The term skin blemish encompasses a wide range of skin conditions including moles, scars, acne, age spots and anything else that causes an irregular spot on the skin. Blemishes can be unsightly or embarrassing, and in some cases (such as a malignant mole), they can be dangerous. With this risk in mind, it's important to have your skin blemishes examined by a doctor, and if needed, pursue treatment.
Step 1
Apply a retinoid cream to the affected skin. Retinoid creams, such as adapalene, tazarotene and tretinoin, are commonly used to help treat and reduce the appearance of blemishes on the skin. Retinoid creams work by encouraging the sloughing of blemished skin cells from the outer layers of skin tissue. This reveals new, smoother skin tissue beneath.
Step 2
Schedule a chemical peel with your dermatologist. Chemical peel treatments use specialized chemicals to detach the outer layer of skin cells from the body. This allows the outer layer to peel off, revealing new skin cells beneath. Your dermatologist can adjust the strength of the peel based on what type of blemish you have, and how deeply the blemish affects the skin tissue. For example, phenol can be used for peels that need to reach deeper layers of skin, while an alpha hydroxy acid or beta hydroxy acid peel produces a lighter peel for more superficial blemishes.
Step 3
Use dermabrasion or microdermabrasion to resurface the affected skin. Dermabrasion involves the use of a rotary metal scrub brush or other abrasive tool to scrape off skin irregularities and resurface the skin. Microdermabrasion is used for less severe blemishes, and works by using a wand-like tool to shoot abrasive aluminum or zinc oxide crystals at the skin. As the crystals exfoliate the skin cells, a vacuum device follows behind and sucks the loosened skin cells off the treatment area.
Step 4
Use ablative laser treatments to resurface the skin. Ablative laser treatments use a controlled laser beam to evaporate the outer blemish-affected layer of skin. This procedure acts similar to a chemical peel or dermabrasion, by removing the outer layer of blemished skin and revealing a new, smoother level beneath. As the treatment area heals, the blemish will become less noticeable. How effective laser treatment will be will depend on the depth of the skin blemish.
Step 5
Talk to your doctor about surgical intervention for more serious blemishes, such as moles or deep scars. Moles, especially if they are found to be cancerous or precancerous, may need to be completely removed from the skin. To do this, the doctor will use a sharp blade or punch device to cut the mole and surrounding tissue from the skin. The wound will then be sutured and allowed to heal. Small, deep scars may also be removed this way.
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