Ponce de Leon was ahead of his time. Sure he, like all of his fellow explorers, had lots of sun damage on their faces from being out all day every day on the water. But he wasn’t OK with just looking like a leather armchair — he made it his life’s mission to find a fountain of youth to turn back the clock. Things didn’t work out so well as his party was attacked by local Seminole Indians pretty much when it set foot in Florida and he died from an arrow wound shortly thereafter.

But his goals for more youthful looking skin would have been perfect for this month’s theme at Providence Plastic Surgery & Skin Center. This month, we’re celebrating all of our non-invasive skin rejuvenation treatments with the “Art of Aging.” All month we’ll be detailing various treatments that could’ve helped old Ponce and maybe could have kept him from traipsing about Florida swampland looking for that darn fountain.

Here’s a sampling of our Art of Aging treatments:

• IPL Photofacials use a wider wavelength of light energy than laser treatments. This makes IPL energy great for treating areas of hyperpigmentation from sun damage in the form of age spots and freckles, closing small broken capillaries, or treating rosacea. Photofacials also help remove fine lines and wrinkles and improve skin tone.

• SkinPen Microneedling works on the premise that to improve the skin you must first injure it. Well, only with microneedles. The idea is to create hundreds of microscopic punctures with the SkinPen across the treatment areas. These microscopic wounds heal within just a couple hours, but they make the body respond with its wound-healing processes, namely the remodeling of the existing collagen at the sites and the production of new supplies of collagen. This works to thicken and improve the skin, shrink large pores, and rebuild areas of acne scarring.

• Chemical Peels give the body’s exfoliation process a boost. Everyone knows the key to great skin is exfoliation, the process of shedding old skin cells and replacing them with new, fresh skin cells. Our chemical peels at Providence use peeling agents to break the bonds on the outer skin, helping it slough off over the next few days after your peel. We use customizable TCA peels, Perfect Peel, VI Peel, and ZO Enzyme Peels.

• Dermaplaning gives women the same treatment that men get every morning by shaving. A surgical blade is pulled across the skin at a 45-degree angle. The blade gently removes dead skin cells, debris, and the vellus (you know them as peach fuzz) hairs on your face. The process also unclogs pores and improves the skin health.

Come see us at Providence Plastic Surgery & Skin Center for the Art of Aging all November. If you have any questions about upcoming events or if you’d like to schedule a consultation for a surgical procedure or to book other treatments like Botox, just give us a shout at (704) 771-1747.