La Visage Beauty Center experts deliver the latest innovations in laser and light treatments for optimal results in your skin’s appearance.
Laser and light-based treatment can help reduce fine lines, wrinkles, blemishes and pigmentation, such as freckles and sunspots, through direct, short, concentrated, pulsating beams of light. Also known as lasabrasion, laser peel and laser vaporization, this skin resurfacing technique covers a wide range of skin problems including facial aging, age spots, pigment changes, redness and other conditions.
They also range in aggressiveness and downtime, depending on the laser- or light-based device used. Some treatments (non-ablative lasers) require no downtime while others, (such as the Fraxel® fractional CO2 laser) require some downtime.
How is laser and light-based facial treatment performed?
Laser and light-based treatment at La Visage Beauty Center is generally performed as an outpatient procedure. The laser technique directs short, concentrated, pulsating beams of light at problem areas of the skin, such as fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes, forehead and mouth or to treat acne scarring and pigmentation issues.
There are primarily two types of laser and light-based treatments:
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- Ablative
- Non-ablative
Ablative laser and light-based treatment is typically performed under general anesthesia and/or sedation, while non-ablative treatment does not require general anesthesia or sedation because it is less invasive and causes minimal discomfort.
What are the different types of laser and light-based facial treatment?
Ablative lasers were the first type of laser used for non-surgical cosmetic procedures and are still used for the same purpose.
Ablative lasers used for skin resurfacing include a carbon dioxide (CO2) or an Erbium: YAG (a type of metal enriched crystal) laser. They are used to:
- Remove skin very precisely, layer by layer, resulting in fewer problems with hypopigmentation (lightening of skin)
- Destroy the top layer of your skin to expose the lower layers and encourage new growth.
Non-ablative laser facial resurfacing uses a variety of lasers and light-based modalities, including:
- Intense pulsed light (IPL) to target the pigment in your skin and remove areas of discoloration
- Infrared lasers to treat wrinkles caused by sun damage by encouraging new skin to grow
- Non-ablative laser resurfacing to promote the development of new, more healthy collagen, helping to restore your skin’s contour and appearance with minimal down time
La Visage Beauty Center also offers a new type of nonablative fractional laser technology known as the Fraxel® Laser Treatment (fractional CO2).
Fraxel® technology is a “fractional” carbon dioxide laser treatment that produces thousands of deep, tiny columns in your skin, called microthermal treatment zones. These are pinpoint island injuries in the skin while the surrounding tissue is left intact and healthy. By leaving healthy tissue, fractional laser technology makes healing faster and easier, with the pinpoint injury stimulating collagen in the deepest layers of the skin.
As these thousands of little pinpoints heal, there is an overall contraction in the skin, reducing fine lines and making the skin appear tighter and smoother. Also, when Fraxel® technology is used over a brown, sun-damaged area of skin, the pinpoint injuries heal with normal colored skin cells, erasing the brown spot forever.