Lasers are medical devices that produce light of a single colour with a specific wavelength and direction. They come in many forms and are used to treat a variety of skin conditions.
They include:
• Light-emitting diode (LED) therapy, an increasingly popular therapy for the treatment of sun damage and for the signs of aging. It can be used to help soften skin lines.
• Ablative lasers, used to remove layers of skin. This poses greater risk and recovery times tend to be longer.
• Tattoo removal lasers, which target tattoo ink pigment with a high intensity and focused light beam causing the ink to break up into smaller molecules.
There are many different varieties of laser each using different energy levels to target different levels of skin penetration. Cosmetic lasers work by heating the skin to stimulate the growth of new tissues such as collagen. During treatment, patients wear specially designed goggles to protect their eyes.
Lasers can be used to remove superficial layers of skin to assist in the treatment of wrinkles and lines caused by sun damage, facial expressions or acne scars. They can also be used to address some types of pigmented skin lesions.
Cosmetic lasers treatments do come with risks. These include prolonged redness of the skin, bleeding, discomfort or pain, tenderness, changes in skin colour, scarring, burns and bacterial infections. If you have a darker skin type you are more at risk of burns and changes to pigmentation.#
Side-effects can range from bruising and redness to the drooping of your face which is why we strongly advise studying the longer PDF attached here to fully understand the risks. We also recommend you discuss it with your JCCP registered practitioner before any procedure. Look for your nearest one here
