Now that you have reached a certain age, you may have heard about how laser and light treatments can help improve the condition of your skin. You may even be considering going through with it after reading or hearing about it. Regardless of the amount of time you spend taking care of your skin and how well you do it, the signs of aging will begin to manifest soon.
You are likely to encounter some skin blemishes, such as spots, scars, or wrinkles, at some point in your life. However, you don’t need to endure living with blemished skin for the rest of your life. Laser and light treatments can help eliminate or lessen the appearance of skin blemishes. The treatments can help you obtain a more youthful look because it can help improve the condition of your skin.
Laser Skin Resurfacing and What It Can Do
Laser skin resurfacingablative laser resurfacing
- Fine lines that come with age
- Hyperpigmentation
- Wrinkles
- Acne scars
You may start to feel better about yourself and be confident in everything you do once you have undergone the suitable treatment for your skin problem. Some may find it impractical, but laser skin resurfacing can bring you more than just beautiful-looking skin. In the end, the benefits and things that laser and light treatments can do for you are more than skin deep.
Things That Laser Resurfacing Can Do for You
There are numerous things that laser resurfacing can do, and these include repetitive muscle movement treatment, sun damage treatment, anti-aging treatment, and acne scar treatment.
Repetitive Muscle Movement Treatment
Smilinga great thing
The skin that covers your facial muscles also moves along with the muscles of your face. After years of doing it over and over again (since you keep smiling), your skin will begin to show signs of wear in the form of deep lines and wrinkles. The presence of these lines can make you look old and weary.
To restore your youthful look, you can depend on laser skin resurfacing to smooth the lines and make the wrinkles less visible. The good thing about this procedure is that you don’t need to have an anesthetic. The laser and light treatments are practically painless. It only needs minimal downtime. You can go back to your daily life in no time.
Sun Damage Treatment
Are you someone who loves tanning and has done it every year for so many years already? This practice and everyday exposure to the sun can lead to skin discolorations that include blotches of hyperpigmentation and freckles.
The laser and light treatments can deal with the sun-damaged area of the skin effectively by eliminating the discolored skin cells. It allows fresh and blemish-free skin cells to form and take over.
Anti-Aging Treatment
Laser skin resurfacing
Laser skin resurfacing can target and improve the texture and tone of the skin, lessen the appearance of fine lines, and eliminate or lessen the appearance of wrinkles.
Acne Scar Treatment
Laser skin resurfacingprior consultation
During a consultation, your aesthetician may recommend doing some things, such as waiting for an active acne breakout. It is suggested to heed the advice of your aesthetician to achieve a favorable result from the treatment.
Types of Lasers for Skin Resurfacing
Three types of lasers are used when performing laser skin resurfacing. Each laser of medical-grade targets specific concerns. From laser hair removal to eliminating skin blemishes, Visage offers different types of lasers that can effectively deal with a specific concern.
LightSheer Duet Laser
If your problem is unwanted hair on your face or other areas, you may discuss with your aesthetician a diode laser for eliminating unwanted hair. The LightSheer Duet is a good example of a diode laser, which happens to be suited for all types of skin.
LightSheer Duet is powerful and safe. It is considered more comfortable to use on patients than most lasers today.
NdYag Laser
NdYag Laser got its name from its medium known as Neodymium: yttrium-aluminum-garnet. The NdYag laser was specifically created to help people with freckles and pigmentation problems. It is ideal for people with darker skin color. It is also the preferred laser for small areas, such as the face.
The NdYag laser works by releasing rapid pulses that shatter the melanin or the tattoo ink effectively in some skin pigmentation types. The laser targets the melanin or ink without causing any disturbance to the surrounding tissues and skin.
Cutera Laser
The Cutera Laser is a technologically advanced, innovative device that makes it possible for anyone to have healthy and vibrant-looking skin. It is used to treat conditions that are typically associated with sun damage and premature signs of aging. These conditions include warts, vascular moles or angiomas, red acne scars, red stretch marks, facial veins, rosacea, spider veins, flushed skin, and others. Having youthful glowing skin is possible with the help of Cutera Laser.
This laser is applicable to use on the neck, face, and other possible exposed areas. Take note that some Cutera Laser may not be able to cure skin conditions, such as rosacea, but they can help make the blemishes less visible.
Most Suitable Candidates for Laser and Light Treatments
Various genetic and environmental factors can damage your skin or change its appearance. Poor diet, certain repetitive actions that affect the skin, hormones, acne, and constant exposure to the sun can weaken and damage the skin.
The most suitable candidates for laser and light treatments are males and females who are mature enough to understand the process and who are suffering from or feel bothered by any or all of the following conditions:
- Acne scarring on the body or face
- Scars left by chickenpox
- Enlarged pores
- Deep lines, wrinkles, and fine lines
- Hyperpigmentation (chloasma or melasma)
- Uneven skin surface or tone
Some patients may be much younger than expected. But, the aesthetician is the foremost authority who can determine whether it is safe and appropriate for a much younger patient to undergo laser skin resurfacing treatment.
The laser and light treatments are not only applicable to the face. It can also be used in other parts of the body including the chest, neck, and hands.
The series of fractional resurfacing treatments can do the following for you:
- Improve the texture of your skin
- Allow you to experience tightening of the skin (this often comes as an added benefit)
- Gain an improved and even skin tone
- Lessen the chickenpox scars and acne scarring
- Give you a more youthful look by taking years off of your appearance
How Much Does Laser Skin Resurfacing Usually Cost?
The full facial fractional resurfacing treatmentmultiple sessions
The price will be based on the severity of the problem area that needs treatment, the size of the affected area, and the number of sessions that the patient must undergo to get favorable and desirable results.
How Does It Work?
At Visage, we follow a certain procedure that will ensure the safety of the patient and achieve desirable results. In the ablative laser skin resurfacing technique, the epidermis is partially removed by penetrating the skin between 20 and 50 microns deep. In microdermabrasion, it can only penetrate up to 10 microns deep.
A beam of light, which contains high energy, targets the epidermis. The energy turns into heat that softly pummels the tissue. This action causes the peeling of the epidermis’ uppermost layers. It leads to collagen production and causes the skin to heal itself. A fresh, smooth, and even skin replaces the one that has been peeled away.
Understanding the Ablative and Non-Ablative Resurfacing
There are two techniques that professionals use to accomplish laser resurfacing, and they are non-ablative and ablative resurfacing. Both of these techniques use specific wavelengths of laser to lessen or eradicate the presence of hyperpigmentation, wrinkles, fine lines, and other skin damages or problems. The usual causes or reasons for these skin blemishes are exposure to the sun, aging, and other genetic or environmental factors.
When you visit Visage, our professional aesthetician will attend to you and provide guidance to help you decide which of the laser and light treatments can yield the most benefits. Our aesthetician can assist you as you explore the different types of laser skin resurfacing and choose the most suitable treatment based on the condition of your skin and size of affected area. You may also state the results that you expect to achieve from the treatment.
Ablative Laser Resurfacing
When performing ablative laser resurfacing, the laser energy provides enough heat to the skin’s uppermost layer. This action aims to dissolve the tissue and evaporate the moisture or water to cause fresh skin growth.
This technique is ideal for dealing with epidermis problems like minor blemishes and fine lines caused by sun damage and aging. This technique is a suitable choice for someone with skin that has very white, porcelain color to light tan color.
Our clinic provides ablative laser resurfacing treatment. Our professional aestheticians understand what you need and want to achieve when you have decided to undergo laser skin resurfacing.
Non-Ablative Laser Resurfacing
When performing the non-ablative laser resurfacing, the beam actually avoids or gets around the skin’s uppermost layer. It penetrates the dermis and epidermis to initiate the water evaporation process and promote new collagen production and fresh skin growth.
This technique best suits men and women with more severe skin problems, such as long-term sun damage or scarring. This choice is ideal for all types of skin.
When you visit Visage and prefer to have non-ablative treatment, our professional aesthetician will be more than glad to assist and guide you.
Question and Answers About Laser Skin Resurfacing
The following are the most commonly asked questions that people have regarding laser and light treatments. These may help you clear some doubts that you have about the treatment.
How long should I wait to see visible results?
You need to wait between 3 and 5 days following your treatment. You should be able to see improvement after the redness has become much lighter. Multiple treatments are typically required to achieve favorable results. You can only depend on the ability of your body to revitalize itself. It may take up to 6 months to see the final results of the treatment.
How many sessions of laser skin resurfacing do I need to undergo?
Your aesthetician will tell you the number of times or sessions that you need to endure to achieve desirable results. The number of sessions will depend on the severity of the condition of your skin, the type of skin you have, and the area of your body that needs treatment. For best results, it is important to follow the recommendations of your aesthetician.
How long will the results last?
The results can last for many years, depending on the type of treatment that you got. You can maintain the results for a much longer period when you stop smoking or don’t smoke at all, minimize alcohol intake, eat a healthy diet, do regular workouts, and use protection against the harmful rays of the sun.
Your aesthetician should be able to recommend some medical-grade skincare products to you. It is important to follow the instructions of your aesthetician carefully.
Is it painful to undergo laser skin resurfacing?
Some patients feel uncomfortable doing any of the laser and light treatments, while some are fine with their chosen treatment. Typically, half an hour before the procedure, the aesthetician will first apply numbing ointment or topical anesthesia. After the procedure, don’t worry if you will feel like your skin has sunburn – it’s normal.
In general, it is not painful to undergo laser skin resurfacing. However, some people may feel a bit of discomfort going through the procedure.
Is laser skin resurfacing suitable for any type of skin?
The most suitable candidates for a laser peel are men and women with skin color between very white porcelain and light tan. Those with darker complexions may have permanent scarring if they insist on having laser skin resurfacing. Fractional laser resurfacing is a more suitable option for those with darker complexions.
What are laser skin resurfacing’s possible side effects?
The most common laser skin resurfacing side effects include possible peeling, itchiness, some discomfort, minor inflammation, and redness. The intensity of possible side effects that may manifest will be different from person to person. This is due to the sensitivity of the skin of a particular patient.
Your aesthetician will give you instructions regarding the post-care regimen that you need to follow as well as the types of skin products that you can and cannot use.
When is the best time to undergo laser and light treatments?
There’s a possibility that you may experience some redness or other side effects from the procedure, you may want to set the schedule of your treatment on the last day of the workweek. That way, you will have at least a couple of days to recover before you go back to work. The possible side effects may have subsided by then.
It is also recommended to do the treatment at least a week before the major event that you are going to attend. That way, you will have ample time for recovery and show your best side.
What are the complications or risks that I should expect when I undergo laser skin resurfacing procedure?
Expect some degree of risks when you undergo laser and light treatments. In the majority of cases, the complications manifest due to the patient’s failure to disclose the complete or true information regarding his/her current state of health. The patient may have inadvertently or intentionally did not tell the aesthetician about his existing health conditions, recent exposure to the sun, and/or medications that he currently takes.
Other complications, such as hyperpigmentation and scarring, usually occur when the patient ignores the aesthetician’s instructions for a post-care regimen. It is best to avoid sun exposure for good.
What is the difference between laser skin resurfacing and microdermabrasion?
Microdermabrasion can only go 10 microns deep and only enhance the abnormality of the skin’s texture. Laser skin resurfacing can go as far as 50 microns deep and is ideal to use for men and women with deeper and severe hyperpigmentation or scarring.
If you only need to improve the aesthetics of the surface of your skin, you may choose microdermabrasion. For more severe cases, you may ask your aesthetician about the most suitable laser treatment for you.
What are the things I need to do to maintain the results?
Having protection from the sun is a must, and it is vital in keeping the results of the laser skin resurfacing and prevent it from fading. You also need to refrain from smoking, keep your alcohol intake to a minimum, exercise regularly, rest when it’s time to rest, and maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet.
You also need to stay hydrated all through the day. You also need to use medical-grade moisturizers and other skin products. At Visage, you will see that we have skin products that can help you maintain your results and keep your skin younger-looking.
The goal of the different laser and light treatments is to bring a youthful, vibrant glow to your skin. Once the condition of your skin improves, you will notice that you will start feeling good about yourself. You will feel more confident and lively with a positive outlook in life.
It is natural for the skin to age and show signs of aging. But, it doesn’t mean you cannot do anything about it. The same goes with acne scars, rosacea, and other skin conditions that often appear during teenage years. You should not let the skin blemishes bother you and ruin everything for you. There is something you can do, and you need to act fast before the problem gets bigger.
Laser and light treatments can give you youthful, glowing, and clear skin. You will look and feel confident about yourself and everything you do. However, you also need to do your share to keep your new skin in its exquisite state. Heed the warnings and follow the suggestions of your aesthetician to keep wearing that beautiful skin.
Contact Visage today and set an appointment with our professional aesthetician. Your first step in changing into a better version of yourself begins with your initial appointment and treatment.
