Surgeons are getting better at putting athletes back in the game after elbow injuries.

Tears of the medial collateral ligament, or MCL, happen in sports such as baseball, softball, football, lacrosse and tennis. The MCL stabilizes the bones of the arm at the elbow, and repeated exertion from throwing can lead to MCL injuries that diminish force.

Researchers at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York studied 100 athletes in their 20s who had a modified technique called docking surgery. Three years later, 90 percent had excellent results and had returned to the same or higher level of competition. Only 3 percent had postoperative nerve complications.

Studies have shown that traditional surgery results in only 68 percent of elite-level throwers coming back in the game the same or better, and 20 percent with nerve complications.

The study was presented at the recent American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting and appeared in the December American Journal of Sports Medicine.

New plasma treatment reduces wrinkles

There's a new strategy for treating facial wrinkles.

A study using several low-energy plasma skin treatments found that it can make skin look better with less healing time.

Dermatologists at SkinCare Physicians in Massachusetts gave three full-face, low-energy plasma treatments to eight volunteers every three weeks. The procedure is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for multiple, low-energy treatments and single high-energy treatments of wrinkles and skin lesions.

Three months after treatment, researchers determined that the participants had 37 percent fewer wrinkles, and patients reported a 68 percent improvement in overall facial appearance. Tissue had regrown over the treated area after four days, while patient-reported redness lasted six days.

Researchers also found that a new band of collagen, the primary protein in skin, had formed in the inner layers of the skin.

The study appears in the February Archives of Dermatology.