Dermabrasion - Chemical Peel - Medical Malpractice Lawyer

If you choose our lawyers to represent you in your dermabrasion or chemical peel compensation claim, we will provide committed and vigorous representation on your behalf. You will receive a complete professional service from lawyers who claim compensation for poor dermabrasion and chemical peels involving medical malpractice. If you would like free advice without obligation from a medical malpractice lawyer just call the helpline or complete the contact form or email our offices and a lawyer will telephone you at the first possible opportunity.
Do yourself justice and call us today

Poor Outcomes - Dermabrasion Chemical Peels Laser Surgery

The world is having a love affair with beauty, especially facial beauty. Because not everyone is a candidate nor wants to have a face lift, there are many other choices in facial procedures. Some of them result in a good outcome and the person has smoother, younger skin. In other cases, something goes wrong and the individual suffers an adverse event.

In dermabrasion, a wire brush or a diamond wheel is used to remove the very top layers of skin, injuring the skin and taking off acne and acne scars as well as other irregularities of the facial skin. The skin may bleed as a result of the injury and then is allowed to heal, with new skin growing in to replace the skin that was removed and was damaged. The things that affect the depth of resurfacing include the coarseness of the brush and how much pressure is applied and for how long.

When doing the procedure, the areas to be treated are prepared and marked off. Lidocaine gel is applied for an anesthetic and ice packs are applied to the skin for as much as 30 minutes. Sometimes freezing spray hardens the skin for deeper abrasions. The dermabrasion is applied in an artful way and afterward, pain killers are used. Sometimes sedation or general anesthesia is used for deep abrasions. Gauze is used to mop up any blood and ointment dressings are applied to cover the abraded skin.

A lot can go wrong with dermabrasion. In the wrong hands, the dermabrasion device can take off too much skin, getting into the deeper dermal layers. Bleeding tends to be heavier and the amount of scar tissue produced can be great. When the scarring is done, it can be worse than the acne scars or other irregularities once were.

Chemical peels involve taking off layers of skin with different kinds of acids to achieve varying amounts of peeling of the skin’s epidermis. The acid solution is allowed to soak into the skin. The peel is not washed off but after 1-14 days, the skin dries up and peels off in a controlled fashion. It then allows fresh, new skin to replace what has peeled off. The amount of peeling that happens depends on the type of acid used and the concentration of that acid. Differing numbers of coats are applied to the skin. Deeper peels have a better chance of creating a dramatic image but they carry greater risks. Deeper peels are also more painful.

There are three types of peels: superficial peels, medium peels, and deep peels. Superficial peels use a dilute acid and often use glycolic acid. Superficial peels can involve dry ice. Medium peels often use trichloroacetic acid, mildly diluted. It can be done in several steps to get the desired effect. Deep peels cause a second degree burn in the skin, usually with the chemical phenol. As phenol bleaches the skin, it cannot be used on darker skin tones.

Because chemical peels are harsh chemicals, they can damage the skin too deeply so that deep scars can form when the skin heals again. The scarring can be unsightly and permanent in appearance.

Laser surgery involves using laser heat to damage the deeper layers of facial skin. It tends to work for fine lines and wrinkles or for those that have acne scars. It is not a good idea to use this technique if you are dark complected. There are two types of lasers; there is the carbon dioxide laser and the erbium laser. CO2 lasers do resurfacing on the nose, forehead, and cheeks. It uses pulsed light energy or a continuous laser beam in order to remove thin layers of skin. Recoveries can take up to two weeks. In Erbium laser resurfacing, skin is treated for warts, scars, wrinkles and enlarged pores. There is not as much in the way of side effects when compared to the CO2 laser.

Laser surgery tends to be safer than the other surgeries but still carries the risk of burns and scarring that makes the skin worse than before.

Medical Malpractice Lawyers

The medical profession which includes doctors, nurses and hospital technicians usually provides a caring service with a high standard of excellence however there are occasions when things do go wrong. Our litigation service is completely free and our medical malpractice lawyers will deal with your case using a contingency fee arrangement which means that if you don’t succeed in receiving a financial settlement then your lawyer won't get paid.

The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here