white, and blue can add to the mottled appearance.
• Diameter: Melanomas usually are greater than 6mm in diameter when diagnosed, but they can be smaller.
• Evolving: A mole or skin lesion looks different from the rest or is changing in size, shape, or color.

The American Academy of Dermatology urges everyone to examine their skin regularly. This means looking over your entire body including your back, your scalp, your palms, your soles and between your toes. If you notice a mole that is different from others, or that changes, itches, or bleeds even if it is smaller than 6mm, you should make an appointment to see a dermatologist as soon as possible.

Q. Can melanoma be cured?
A. When detected in its earliest stages, melanoma is highly curable. The average five-year survival rate for individuals whose melanoma is detected and treated before it spreads to the lymph nodes is 98 percent.1

Early detection is essential; there is a direct correlation between the thickness of the melanoma and survival rate. Dermatologists recommend a regular self-examination of the skin to detect changes in its appearance. Additionally, patients with risk factors should have a complete skin examination by a dermatologist annually. Anyone with a changing, suspicious or unusual mole or blemish should be examined as soon as possible. Individuals with a history of melanoma should have a full-body exam at least annually and perform monthly self-exams for new and changing moles.12

Q. Can melanoma be prevented?
A. Sun exposure is the most preventable risk factor for all skin cancers, including melanoma.1,13 You can have fun in the sun and decrease your risk of skin cancer. Here’s how to Be Sun Smart®:

• Generously apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of at least 30 to all exposed skin. “Broad-spectrum” provides protection from both ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) rays. Reapply approximately every two hours, even on cloudy days, and after swimming or sweating.
• Wear protective clothing, such as a long-sleeved shirt, pants, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses, where possible.
• Seek shade when appropriate. Remember that the sun’s rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If your shadow is shorter than you are, seek shade.
• Protect children from sun exposure by playing in the shade, wearing protective clothing, and applying sunscreen.
• Use extra caution near water, snow, and sand because they reflect the damaging rays of the sun, which can increase your chance of sunburn.
• Get vitamin D safely through a healthy diet that may include vitamin supplements. Don’t seek the sun.6
• Avoid tanning beds. Ultraviolet light from the sun and tanning beds can cause skin cancer and wrinkling. If you want to look like you’ve been in the sun, consider using a sunless self-tanning product, but continue to use sunscreen with it.
• Check your birthday suit on your birthday. If you notice anything changing, growing, or bleeding on your skin, see a dermatologist. Skin cancer is very treatable when caught early.

Check the Academy’s website (www.aad.org) for the latest list of sun protective products that meet the stringent, evidence-based criteria of the AAD Seal of Recognition®.

1 American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2010. www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/Cancer_Facts_and_Figures_2010.pdf.
2 Cancer Epidemiology in Older Adolescents & Young Adults. SEER AYA Monograph Pages 53-57.2007.
3 World Health Organization, Solar ultraviolet radiation: Global burden of disease from solar ultraviolet radiation. Environmental Burden of Disease Series, N.13. 2006.
4 The Society for Investigative Dermatology and the American Academy of Dermatology Association, The Burden of Skin Diseases 2004. Copyright 2006.
5 Bower CP, Lear JT, Bygrave S, Etherington D, Harvey I, Archer CB. Basal cell carcinoma and risk of subsequent malignancies: a cancer registry-based study in southwest England. J Am Acad Dermatol 2000;42:988-91.
6 Hemminki K, Dong C. Subsequent cancers after in situ and invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. Arch Dermatol 2000;136:647-51.
7 Rosenberg CA, Greenland P, Khandekar J, Loar A, Ascensao J, Lopez AM. Association of nonmelanoma skin cancer with second malignancy. Cancer 2004;49:81-5.
8 Grenader T, Goldberg A, Shavit L. Second cancers in patients with male breast cancer: a literature review. J Cancer Surviv. 2008;2(2):73-78.
9 Satram-Hoang S, Ziogas A, Anton-Culver H. Risk of second primary cancer in men with breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2007;9(1):R10.
10 Auvinen A, Curtis R, Ron E. Risk of subsequent cancer following breast cancer in men. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2002;94(17):1330-1332.
11 Canchola A, Horn-Ross P, Purdie D. Risk of secondary primary malignancies in women with papillary thyroid cancer. Am J Epidemiol. 2006;163(6):521-527.
12 Berg, A. US Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for skin cancer. www.ahrq.gov/clinic/ajpmsuppl/skcarr.htm.
13 Robinson, JK. Sun Exposure, Sun Protection and Vitamin D. JAMA 2005; 294: 1541-43.