On this page we will show pictures of various skin issues and how the lasers are used. This is to educate you about laser skincare and also to manage your expectations such as before/after results, number of appointments that may be needed and the time skin must heal between appointments.
The picture shows a normal freckle which is very small. Next, shows the pico laser targeting the small freckle and causing Frosting. This means the laser hit the skin cells that contain the dark color and affected them correctly. Next, the freckle looks RED. This is because the laser injured the dark cells which is expected.
What happens next is over 3 ro 4 weeks the freckle rises up to a scab and flakes off or is slowly absorbed into the body. After approximately 4 weeks the freckle is gone and replaced by new skin with normal color.
A key point is this type of laser works in individual spots.
This picture shows a larger freckle or could be a sun-spot. Because the laser targets a very small spot of skin, the laser is moved across a larger spot like it is a Chess Board with rows and squares. Thinking of your skin as a Chess Board is a good visual. The laser is fired into each square to cover the entire spot.
The issue is it being impossible to 100% hit every square. What can happen is after the 4 week process, you may notice some small remnants of the larger spot still exist. This why more appointments may be needed to finish and clear.
This picture is very important. It shows a body part with significant sun damage, freckles and spots. Next, you can see an IPL or intense pulse light device being used. The IPL covers a larger area of skin. IPLs have different lens for different skin issues. One of the lenses targets color in the sun damaged skin.
The IPL light hits the freckles and sunspots, even those you cannot yet see. The light damages the colored skin cells causing them to become dark and look like coffee grounds or flakes of pepper. Over 2 to 4 weeks these darker spots will rise up into scabs and flake off or be absorbed into the body.
When finished healing and clearing there may be stubborn spots that remain. This is when the Pico Laser can be used to target and clear the remaining spots. Think of the IPL like using a lawn mower on grass and the pico-laser clearing remaining weeds. The point is to be educated so you understand improving damaged skin requires multiple appointments with time for skin to heal between appointments.
This picture shows a spider vein. These are usually red or blue. The Pico-Laser can be used to clear spider veins. In this example the spider vein is blue and a 1064 lens is used to target the darker color. When the laser hits the dark color of the vein, the color and blood cells are dissolved. There can be an immediate fading. Over 2 weeks the vein and color may continue being absorbed into the body until gone. If any color from the vein remains this can be cleaned up at the next appointment. With some people spider veins may come back over a long time and can be cleared again as needed.
This is another important picture. The face has red acne marks with some scars. Depending on the color Red or Dark marks, an IPL or Pico-Laser can be used to target the color and clear the red or dark spots. The skin needs time to heal and the spots flake off and new clear skin replaces the old marked skin. However, 100% clearing of the spots may require 1, 2 or 3 treatments.
When the spots are cleared the next step is using a collagen stimulating lens on the Pico-laser to target cells deeper in the skin. This also requires 2 to 3 appointments spread over 1 month. The laser causes the deeper cells to produce more collagen. More collagen causes skin to look more full and healthy. This spreads out the acne scars making them less noticeable.
As you can see, doing this correctly requires a step by step intelligent process that takes time to complete A to Z. If you are serious about your skin you must go forward with laser skincare knowing how important it is to finish what you started.
This picture shows Melasma or blotchy skin. This is different from Sun Damage. With sun damage the lasers target the color in the damaged skin, dissolve the cells and those cells are replaced by new clear cells. Melasma is different. A 1064 laser lens may be used on Melasma. The 1064 laser passes through the skin surface to reach deeper layers. Think of the Melasma as a boat on water. The laser passes through the boat to affect the cells in the water underneath the boat. So, this type of laser does not affect the surface it works from below the surface.
Treating Melasma requires using low power settings and going lightly. The plan is to affect the cells that cause the Melasma blotchy color. As the cells are affected and stop producing blotchy color, new skin grows that is more normal color. This is how over time and ongoing treatments the blotchy Melasma is slowly replaced by normal looking skin. A key issue is it being impossible to know how your skin will react to the laser the first appointment. A few appointments may be required to test your skin reaction and adjust the laser power settings. Again, this is your skin and is worth being smart and doing this correctly.
This picture shows a woman's leg getting hair removal with IPL. #1 laser hair removal works best with dark hair because lasers hit and heat the dark colored hair follicle. Lasers do not work well with blonde hair. #1 The IPL light passes through the skin down to the hair follicle. The dark color of the follicle absorbs energy from the IPL light and heats. The heat damages the hair follicle. Sometimes the hair dies and other times becomes weak and slow to grow back. It may require 3 appointments to hit all the hairs and cause hair to stop growing or be slow to come back.
A problem in the DR is most clinics and spas use old low quality Chinese IPLs that lack the power and technology to do this properly. That is why woman often complain about laser hair removal where they go on appointments every month for 6 months to 1 year and still do not achieve positive results.
Only with best quality professional equipment like we have are these luxury laser services able to be done correctly.
When the IPL affects the hair follicle, it will turn dark and look like specs of pepper on the skin. Same thing happens with freckles and sun-spots. These spots mean the IPL light did affect the hair root and will clear in some weeks and hair is gone.
This is the black carbon laser facial also called the Hollywood Facial. A black carbon mask cream is applied to the face. When the cream dries it extracts the dirt and oils. Instead of using a cloth to wipe the mask off, the laser is used to vaporize the black carbon. This causes the mask to extract even more oil and dirt than is possible with a normal mask. After the mask is cleared a different pico-laser is used to treat the skin. This laser passes through the surface and goes down to the deeper layers that make collagen. The skin cells are stimulated to produce more collagen which makes skin look more full and healthy. Same as re-coloring hair every few months, to keep skin looking it's best this treatment must be done 4 to 6 times per year. We suggest getting the mask done during a week and come back 2 more times within 10 days for the collagen stimulating appointments. Then, plan on repeating this every few months to keep collagen levels high so skin remains looking it's best.
This picture is important. This is when a medical surgeon uses a C02 laser to melt/burn all layers of skin off the face. This is called Ablation. We do not do this but want you to understand what this is. In this situation the woman in the picture may have had deep wrinkles. By burning off the layers of skin the wrinkles are also burned off. As the skin slowly and painfully heals and grows back, the new skin looks younger and does not have the wrinkles or other flaws that existed before. The end result may look impressive. But this is very expensive, painful and takes 6 months or longer to heal.
Our service options are Cosmetic use of lasers to clear skin problems and improve skin appearance. However, we do not burn/melt layers of skin as in this picture. This type of operation must be performed by a trained laser surgeon, and this type of laser is called C02 which is a surgical laser.
