Lasers have made their way into virtually every facet of health care. Nowhere is the presence of lasers felt more strongly than in cosmetic surgery and aesthetic medicine. By changing the wavelength of the focused light energy, the duration of the pulse and the power of the beam, doctors can cut away diseased brain tissue in one instance and remove unwanted hair in another.
Photo rejuvenation is a cosmetic procedure in which laser light energy is delivered to the skin to improve its appearance. The cosmetic benefit that the patient enjoys is determined by the energy, wavelength and duration of the laser pulse and on how it is applied.
Melanin is one of the main pigments that determine the color of our skin. The more melanin in the skin, the darker it appears. When they are exposed to the sun, the skin cells produce more melanin, which results in a suntan. While a single, darker shade distributed over the whole body can look very nice, discrete areas, freckles or blotches of darkened skin are rarely desirable. In people with naturally darker skin tones, sun damage may appear as light spots or ashy skin. Sadly, while a suntan will fade, sun damaged areas may not.
How does photo rejuvenation work?
Photo rejuvenation offers a chance to remove these blemishes through a form of laser ablation. Using carefully controlled laser energy, the physician can disrupt the area that is dark or light to return it to its normal state. Its normal state, incidentally, is looking like the skin around the blemish.
For spider veins or areas containing blood near the surface of the skin, instead of targeting melanin, the laser wavelength and energy is changed to focus on another protein: hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the large molecule in blood that carries oxygen to tissues in the body. It is also a great target for photo rejuvenation.
The laser energy can be honed in on the hemoglobin molecules in small blood vessels near the surface of the skin. When the laser is applied, it heats the hemoglobin, which tends to destroy small blood vessels while leaving the surrounding skin intact.
Benefits of photo rejuvenation
One of the most interesting benefits of photo rejuvenation is the laser treatment’s ability to tighten and restore the firmness of skin. The concentrated energy stimulates the cells within the skin that produce a very special protein, called collagen. You may have heard of collagen as a dermal filler or treatment for wrinkles, but it is also a major, natural component of the skin.
Collagen is what gives skin it fullness and holds it together. As we age, collagen is not replaced as quickly or to the degree that it once was. Photo rejuvenation causes the body to produce more of its own collagen, which is potentially an even better way to restore this protein to the skin than injecting it.
Photo rejuvenation is essentially painless and can be made even more comfortable with a topical anesthetic. The cosmetic procedure can last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the services provided. While there may be some redness and mild skin irritation immediately after photo rejuvenation, it is temporary. Unlike cosmetic surgery procedures, there is no real recovery period or need to take off time from work.
While photo rejuvenation can greatly improve your appearance, results will vary. It is important to discuss the procedure at length with your plastic surgeon or dermatologist so that you can identify goals and set realistic expectations.