Dr. Busso’s Dermal Disconnect Correct #2: Face and Chest

Miami and Beverly Hills-based dermatologist Mariano Busso, MD offers plenty of ways to get your décollétage looking as lovely as your face. Photo by Michele Mattei at michelemattei.com. Jewelry by Lisa Nik.

Dermal Disconnect Correct #2: This is the second of a 3-part series with advice from our expert, top dermatologist Mariano Busso, MD on how the dermal disconnect between face, neck, hands and chest happens, why it happens and how to even things up.

If you ask dermatologist Dr. Mariano Busso if he’s seeing more and more dermal disconnect between faces and chests, his answer is an immediate, “Absolutely! Even some of my most conscientious skin care patients have forgotten to maintain and protect their decolletage and they’re paying for it now with blotchiness, age spots, lines, wrinkles and leathery texture that make the skin there look decades more worn than their faces."

Tissue Issue

Dr. Busso explains that the skin on the face and chest are different from one another in three significant ways. 1. Chest skin’s epidermis is much thinner and therefore more sensitive to photo damage because UV rays penetrate it more easily 2. Chest skin lacks the sebaceous glands and ample blood supply that the face has making it heal more slowly when injured, treated, peeled or lasered 3. Chest skin often does not often get the sunscreen protection it needs to maintain its health and beauty

Plus, with aging, collagen and elastin supplies in the dermis naturally diminish leading to progressively thinner skin as the years go by. And for those who sleep on their front or side, deep vertical lines become etched in this thinner skin in the cheek and chest at this time too.

Says Dr. Busso, “This combination of thinner skin with along with a lower capacity to repair results in skin that is more sensitive and damages more easily with solar radiation and yet–because it can’t be treated as aggressively as the face–is slower to regenerate. But just because skin recovery must be gradual and slow, doesn’t mean it’s impossible. In fact, we have highly effective tools at our disposal to minimize dermal disconnect in the décolletage over time. . . all very doable and with excellent results.”

Topical Skin Care

For daily topical improvement and maintenance, Dr. Busso recommends Neo Firm Neck & Décolleté Tightening Cream by Neocutis. Or you can never go wrong with the retinol-antioxidant-sunscreen trifecta that works for the face though with weaker active concentrations where there is sensitivity. For stubborn age spots and melasma, he will prescribe Tri-Luma Cream.

SPF Is Your Chest’s Best Friend

Who knew that a V-neck or an open collar would be a major factor in skin photoaging but they are and bigtime too. Dr. Busso notes, “People are often surprised to learn how vulnerable their chest skin actually is. If you’re wearing a low-cut neckline or open collar, you must apply sunscreen to these areas every day.

Redemption and Mitigation

If you seek chest skin improvement from a professional, Dr. Busso advises going slowly and managing your expectations. “One technology can’t correct everything at once. Usually patients present several different kinds of skin damage on their chests and we have to solve each one at a time. But the good news is that every kind treatment you have improves skin quality overall so it’s an added bonus.”

Cosmetic dermatology today is continually introducing new, ever-more-sophisticated rejuvenation treatments for improving the décollétage. Every dermatologist practice will have its own array. Here are Dr. Busso’s best chest choices:

PROBLEM

Redness and broken capillaries (telangiectasia)

SOLUTION

Intense Pulsed Light

PROBLEM

Age spots, uneven pigment

SOLUTION

ZO Ossential Stimulator Peel series

PROBLEM

Fine lines, slack tone, leathery texture

SOLUTION

Micro channeling

PROBLEM

Deeper wrinkles

SOLUTION

Sculptra injections

Mineral Air in the Picture

Because the Mineral Air’s Four-in-One Foundation gives a smear-free, seamless finish that works beautifully over sun protection, you can visually correct dermal disconnect in the chest even if you don’t go in for derm procedures. Here’s how to do it: Before getting dressed, generously apply sunscreen on your chest beyond the borders of where you think you need it. Wait five minutes. Follow with a good mist of Mineral Air Four-in-One Foundation making sure to spray and blend upward onto and into the neck. Let sit for a minute or two. Then you can put your top on and get on with your day./p>

What’s the difference?

Mineral Air offers two device-plus-formula categories, one for makeup, the other for skincare.
Mineral Air original (MA) includes its AirMist Device, an easy to use, everyday consumer tool that rivals professional airbrushing in its cosmetic application of our eponymous foundation, blush, or bronzer.
Mineral Air Skin (MAS) features the Renewal Serum System with its ElixerMist Device for lightweight vaporized delivery.

“Cosmetic dermatology has highly effective tools at our disposal to minimize dermal disconnect in the décollétage over time. . . all very doable and with excellent results.”

Mariano Busso, MD
Dermatologist
Miami, FL and Beverly Hills, CA

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IG @drbusso