The telltale signs of aging can add years, even decades to your appearance, and few people can hide these behind a mask of makeup or correct them with over-the-counter skincare products. Today’s innovative skin rejuvenation treatments can zap away fine lines and wrinkles, even out your skin tone, and give you a fresh, rejuvenated look.
If you’ve noticed premature wrinkles developing around the eyes and mouth, or just want to give yourself a makeover without surgery, consider the key benefits of laser and light therapy for skin rejuvenation:
Key Benefits of Laser Skin Rejuvenation
Both ablative and non-ablative
laser resurfacing treatments address severe skin damage and aging skin, and can be particularly effective at tightening, toning, and clearing up the skin. The non-ablative laser is most appropriate for those who are experiencing premature signs of aging; it can help remove light patches of discolored skin, sun spots and acne scars.
Ablative laser resurfacing treatments are among the most powerful lasers for skin rejuvenation. These treatments take off the entire top layer of skin by heating the skin and creating significant wounds. Patients undergoing this treatment are required to rest for up to a week as the skin repairs and heals itself. This treatment is designed to treat deeper wrinkles, age spots and extreme cases of sun damage.
Fractional laser rejuvenation and fractional ablative lasers offer a deeper skin rejuvenation treatment. These are designed to treat deeply-embedded age spots, larger patches of skin discoloration, fine lines and wrinkles. These lasers do not cause any visible wounds, and typically require less downtime than ablative laser resurfacing.
Key Benefits of Light Therapy for Aging Skin
Light therapy can be a much milder form of skin rejuvenation, and is typically performed as a series of treatments so that the skin can be ‘damaged’, repair itself, and then become damaged by the light again so it becomes more resilient.
Intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy is on the most effective treatments for reducing pore size, improving the texture of the skin and reducing redness. It can also be used to treat rosacea, acne and other inflammatory skin conditions. The wavelengths of light penetrate deep into the skin and stimulate collagen production, which in turn makes the skin firmer and healthier.
PhotoFacials are the most common type of IPL treatments available at medical spas and cosmetic surgery centers, and most people require 5-6 treatments before they see results. However, this treatment can effectively get rid of brown spots, blotching from spider veins, rough skin spots, and fine lines and wrinkles.
Both laser treatments and light therapy offer a number of benefits for aging skin, and in some cases, offer better results than topical treatments or spa services. Individuals with persistent acne, age spots or sun-damaged skin are the best candidates for these intensive treatments, and most require only one session in order to see results.