The Picosure laser is a fascinating laser since it has two very different uses. The first use is that it is the number one tattoo removal laser. It can remove unwanted tattoos, often with half as many treatments as other lasers would require. It can also target the blue color which most lasers do not have the ability to treat.
The second treatment, which is what I want to focus on in this blog, is for facial rejuvenation.
Almost all women over 35 years of age, have irregular pigmentation on their face (and with more years, their neck, chest, and hands). There are many reasons for these irregularities; partially hormones, partially from sun exposure and partially genetics and hereditary. Of course, with increasing age, fine lines will appear, initially starting around the mouth and eyes.
The Picosure laser is a breakthrough laser. It is fairly new to the market although we have owned it for three years, with special technology that allows it to fire one thousand times faster than any other laser. This means that the face can resurface with little to no downtime. This also means that you can return to work the same day or the next day (people with darker skin may get more redness but it really varies person to person.) You certainly can be seen in public, although you may look a bit pink. Of course, for something major, like your wedding or your child’s wedding, please discuss it with us in advance so we can advise you.
Another important benefit of this technology is it is much safer for people of ethnicity. Older technology such as CO2, Fraxel and IPL, have a much higher risk of inducing hyper-pigmentation in people of ethnicity (making them worse rather than better). This is incredibly important since there oftentimes, people with ethnic skin, can show this irregular pigmentation, even more than a Caucasian. These older lasers can have significant downtime. The Picosure laser is safe for skin types one through four.
The Picosure treatment is fast and easy. We require our patients to stop any active agents like Retin-A, three days before your treatment. You cannot be tanned in your face. We schedule your numbing thirty minutes prior to your appointment. The treatment will be painless, and you can put on make-up and return to work. You need to plan 3 treatments, each done one month apart. My wife had a lot of hyper-pigmentation due to years of sun tanning without any sun protection (before I married her!!) and she needed 4 treatments to get her face, neck, chest, and hands, to look great.
The treatments will help stimulate collagen and elastic fibers in the fine lines. The Picosure will help but not 100% eliminate them. It also helps but will not eliminate acne scarring (though this may require more than three sessions).
Sometimes, women will have an extra dark spot and we can spot treat it with our Cynosure Elite Laser. We also have another laser that can treat the spider veins, since unfortunately that cannot be rectified by the Picosure laser.
Another exciting combination therapy that many of our patients are doing is alternating every Picosure laser treatment, and then two weeks later, doing microneedling with PRP and continuing that cycle for three of each treatment. There is no magic treatment that exists however, by combining two different treatments, we can get a synergistic effect with often a very superb result.
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Please let him know that you came to him via my website. It has been an honor and a privilege to be your plastic surgeon.
Warmly,
David Berman MD, FRCSC