Fraxel for Age Spots, Acne Scars, Melasma and Wrinkles
Monday, April 12th, 2010Environmental hazards and lifestyle habits can gradually damage your skin. Fortunately, we can use Fraxel laser treatment to actually awaken your skin cells, so they can naturally revitalize themselves.
Fraxel is FDA approved to treat conditions such as sun spots, acne scarring, melasma and eye wrinkles. Only a small fraction of your skin is treated with each session. The surrounding area is not affected. This way, the skin can heal much faster than if the entire area were treated at once.
The laser penetrates through skin like light through glass, reaching into the dermis below to create thousands of tiny, microscopic areas of thermal damage. Your body’s own wound healing response is stimulated to produce new collagen production and replace damaged skin layers.
Most treatments use topical anesthesia. At Dr. Stacy’s Maple Valley office we need about 30-45 minutes to perform a typical facial treatment.
Age/Sun Spots
It’s hard to escape the damage caused by decades of harmful sun exposure. To reduce the appearance of sun spots, Fraxel treatment awakens and revitalizes the subsurface cells in your skin. Sun spots (also known as age spots or liver spots) are flat, uneven patches that appear on sun-exposed parts of your body. The most common areas are the face, chest, hands, shoulders and arms.
Your skin reacts to sun exposure by producing pigment called melanin. The purpose of the melanin is to shield your skin from UV rays. This increased pigmentation can cause darkened spots – making you look much older than you really are.
Acne Scarring
Acne scarring can make a negative impact on one’s self-image, particularly if you are entering adult life while carrying these outward symbols of your teenage years. Fortunately, a Fraxel treatment can reduce or soften the appearance of acne scars and improve your appearance significantly.
Scars happen when acne advances to the point of injuring the tissue. This discolored fibrous tissue has abnormal collagen function. It may appear as a red raised area or indented mark. For treatment, the top layer of skin must be removed and the production of new collagen must be stimulated.
Traditional acne scar treatments blended topical agents, abrasion therapies, surgery and conventional lasers. Most of these treatments get moderate results and can be aggressive, resulting in a long, painful recovery period.
The FDA approved Fraxel for treating acne scars once research showed that Fraxel could be more effective than traditional acne scar treatments. The powerful, yet precise laser effectively encourages the skin to create new collagen to replace the scarred epidermis.
Melasma
Pregnancy can take a toll on your skin. With stretch marks, melasma and hormonal changes, it can leave some lasting reminders that most women would prefer to erase.
Melasma is a common disorder estimated to affect about 6 million women in the United States. Melasma typically appears as brown spots and darkened pigmentation on sun-exposed facial areas, notably the cheeks, forehead, upper lip and nose. Melasma is most common in women of childbearing age and among male and female adults of dark-skinned races.
Fraxel is effective in treating persistent melasma that has been unresponsive to treatments like bleaching creams, microdermabrasion, selective photothermolysis laser and light therapies, and laser ablation.
Think of your skin as a wall made up of tiny tiles. If you have melasma, every third tile on this wall would be brown in color. With Fraxel fractional resurfacing, every brown tile is “zapped” and eliminated making your skin more uniform.
Wrinkles around the Eyes
Your wrinkles may signify a life rich with laughter and experience, but most people would prefer to keep the memories and lose the crow’s feet. With Fraxel, we can naturally rebuild and restore your skin in this area, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
The skin around your eyes is much more delicate than other areas of the body and tends to age more rapidly. The tiny wrinkles that develop (crow’s feet) develop from years of contracting the muscles that display our emotions when we smile, squint, contemplate, show surprise or laugh.
There are several therapies for reducing crow’s feet, including Botox, chemical peels, injectable fillers, collagen, dermabrasion or traditional laser treatment. If Fraxel is not an ideal treatment for you, one of these therapies may be a better solution.
Click here to learn more about Fraxel laser treatment in Bellevue and Maple Valley. To stay in touch with our office and be notified about future Fraxel specials and exclusive offers, subscribe to Dr. Stacy’s email list.
