By Dr. Ewa Timek

Lasers everywhere!

We’ve seen them in everything: grocery barcode scanners, eye surgery, cat toys, tag, and of course, Star Wars. Lasers have not only had a significant impact on the world of pop culture, but in recent decades, they have been heavily implemented into the world of medical aesthetics as a corrective option. These devices can tackle anything from dark spots, acne, moles, warts, veins, unwanted hair, and even aid in resurfacing and rejuvenating the skin surface. Though they may sound menacing, medical lasers are safe and effective options in restoring and bringing out what was lost to age, sun damage, and environmental factors.

Types of lasers

There are two types of lasers: ablative and non-ablative. The ablative lasers are attracted by the water in the skin and are designed to vaporize tissues. Tissue ablation is done in controlled manner and serves as an effective modality to remove the old layer of skin and stimulate production of new collagen and elastin in the process of skin rejuvenation.  The counterpart to ablative lasers are non-ablative lasers- non wounding devices which stimulate collagen growth, reduce pigmentation chances, eliminate dilated veins, and tighten underlying layers of skin. The action of non-ablative lasers may be less decisive than the ablative lasers and is associated with minimal downtime.

Our lasers

At Advanced Plastic Surgery, we house a variety of ablative and non-ablative lasers to address concerns of the aging skin, reduce unsightly veins, and even remove tattoos. The key mechanism that allows lasers to target specific particles in the tissues are the wavelengths with which lasers emit light and the chromophores (water, melanin, hemoglobin among others) which absorb the corresponding wavelengths. This was, no other tissue apart from the chromophores is damaged.

How it all works?

You may wonder what happens to veins, hair, and acne once the laser treats them. Our body has a natural filtration system and specialized white blood cells called macrophages that dispose of any waste products anywhere in the body. The role of the laser is to simply heat, break apart, or disperse pigment, hair, veins, etc. while the phagocytic (“eating cells”) macrophages engulf and destroy the remaining tissue in a natural way. Think of the laser as merely a means of kicking your natural filtration pathways into action with a profound dose of concentrated energy.

Safe and effective solution

Your skin is constantly changing with time. New spots, blotches, hairs, moles, and other anomalies arise because of the skin’s natural tendencies to produce pigment and heal itself. With such incredible tendencies, it is beneficial to take into consideration a treatment path that takes advantage of these natural tendencies in a safe and effective manner. Lasers are a great option for tackling individual imperfections and achieving your aesthetic goals. They may have destroyed the Death Star, but they will help you skin!

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