Achieve a More Youthful Appearance with Photofacials

By Stina Delance


Photofacial is a process using cutting edge pulse light technology to lessen redness and smooth out uneven skin colour issues. Using this method to correct aging skin issues and other blemishes and spots, this fast acting process is noninvasive and is increasing in popularity quickly.

The sun has an effect as well as aging on the skin over the years, including producing brown spots and ruptured blood vessels on the cheeks, nose, chin, hands and neck. Brown spots, often called age spots are caused by pigment that is produced by the skin to protect the skin from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. New blood vessels grow into the skin in response to skin injury by the sun. The new blood vessel formation is actually inflammation of the skin.

These are formed in order to carry blood to the area and take away damaged skin cells and to bring healing nutrients to the area. After the injury or inflammation goes away, these ruptured blood vessels remain along with brown spots, causing skin to appear further aged. Aging has many outward forms, and dyschromia is what red spots and pigmented brown spots are called technically.

What does the process do?

The bright intense pulsed light is passed through a filter where only a specific color of the flash light reaches the skin. The photofacial light energy reaches the skin and is selectively absorbed by the damaged blood vessel or brown pigment of the age spot. The damaged blood vessels and pigment are destroyed by the heat of the IPL light delivered by the machine.

Photofacial treatment is noninvasive and requires little to no recovery time. Treatment can be performed in as little as 15 to 30 minutes and you can return to your regular daily activities. Redness and capillary exposure are sometimes visible for a short time as soon as the treatment is completed. These minor side effects are quick to dissipate and the patient can immediately see the results of the treatment. When comparing lasers to photofacials, the latter seems very mild by contrast, as lasers could leave some scarring or peeling, this won't result from photofacial treatments. There is some darkening that can occur in the treated areas, but skin is never broken during the procedure. At the most, the region may remain pink for a few hours. When a patient needs to go to work and there is still some redness, some makeup does a good job of making this unnoticeable.

Treatments should be done every 2 or 3 weeks, and somewhere between 3 and 7 total treatments typically bring the expected results for patients. Rosacea patients see benefits of these treatments quickly, and will notice the redness becoming less prominent over time.

Always adhere to your doctor's instructions following treatment. Try to stay out of direct sunlight before a photofacial, and also afterwards. If a patient does not follow the guidelines and decides to tan or go in the sun, dyspigmentation and blistering is possible. Sun exposure following treatment can lead to recurrence of skin discoloration as well. To make the benefits of the procedure longer lasting and more prominent, ensure that you always have sunscreen on hand, and use it frequently.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment