Decoding Cosmetic Lasers

There are so many lasers and so many skin conditions that lasers treat. Now, have you ever wondered why there are so many different types of lasers? It’s easy to open magazines or even search the internet and find article after article promising results and claiming to have the best laser. The problem is that most of the time, not one laser can or will correct all of someone’s skin concerns. In fact, Most people have more than one concern to begin with, which then will likely involve more than one type of laser treatment.
Here is where the decoding comes into play. There are two basic types of lasers, ablative and nonablative. Ablative lasers vaporize the top layers of damaged skin, while nonablative lasers work deeper in the skin without removing or otherwise damaging the top layers.
Now this could get very confusing, technical, and lengthy if I try to explain every difference between laser types, so I will focus on common cosmetic issues and what lasers we have here at CaloSpa to treat those cosmetic issues.

• Pigmented Lesions: such as sun spots, age spots, melasma, and other forms of hyperpigmentation the Excel V, Spectra, and Picosure all have the ability to treat these concerns. During your consultation the appropriate laser will be decided.
• Skin Tightening: Most cosmetic laser procedures will provide some level of superficial tightening, because they produce a controlled injury of the skin, which increases collagen production. The Lutronic Infini is the ideal solution to create targeted coagulation zones in aging, sagging skin with wrinkles. This treatment is bipolar RF (radiofrequency).
• Vascular Lesions: Vascular lesions include broken blood vessels on the face, unsightly veins on legs, and certain types of birth marks. Our laser of choice is Excel V, as it is minimally invasive. Spectra and Genesis are also great options as well dependent upon which type of vascular lesion we are treating.
• Tattoo Removal: It is so exciting now that we have two different tattoo removal lasers. Until now we were limited by what colors we could treat. Between the Picosure and Spectra, we can provide more options and better results.

There are so many different types of laser technologies available that it can seem overwhelming trying to decide which one is “the best,” we recommend that you come in and have a thorough skin evaluation with one of our clinical aestheticians. We can make this process easy and help you achieve your desired results.