How we helped Roger’s sun-damaged skin

Eyelid surgery helped Roger’s vision by opening up his visual field and also made him look younger. However, he still has other problems of sun damaged skin and blepharitis, which Clinica London can also help him with.
Surprisingly often, patients have more than one thing going on and require the help and advice of a different specialist. It is super that at Clinica London we have a top medical skin specialist such as Jennifer Crawley, who can advise him and treat his skin lesions.
Roger used to live in the Far East when he was younger and did not wear sun protection, so he has been suffering from sun damage spots on his face and scalp. Fortunately, he does not have skin cancer, but he gets suspicious red, irritated skin lesions, which have to be biopsied or treated. These are mainly pre-cancerous actinic (sun caused) skin lesions. He has had several treatments with cryotherapy by Dr Jennifer Crawley.
In this blog post, I ask Roger about his sun-damaged skin.
Jane: Thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed about your sun-damaged skin for this blog.
Roger: It is a pleasure. Since my eyelid surgery, I have been able to see much more around me, and I also look better, and I look fashionably older than I did when I was 21 years old. But I have some concerns with my skin for which I see the Clinica London Consultant dermatologist Jennifer Crawley. This is largely sun damage because I had spent a quite a lot of time in the Far East when I was much younger.
Jane Olver: How old are you now?
Roger: I am 78.
Jane Olver: And how old were you when you spent time in the sun?
Roger: Initially about 21.
Jane Olver: I suppose in those days there was no such thing as sunscreen?
Roger: No and I was immortal the same as all 21-year-olds.
Jane Olver: Yes, too true, we all were. Did you wear a hat?
Roger: Very rarely. I wore my army hat when I had to, but if we were on the beach, we didn’t wear a hat. So, I had a lot of sun on my face and the top of my head.
Jane Olver: What sort of treatment have you had for your skin from Dr Crawley?
Roger: I had cryotherapy.
Jane Olver: What was the cryotherapy for and where did she do that?
Roger: Mainly on my head, which was all red blotches on the scalp.
Jane Olver: You have got quite short hair, and there are some areas where you do not have a lot of hair, and they are more exposed to the sun, and it was those areas was it that she treated.
Roger: I had a couple of lesions on my face as well. I had a very good result last time from the cryotherapy. The cryotherapy is very fast, and it is not particularly uncomfortable.
Jane Olver: And was all of that treated with one lot of cryotherapy or did it need more than one?
Roger: It needed more sessions than that, and I may require another session soon. I also along the way developed eczema.
Jane Olver: The eczema is dry slightly red, itchy patches of skin? Have you got a small patch on your right lower lid at the moment?
Roger: Yes. I put some light ointment with steroid in it from Dr Crawley.
Jane Olver: What are you doing to prevent yourself from getting more sun damage now?
Roger: Well for some considerable time now I have used 50-Factor sun protection cream – even in England – during the summer. I put the cream on virtually every day if I am going to be going out.
Jane Olver: And where do you put the cream?
Roger: On my head, and on my ears, and on my arms and legs when I wear shorts. And the face. And I wear a hat.
Jane Olver: Do you put the cream near the eyes?
Roger: Normally under the eyes, I don’t rub it all over the eyelids.
Jane Olver: How far towards the lid margin do you get with the sun cream?
Roger: I suppose it is difficult to tell, but I tend to put it in my hands and then wipe it off all over my face, so probably fairly close.
Jane Olver: I would like you to have a little bit of sun cream in the under eye area, we will give you the most gentle eye combined moisturising and sun protection cream for the under eye area, from La Roche Posay. I want you to have that. You shouldn’t be allergic to it as it has no perfumes, nor any parabens in it. It will just make the skin feel and look more comfortable and at the same time protect the delicate under-eye area from UVA and UVB. It may even help your eczema by its simultaneous moisturising effect
Roger: Great. So I will use that, just to keep the under eye area nice and moisturised and safe from the sun. Thank you.