Acne Laser Treatments
Product Information
Acne Laser Treatments
Acne Laser Treatments
As acne laser treatments technology keeps improving, so will the result it will have on treating acne and acne scars. More and more physicians are recommending acne laser treatments for treating acne scars. But before you go ahead, it’s best to understand the various laser treatments out there. Then you will be able to discuss the various options with your physician or why he/she has made a certain laser treatment recommendation. Another thing you will need to take into consideration is whether or not the cost of the treatment is covered by your insurance company.
Traditionally, acne laser treatments were used to remove acne scars, but now, laser treatments are also being used to treat acne itself. This area is still rather new so if traditional and natural acne treatments doesn’t work for you, you may want to consider laser treatment for your acne. Discuss this first with your physician as it may not work for everyone.
Acne Laser Treatments Pros
* No drugs involved
* Minimum side effects
* Virtually painless
Acne Laser Treatments Cons
* Expensive
* May require several treatments
* Some short-term bruising abd redness of the skin may result.
* Pigmentation may result for people with dark skin.
* The treated area may redden and become senstive until healed.
* Risk of burn due to the heat of the laser.
* Additional scarring (make sure you get a qualified laser technician)
Types of Acne Laser Treatments
1) Ablative lasers – These are resurfacing lasers that “burns” away the top level of the skin where the acne scar is.
* Carbon Dioxide Lasers – Used for treating sunkened acne scarred areas such as “Box Car” scars. The technician controls the strength and depth of the laser beam to effectively treat the scars. Due to the shrp focus of the beam, the scarring is completely removed.
* Er:YAG Laser – Used for treating acne scarred areas that are irregular and not that deep. This laser treatment produces the lowest thermal heat so the risk of burn is minimalized.
2) Non-Ablative lasers – The laser works beneath the skin using short bursts of light. This type of laser treatment requires more than one visit.
* Diode Laser – Focuses and heats and reduces the size of sebaceous glands which effectively reduces the production of sebum, one of the causes of acne. This procedure can cause some pain, so you may want to apply some local anesthetics to the area being treated.
* Pulsed Dye Laser (V-Beam) – This technique is used to treat both acne scars and inflammatory acne vulgaris. This type of laser is used mainly to treat red acne scars. This is best used to treat Hypertrophic scars (raised acne scars). The focused beam is targeted at the blood vessels under the skin. The beam of yellow light heats up and eradicates the blood vessels. There is no impact to the upper layer of the skin. A side effect with this laser treatment is bruising but clears within a week or two.
Now that you have a better understanding of the types of acne laser treatments, you will be in a better position to discuss these treatments with your physicians.