Brooklyn Park Business Tackles Years of Sun-Damaged Skin
Minnesota summers are relatively short, which is why people like to get outside as often as possible.
But if you don’t take the necessary precautions, the sun can be unforgiving.
“Back in the 70s, I don’t even remember talking about or discussing sunscreen anywhere or even seeing it in the store,” said Shirley Dettmer, 71, of Corcoran.
Dettmer says she was a frequent sunbather in the 1970s.
“We would sunbathe and put our baby oil on and sunbathed for hours and didn’t realize that the burning was killing our skin,” she said.
Those decisions from 50 years ago are what led her to come to Enrichment Skin Solutions in Brooklyn Park.
New patients at the Brooklyn Park clinic can get a deep look inside their skin with a device that can scan your face and create several 3D images.
Michael Johnson, the director of procedural medicine at Enrichment Skin Solutions, uses that information to look for things like wrinkles, tone, texture and the impact of the sun’s UV rays.
Slowing the aging process
“Eighty percent of facial skin aging is due already to the UV rays,” said Johnson, who owns the business with his wife, Kris. “Some of those rays have happened decades sooner, and now it’s starting to come out in our 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.”
Enrichment Skin Aesthetic Clinic is located at 6001 96th Lane Suite 150 in
Brooklyn Park.
A computer tells patients how much their skin has aged. For Dettmer, the computer tells her that her skin age is 74.
Staff members then suggest solutions that they say can help slow the aging process.
While sunscreen helps, Johnson says there’s more to it.
“Not only skin care suggestions, antioxidant suggestions, nutritional suggestions, assistance with health coaches, life coaches, nutrition,” said Johnson.
For Dettmer, the hope is a little effort can go a long way to reversing the effects of the sun.
“I’m getting old, but my mind, like I say, isn’t,” said Dettmer. “So I would like to at least keep my skin and my body as young as my mind, which isn’t going to happen but I can work on it. I can try.”
Staff at Enrichment Skin Solutions say the consultation that Dettmer went through costs about $200.
Related: Melanoma Monday Kicks Off Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month
