Lasers can do great things. They can remove hair and reverse the signs of aging. They can also dissolve fat as part of a liposuction procedure. But when placed in the wrong hands, they can lead to severe damage.
 
You can liken lasers to heat weapons. If too much energy is applied, bad things like skin burns and scarring can happen. If you are going in for any type of laser procedure, you definitely want to be in trained hands.  You want a physician, a licensed physician assistant, a nurse practitioner or registered nurse doing your procedure. Also, don’t have laser treatments when you are tanned because the laser light is picked up by darker skin pigmentation. Lasers are much less effective on removing unwanted hair or diminishing wrinkles on tanned skin.

During the treatment, if the laser treatment is extremely painful, tell your doctor so he can lower the settings. If after the treatment, your skin is  persistently red or there is blistering, be sure to go right back to your doctor to be treated with the proper healing and lubricating agents to minimize the chance of scarring.

You can consult the American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery , the American Academy of Dermatologic Surgery, American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery  or the American Society of Plastic Surgeons  to find a trained physician who can give you the best results.

Dr. Neil Sadick is one of the most renowned dermatologists and researchers whose multiple discoveries have strongly influenced and transformed the future of dermatology. He is a Professor of Dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College and President of the Cosmetic Surgery Foundation. Dr. Sadick is author, or co-author, of more than 500 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has contributed more than 75 chapters of medical books. Read more at www.sadickdermatology.com.

It is finally possible to achieve professional-like results when using at-home skin care and hair removal products. The best results are experienced when consumers employ novel technologies similar to what dermatologists and plastic surgeons utilize in the office.

Professional quality technologies are now available for all consumers. The major areas where these are used revolve around hair removal, treatment of acne and rejuvenation of aging skin.

There are three main hair removal devices include:

• No!No! – employs a patented thermal heating element called Thermicon. This technology slows down the actively growing cells of the hair follicle
• The Silk’n™- a broad-spectrum light source similar to an IPL (intense pulsed light)
• Tria – diode laser technology

All three employ lower energies than those available in the doctor’s office. Many are FDA-approved and when used for longer periods of time (up to eight -12 weeks) have produced in clinically proven studies, up to 50-60 percent long-term hair removal. Results are almost comparable to what dermatologists are able to achieve in office settings, using higher power, more expensive technologies. The safety and efficacy of these at-home technologies has been proven in many scientific studies through published literature.

For at home acne treatment, there are the Zeno™ and ThermaClear®, which employ heat elements. Under development is the No!No! skin device, which uses a broad-spectrum light heat pulsing technology similar and comparable to what is used in the dermatologist’s office. These three at-home acne treatments help reduce acne forming bacteria, decrease inflammation on the skin and temporarily shrink sebaceous glands.

Ongoing FDA and published studies show similar efficacy with at-home acne treatments as to what can be achieved in the office setting, utilizing topical acne antibiotics, benzoyl peroxide, retinoic acid derivative as well in some cases as oral antibiotics.

Anti-aging rejuvenation technologies are also in the exploration stage. Studies are on going using red light LED sources.

There are three exciting ways for consumers to safely treat themselves at home with technologies that deliver near comparable professional results for hair removal, acne treatment and photorejuvenation. The key difference is that at home technology requires longer treatment time intervals.