Symptoms
Chronic sun damage that stays red, rough or scaly. Inflamed, sun damaged skin can be either heliodermatitis by itself or seborrheic dermatitis mixed in with sun damage skin.
Recovery
Dr. Harlan typically treats his adult patients for these symptoms by having them apply SmartLotion® 2x per day for up to 2 weeks.
As long as the patient sees improvement during the initial 2 weeks, after 2 weeks he typically recommends tapering down to 1x per day for 2 weeks. The rate of tapering should vary based on how quickly the rash is healing.
If the patient does not see improvement within the first 2 weeks, he will prescribe them a stronger treatment for 3 weeks to help with initial control and recovery before switching back to SmartLotion®.
Whenever Dr. Harlan has a patient with sun damaged skin, he performs a skin cancer check. He recommends that anyone who sees their dermatologist about potential heliodermatitis issues has them perform a skin cancer check as well.
Prevention
Dr. Harlan tells his adult patients to maintain a routine of 1x per day SmartLotion® applications or less as needed.
He recommends that all patients with sun damaged skin always wear sunblock with a minimum SPF of 30.
Some patients require intervals of 2x and 1x every other day SmartLotion® applications for complete flare-up control. Some patients require 1 application per day, and some only require 3 applications per week.
This is why long-term safety was so important to Dr. Harlan when he formulated SmartLotion®. For whatever maintenance schedule his patients require, he wanted to ensure that there would be no chance of side effects. Rest assured, SmartLotion® is 100% safe for long term use, as demonstrated in his peer-reviewed safety study.