Peels Reduce Risk of Skin Cancer, Study Says

Peels Reduce Risk of Skin Cancer, Study Says

A new study says cosmetic skin peels may also fight the most common cancer in America: skin cancer, a disease for which over a million Americans are diagnosed every year.

The National Cancer Institute says our love of the sun is most often to blame.

Yet fear of looking old -- and not fear of cancer -- is what brings Dr. Patrick Carney most of his patients, who come for procedures such as laser resurfacing of the face and hands.

Whether through lasers or chemical peels or topical creams, the top layer of skin is removed. The cosmetic benefit is a healthy, youthful glow and fewer age spots.

But according to a new study, the added bonus is a decreased risk of skin cancer -- a 40-fold decrease for some patients.

"Before you're going to get any therapeutic benefit, as far as reducing the formation of skin cancer, you're going to have to remove almost the entire epidermis," said Dr. Carney, a dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon at Skin Speaks Spa M.D. in Burnsville, Minn.

That's because forming within that layer of skin are sun-damaged pre-cancerous cells called Actinic Keratoses.

Technology has allowed skin resurfacing techniques to become kinder and gentler. Take the Fraxel laser, for example. It only treats 20 to 25 percent of the cells in the skin's surface in a single treatment.

"As a result of that, it allows for rapid healing, less down time and much less risk as a result of post-operative complications, " said Carney.