Types of Lasers
There are different categories of lasers that can help your skin.
Considered the most powerful lasers, ablative lasers remove the epidermis, the top layers of your skin, and part of the dermis, the second layer of your skin. By heating the water in your skin, it vaporizes your skin cells making your body react by creating new, younger-looking skin. This tightens up your skin, which softens wrinkles and removes fine lines, and lightens sunspots. Benign skin growths can be eliminated as well. The most common ablative lasers are CO2, carbon dioxide laser that offers deep peel, and erbium YAG, which resurfaces less deeply but can have fewer side effects than CO2. In fact, erbium is the preferred choice since it can perform most of the same things as CO2 but with fewer side effects. Erbium can deal with moderately deep lines and wrinkles and is used to cure pigmentation issues, sun damage, moles, and acne scars. Like other resurfacing resources, ablative lasers take away the top layers of your skin and allows your skin cells deep within hair follicles to “resurface” your skin. It works particularly well with fair skin tones.
Additional Reading
The result is the development of collagen and new skin that covers the surface for a smoother and more uniform feel. You can expect your skin to be sensitive for a few weeks. Final results can take about six months. Non-ablative lasers are gentler than their ablative counterparts by sending energy lower into the deeper tissue. Non-ablative does not remove skin layers and uses pulsed light or pulsed-dye with pigment conditions such as acne, spider veins, and rosacea. These laser treatments are milder and less invasive with results that can take longer than ablative lasers. Non-ablative lasers are often used for people with darker skin since it poses less of a risk for hyperpigmentation. There are also light therapies that are not lasers and do not resurface your skin. Light therapies use several wavelengths of light at the same time and can rejuvenate results that are similar to lasers in a gentler and more targeted way. An intense pulsed light (IPL) can treat issues such as acne, sun damage, and rosacea while pulsed-dye lasers can be effective in combating broken capillaries, hyperpigmentation, redness, and rosacea. Other light-based treatments include Pearl by Cutera, Photo Facial, Portrait, Radio-frequency, and Ultrasound Imaging.
