Laser Treatments For Your Skin
Different laser treatments can help make your skin look younger and smoother, remove spots and scars, and remove stubborn, unwanted hair growth. A cosmetic specialist can help you decide which laser treatment is best for you.
Types of Laser Treatments
Alexandrite & ND:YAG Laser
Alexandrite & ND:Yag lasers treat larger blood vessels on the face (like the large blood vessels on the nose) and birthmarks, like port wine stains. These lasers can also treat certain types of spider veins on your legs.
Treating unwanted veins with Alexandrite and ND:Yag lasers is very fast. The laser uses intense light which injures your blood vessel lining. As your body heals, the vein fills with scar tissue so there is no more blood flow. This causes the vein to disappear.
Your doctor will put a topical numbing on your skin to make sure you don’t feel any pain. You may have bruising and darkened blood vessels around the area where the laser was used for one to two weeks after.
Alexandrite & ND:Yag lasers can also be used for laser hair removal.
Conditions & Treatments
CO2 Resurfacing Laser
CO2 Laser resurfacing is considered the gold standard for total skin rejuvenation for a more youthful appearance. Specialists use this laser to treat signs of skin aging caused by sun exposure and other environmental factors. Few other lasers on the market can take five years off of your wrinkles.
It improves:
- fine lines and wrinkles,
- skin texture and tone,
- pigmentation,
- and results in skin tightness.
It can also effectively treat surgical and acne scars.
Lumenis Active & Deep Fx Lasers
The Lumenis Active and Deep Fx use a fractionated ablative delivery system that allows for faster recovery than the traditional Co2 lasers with fewer side effects. Many lasers work by wounding (or "ablating") layers of your skin so new, healthier layers can grow in. Fractionated means that little holes are created in the skin while protecting some areas of normal skin. When areas of normal skin are left behind, the skin heals much faster than with the traditional CO2 devices.
ActiveFX is a more superficial treatment that is excellent for skin pigmentation and fine lines. DeepFX is a deeper treatment than can treat deeper wrinkles, scars, and provide skin tightening.
Co2 Laser Treatment & Recovery
Most patients need one to three treatments depending on the areas treated and indications for treatments (acne scars need more treatment sessions, for example). Patients will need topical and regional anesthesia along with oral sedation. Treatments take approximately two to three hours. Patients stay awake and very comfortable during this procedure.
We recommend one week of recovery and downtime due so your new fresh skin can have the time it needs to heal. After treatment, we monitor our post-CO2 laser patients very closely to ensure the best results.
Conditions & Treatments
Fraxel Dual Laser
The Fraxel Dual Laser is a unique and versatile laser that can treat many different types of skin problems. The laser creates “microthermal zones” or pockets of heat that form in the deeper layers of your skin. These heat zones help your skin produce collagen for up to 6 months after each procedure, making your skin look younger, smoother, and firmer.
This gentle resurfacing laser has two separate settings: 1550nm and 1927nm.
- The 1927 nm setting can be used effectively to treat pigment problems like freckles, melasma/chloasma, age spots, and sun damage.
- The 1550 nm setting also helps tighten aging skin and addresses a wide variety of changes in your skin’s feel and texture, including wrinkles, enlarged pores, and scarring from acne or injury.
Fraxel Laser Recovery Time
The Fraxel laser usually has less downtime than more aggressive resurfacing lasers. This is because your skin remodels—or grows—best when there’s less direct injury to the skin. The Fraxel laser is a great option for people who want complete skin rejuvenation but don’t want a longer recovery time.
How Many Fraxel Treatments Will I Need?
In most cases, patients need one to three treatments to get the best results in improving their skin’s pigment and tone. Patients who want to tighten their skin or improve texture and reduce wrinkles will need three to six treatments.
Fraxel Laser Side Effects
You will need topical (local) anesthesia before the procedure. We do offer an oral sedation for patients who are worried about pain and want the most comfortable experience.
Many patients have a sunburn-like sensation for several hours after the procedure. Some patients may experience redness, mild swelling, rough skin, and bronzing of the skin for five to seven days on their face, and between seven to 14 days on their neck and chest.
Treatment & Services
PicoSure®
The PicoSure® laser is optimal for treating pigmentary conditions and overall skin revitalization. It uses the same technology used in tattoo removal. The PicoSure can treat these conditions:
- Pigmentary conditions
- Stubborn pigments
- Birthmarks
- Acne scars
- Melasma
- Aging prevention
Similar to the Fraxel laser, PicoSure is a milder application with minimal thermal damage and fewer treatments. The Focus Lens Array Setting (FLA) can be applied to a specific target area for the most effective pigment removal.
When Should I Choose FLA Over Fraxel?
Choose FLA when you have either darker skin types or a lower pain threshold. (Fraxel laser treatments require numbing.)
Timeline & Results
In most cases, you will need one to three treatments for the best results. Results will typically appear one to three weeks following treatment.
This treatment is a cash basis service and is not billed through insurance.
Treatment & Services
Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Laser
Intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy is a skin treatment that smooths lines and wrinkles, removes facial hair, and erases some pigment problems like sunspots.
Intense pulsed light is similar to laser treatments but uses a lower intensity and wider range of wavelengths. The light energy delivers a pulse of light that breaks up the darker colored cells.
It’s an effective treatment that targets:
- brown spots (such as freckles);
- sunspots;
- spider veins;
- acne;
- blood vessels and redness of the face (rosacea); and
- other pigmented lesions (marks or sports) on your face, neck, chest, hands, and arms.
IPL lasers can also improve skin texture and tone.
IPL is a non-ablative technique, which means that it affects the lower layers of your skin rather than the top layers. Because it’s not as abrasive as other methods, a patient can have the technique done with no downtime—or long breaks—between treatment, which is something laser treatments require.
Patients usually need a topical anesthetic during treatment. On average, patients need two to four treatments for best results.
Most patients have a sunburn-like feeling for a few hours after the procedure. The brown spots then darken for one to two weeks, then lighten and eventually lightly peel off. This treatment is also extremely popular because of there is no downtime and it is very effective.
Treatment & Services
VBEAM (Pulsed Dye) Laser
The Vbeam Laser is a highly effective laser for treating many types of vascular lesions on your face and body. Vascular lesions are marks or growths that look abnormal, especially compared to the rest of your skin.
The VBeam laser can treat:
- facial blood vessels (capillaries),
- facial redness due to rosacea,
- cherry angiomas, and
- vascular birthmarks, such as port wine stains.
A VBeam laser can also treat scars that form from surgery or keloid scars.
Patients getting a treatment from a VBeam laser usually don’t need topical anesthetic.
In most cases, a patient will need two to four treatments for the best results. The VBeam laser is very popular because there is no downtime, it produces great results, and there’s minimal discomfort during and after the procedure.
VBeam Laser Side Effects
Common side effects after this treatment include swelling and redness that last from one to four days. Some patients may have bruising for one to two weeks. Bruising most often happens when doctors treat lesions like port wine stains.
Conditions & Treatments
Loving the Skin You Are in: Skin Care Treatments that Boost Confidence & Well-Being
When Ale Zagas considered undergoing skin care treatments, she thought it would simply streamline her self-care routine, but it was so much more than that. University of Utah Health offers many aesthetic and skin care treatments and procedures that can improve the way your skin looks while keeping it healthy, especially as you age. Meet Master Esthetician Hailey Richards, and read Ale's story.
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