Anti Aging with Sasha - Laser Skin Treatments.
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Laser skin treatments.
Click below for more information on.. This page covers IPL treatment (Intense Pulsed Light devices), yag laser treatment, long-pulse laser and intense pulsed light combined, Q-Switched laser treatment, pulsed dye laser and CO2 laser or Erbium YAG laser treatment. Lasers have been used in medicine since the early 1960s by dermatologists and plastic surgeons. They have many uses not covered here. In the hands of a trained healthcare professional, lasers are safe and effective. There are different types of lasers and much research remains to be done on which laser is the most effective for which problem. The first generations of cosmetic lasers worked by removing the top layers of skin to stimulate a skin healing and remodelling - where the new skin would be wrinkle and blemish free. They were, and are, very effective at removing UV damage such as age spots and wrinkles but they were not all that effective on vein and capillary problems such as melasma or rosacea, or dark circles under the eyes. The new lasers and Intense Pulsed Light Devices (IPL) are much improved for treating vascular conditions (rosacea and actinic damage, varicose veins etc.) and stimulating new collagen production - and being less aggresive, are much preferred by patients. Advances in cooling technology also mean that lasers can be used on a wider range of skin types and ethnicities than ever before. If you add permanent filler, topical skin creams such as copper peptides, peels or botox - this greatly increases the effectiveness of modern IPLs and lasers. The research here should not be considered exhaustive and is included only so you can get a feel for the sheer scope of what lasers can do. The outcome of each experiment or study should not be considered the last word on the subject. Treatment outcomes vary because patients and proceedures vary and a laser is only as good as the practitioner who wields it! I have seen studies where 50% of patients suffer skin lightening (Hypopigmentation) after treatment, and studies where that was less than 1%. Of all complications, that seems to me to be the one you have to be most careful to ask about. Before anyone comes near you with their laser you need to know the exact percentage of hypopigmentation in their patients for this proceedure, and how long it lasts. It seems to vary a lot between pratitioners.
From the research quoted below, here is a list of which kind of laser the researchers said helped with which problem..
Extracts on the use of lasers in skin treatment.. Click on the links if you want to see the extract as originally published.
Dark circles under the eyes, and other problems. (Extracted and translated from) Treatment of facial skin using combinations of CO2, Q-switched alexandrite, flashlamp-pumped pulsed dye, and Er:YAG lasers in the same treatment session. Many patients wanting CO2 laser resurfacing for skin improvement are also worried about dark circles under their eyes or telangiectasia (red spots) as well as various scars. CO2 laser resurfacing alone provides only limited improvement for these problems.
As well as significant
wrinkle improvement from the CO2 laser, patients had 75-100% clearing
of dark circles under their eyes. All patients with facial red spots
(telangiectasia) showed virtually 100% improvement. The deep wrinkles
and scars responded to CO2/Er:YAG laser better than with CO2 laser resurfacing
alone. There were no complications caused by using more than one laser
at the same time.
Freckles. New laser treatments for freckles and age spots produce excellent results compared with traditional treatments. We wanted to assess the effectiveness and safety of the frequency-doubled Nd:YAG (532 nm) laser in treating light brown and olive colored skin. 20 patients (14 with freckles and 6 with age spots) had laser treatment once a month until either they stopped improving or improved 75%. Anyone who improved more than 50% was checked every 3 months for the next 2 years. The rest were regarded as treatment failures and not followed up. 80% of patients improved enough for us to follow up. They were treated between 3 and 8 times with 1-3 months between treatments. Complications included light skin patches in 25%, some mild changes in skin texture in 15% and hyperpigmentation in 10%. All these problems went away after 2-6 months. Of 10 patients with freckles 40% had their freckles come back partially but all the patients kept at least a 50% improvement. None of the patients with age spots had their problem return.
Hyperpigmentation (extracted from) The use of lasers and intense pulsed light sources for the treatment of pigmentary lesions. "In general, long-pulse laser and intense pulsed light sources can be effective with a low risk of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) when used for the treatment of lentigines [brown spots]. However, for dermal pigmentation and tattoo, Q-switched lasers are effective, with a lower risk of complications."
Wrinkle treatment - resurfacing. (Translated from) Improvement of dermatochalasis and periorbital rhytides with a high-energy pulsed CO2 laser: a retrospective study. Loose upper eyelid skin is usually treated by cutting it out during a blepharoplasty (eyelid lift). Until recently CO2 lasers have been used in eyelid surgery only to vaporize or cut tissue and to stop bleeding. Now however, laser skin resurfacing has become popular in eyelid surgery to minimize wrinkles around the eyes through its skin-tightening action. We wanted to look at the safety and effectiveness of a high-energy pulsed CO2 laser as a treatment for sagging skin and wrinkles on its own. 67 patients of different ethnicities with mild-to-severe upper eyelid sagging and wrinkling had laser treatment around their eyes. We did a comparison of photographs taken before the proceedure with photographs taken 1, 3, and 6 months after it. Also, we measured the upper eyelids with calipers. We found both sagging and wrinkling were significantly improved after CO2 laser skin resurfacing around the eyes. Patients with more severe problems showed greater improvement after treatment than those with moderate wrinkling. Side effects were limited to skin rash and tempory skin discoloration. No scarring, white skin patches, or lower eyelid sagging were seen, therefore skin resurfacing around the eyes with a CO2 laser can safely and effectively improve eyelid sagging and wrinkling.
(Translated from)
Combination
surgical lifting with ablative laser skin resurfacing of facial skin:
a retrospective analysis. Aging skin is prone to wrinkles, patchy coloration, and it is looser than young skin. Skin resurfacing with lasers can effectively improve many signs of sun damage in the skin, but a facelift might be needed as well for best results. Practitioners have often been reluctant to do laser resurfacing and a facelift at the same time, because of concerns that doing both proceedures together might delay healing. We looked at the results and side effects of doing a facelifts (including S-lifts, eyelid and brow lifts) alongside carbon dioxide or YAG laser resurfacing in 34 patients. We found the side effects were similar to having a laser-only procedure. The most common side effect was temporary skin discoloration (20.6% of patients). None had delayed healing. We saw that having laser skin resurfacing alongside a facelift maximizes results without increasing side effects, besides which patients only undergo one anesthesia and one convalescence. [Note from Sasha:
different scientists have come to somewhat different conclusions.]
Treatment of thread veins. (Translated from) Laser treatment of leg veins Lasers and intense pulsed light are increasingly popular treatments for thread viens and varicose veins, and the technology has expanded in recent years. Your practitioner can now deliver enough energy through the laser to precisely and efficiently treat your condition without needlessly affecting the structure of the rest of your skin. This means complications such as hyperpigmentation and skin irregularities are much less likely to happen. In particular, YAG lasers allow practitioners to treat people with darker skin, and lasers can now treat of deep blue varicose veins up to 3 mm in diameter without any other treatment. Sometimes laser treatment is combined with sclerotherapy.
Scars. (Translated from) Comparison of a 1450-nm diode laser and a 1320-nm Nd:YAG laser in the treatment of atrophic facial scars: a prospective clinical and histologic study. There are many treatments for depressed scars, but they haven't been very effective and they have a long recovery time. [Note from Sasha: surgery to detach the scar from its underlying tissue ('subcision') and copper peptide treatment, among other things, seem to have been overlooked.] Nonablative laser treatment (treatment that doesn't involve removing the surface of the skin) has been shown to remodel collagen in the skin with few complications. Although many studies show the effectiveness of this technique on wrinkles, there isn't much information about its effect on depressed scarring. We wanted to compare the effectiveness and safety of lasers (long-pulsed 1320-nm Nd:YAG and 1450-nm diode lasers) in the treatment of depressed facial scarring. We found 20 patients of varying ethnicities with mild or moderate depressed acne scars and gave them three monthly treatments. We used a long-pulsed 1320-nm Nd:YAG laser on one half of their faces, and a long-pulsed 1450-nm diode laser on the other half. We looked at the results during each treatment visit and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months afterwards using digital photographs and close-up examinations of the skin surface. We also took skin samples. We found mild to moderate scar improvement after the three treatments in most of the patients, and the patients' own assessments agreed with our findings. Side effects were limited to a mild temporary rash, temporary swelling and skin discoloration. There was no scarring or change in skin texture caused by either laser. The scars improved without significant side effects or complications and the 1450-nm diode laser was the most effective. Nonablative lasers are good treatment for patients with depressed scarring who do not want to undergo skin resurfacing procedures.
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