The skin on the chest is one of the first areas to show signs of aging. This is because it’s a commonly overlooked area when it comes to skincare and photo protection. We don’t realize just how much UV exposure and environmental assault our chest gets until we start seeing wrinkles and dark spots a little later on in life.
The first line of defense for protecting our skin, no matter what part of the body, is by using active skincare ingredients and sun protection consistently in our younger years. This means using SPF every single day, reapplying every 2 hours in the sun, and using ingredients like ferulic acid, azelaic acid, hydroquinone, alpha hydroxy acids, and retinoids to keep the skin healthy and protected from free radical damage.
One of my favorite ingredients for the chest is argireline. This ingredient gives a ‘botox-like’ effect by inhibiting muscle movement under the skin, so it helps smooth out the appearance of the skin. Our Neck Tyte-R serum has Arginine-R Complex which increases blood flow to the skin of the neck and décolleté to increase cellular renewal. It’s a must have product for all ages to, not only prevent, but treat laxity and textural irregularities on the skin.
But what if you’re already noticing aging on your decollete? Here’s what we can do:
- Lasers - When it comes to treating the chest, lasers will be your best friend! You can use a combination of lasers to target each cause of aging in the skin. Pico is amazing for brown spots, VBeam for red/ruddiness, and Fraxel for a little bit of everything plus texture improvement. You’ll usually need 1-3 laser treatments to see maximum results, and then results will last for several years. Sun damage is cumulative, however, so as the years go on you will see some more sun damage from years past start to surface, and you’ll want to upkeep your laser treatments when that happens. However, your skin will continue to get better as you do more treatments!
- Microneedling - if you’ve been following me for any amount of time you likely know that I’m not a big fan of microneedling. I often see undesirable results and complications from microneedling treatments so I generally don’t recommend it, but it is an option that’s out on the market so I want to make sure my beauties are aware of this option. Lasers work better and have a lot more scientific evidence backing them up, so this will always be my recommendation of microneedling.
- Energy based devices - I absolutely love energy devices like Thermage, Ultherapy, and Softwave, however, they aren’t my favorite for the decollete! The skin on the chest is a lot different than the skin on the face, and you’ll see better results with lasers for the chest. Energy devices performed on the chest won’t cause any negative effects necessarily (as long as it’s performed by a trained professional), but you just won’t see dramatic effects like you will with lasers.
- Biostimulatory fillers - I love Radiesse for the chest! Specifically I use hyper dilute Radiesse to erase creases in the chest. Bonus points for combining Fraxel and Radiesse together! The results are… *chef’s kiss*
- Ellacor - this is a new treatment on the market, and it’s not FDA approved for use on the chest/decollete yet, but I do think there’s a lot of promise for this in the future! Ellacor works by removing microcores of skin to essentially shrinkwrap the skin together. It’s a facelift without scarring! So while I’m not positive that we can use it effectively on the chest, I think there’s a lot of potential for advancements of this device to be used on the chest in the future.
- Botox - a little botox in the chest can go a long way for crepey or wrinkled skin! Relaxing the chest muscles allows for the skin to lay smoother on top. However, this treatment does require more upkeep than others, as Botox only lasts 3-6 months. You could use Daxxify on the chest which is a longer lasting neuromodulator that promises 6-12 months of results.
Would you try any of these treatments for your decollete? Let me know in a comment on my YouTube video below! And while you’re there, subscribe to my channel and join my derm family over there where we talk about skin and cosmetic dermatology every Sunday when I drop a new video!
