As a teenager suffering with acne, you probably always dreamed of a day when your acne outbreaks stopped occurring and you would finally have beautiful clear skin. But, when you finally hit adulthood, you were left with lots of scars and uneven skin tone. There is still hope for you to have the beautiful skin you’ve always wanted. We’d like to introduce you to two non-surgical methods for improving your skin, the IPL Photofacial, and Fraxel Skin Resurfacing.
The IPL Photofacial, also known as IPL Photorejuvenation is an Intense Pulsed Light treatment that is used to create a smoother and more even skin tone. This treatment can reduce the appearance of acne scarring, blemishes, and enlarged pores. The IPL treatment can also help repair sun damage, reduce the appearance of age spots, liver spots, sun-induced freckles, and help to eliminate spider veins.
In an IPL Photofacial, a broad spectrum of light is transmitted through a small handpiece that is placed over the skin. The light energy penetrates the tissue targeting specific cells without damaging the cells around it. The targeted cells absorb the energy, the energy turns into heat, and the heat destroys the cells to prevent them from regenerating. The body’s own natural processes then remove the injured tissue from the skin leaving younger and smoother looking skin in its place.
An IPL treatment averages 45-60 minutes per session. Patients typically need anywhere from 3-5 treatments to achieve their desired results. There is no downtime with the IPL Photofacial treatment, however, patients report feeling as though they have been sunburned for a few hours after the treatment. You will be asked to avoid hot water and sun exposure for 2 days and following that to always use sunscreen when enjoying the outdoors. Blemishes that you have on your face at the time of treatment may darken for up to two weeks while your body works to shed this damaged tissue naturally. Eventually, the scars and blemishes will fade away.
Fraxel Skin Resurfacing is a treatment that is designed to improve the look of acne scarring, surgical scarring, sun damage, fine wrinkles associated with aging, and to improve skin texture and tone. The Fraxel laser treatment creates tiny “microthermal zones” that go deep into the skin and repairs by pushing out the old sun-damaged, scarred or wrinkled skin. This action triggers the body’s own healing process and accelerates the production of collagen and new, healthy skin cells.
The area that you are having treated will be cleansed and a numbing cream will be applied. Once the area is numb, a thin layer of gel is applied. Over the next hour, The laser will be used to treat the area. The numbing cream helps to reduce any sensations that you will have, but some patient reports feeling a slight pins-and-needle feeling. During the first 24 hours after your treatment, you may feel sunburned. This feeling can be treated with ice packs on the skin for 5 to 10 minutes every hour for the first few hours. Any redness that you have will fade during the first three days. You will be back to your normal activities and work within 1 to 3 days and within a week you will begin to notice your results!
