If you want to take years off your skin age, reduce sun damage, smooth wrinkles, and tighten and tone, then the time is now. The “laser 360” protocol involves getting three treatments, three times in 60 days. Remarkable results from the latest generation of lasers make this faster, easier, and more affordable than ever before.
LASER 360 TREATMENTS
First of all, lasers work by transferring energy in the form of light into the skin where that light energy is absorbed by tissue and converted to heat. Different wavelengths of light are absorbed by different colors and will penetrate to different depths. The exact wavelength of light determines what part of the skin is treated.
Shorter wavelengths of light will target the surface of the skin treating brown spots, broken capillaries or fine wrinkles. Using relatively low-energy, short wavelength light, imperfections such as redness of rosacea, superficial blood vessels, color imperfections, age spots and other discolored signs of sun damage and aging can be gently heated and eliminated, replaced by newer, younger looking skin. This 20-minute procedure is the first of the laser 360 treatments, called Photo Rejuvenation.
Skin tightening is ideal for targeting those telltale signs of aging, including jowl and neck laxity, sagginess under the eyes, droopy brow lines, and nasolabial folds. Near Infra-Red energy, the second laser 360 treatment, is used to produce a dramatic, yet comfortable deep dermal heating in skin in order to stimulate collagen formation, which results in a tighter, smoother and fresher appearance to the skin.
The third portion of laser 360 is called Pixel, and is for more significant wrinkling, discolored and sagging skin. The laser treatment needs to deliver energy to the deepest layers of collagen where the energy causes heat-induced collagen shrinkage and micro-thermal injury followed by dermal regeneration, repair and remodeling.
In years past, the only laser treatments for deeper collagen restoration involved a more destructive process called “ablation” in which the entire skin surface was treated leading to a complete stripping of the outer layer of skin, which involves a higher risk of infection and more downtime for healing. Seeking a less invasive and simpler approach for these more aggressive treatments laser companies developed technologies that allow treating only a fraction of the skin at deeper levels while leaving most of the surface skin intact. This is called “fractional” resurfacing.
Different from previous laser technologies, with fractional resurfacing only a tiny proportion of the skin receives the laser light. The laser delivers a series of closely spaced laser spots to the skin while simultaneously preserving the normal healthy skin between. By leaving mostly healthy skin, this results in rapid healing following the laser treatment. Fractional lasers achieve the skin improvements obtained with ablative lasers without the associated side effects or downtime.
By splitting the laser into a seven-by-seven or nine-by-nine array of pixels, we can effectively treat while only disturbing 15 to 20 percent of the surface of the skin. This creates an ablative heat channel at the pixel area — a micro-injury — without disturbing the surrounding tissue. Those micro-injured areas start the process of healing and the untreated area acts as a reservoir for rapid healing. As collagen remodels, skin tightens and texture improves.
THE LASER 360 PROTOCOL
The suggested protocol delivers a complete skin rejuvenation with these three lasers in just 60 days, combining each of the above treatments into one treatment session, and repeating twice at 30 days intervals.
Address surface discoloration with Photo Rejuvenation, tighten with Near Infra-Red, and improve skin texture and tone with Pixel. Each treatment session takes about two hours and there are three to four days of downtime with mild swelling and redness.
To learn more about iPixel and the many laser treatments available, call Bellezza Laser Aesthetics at 970-254-1195 and schedule a free consultation with one of our laser specialists.
Author
Scott Rollins, MD, is Board Certified with the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. He specializes in bioidentical hormone replacement for men and women, thyroid and adrenal disorders, fibromyalgia and other complex medical conditions. He is founder and medical director of the Integrative Medicine Center of Western Colorado (www.imcwc.com) and Bellezza Laser Aesthetics (www.bellezzalaser.com). Call (970) 245-6911 for an appointment or more information.
