Fraxel re:store Dual, a non-invasive laser resurfacing treatment, has been granted clearance by the FDA for the treatment of actinic keratosis (AK), also known as sun or precancerous spots.
The FDA clearance was given partly because of data from a six-month study of 21 patients with AK, each of whom underwent a series of two to four laser treatments, spaced two to four weeks apart. Results showed that the treatment yielded a mean 83.5 percent decrease in age spot lesions on the face and other areas of the body, including the arms, hands and chest. Improvements in skin texture and pigmentation were also reported.
“In our study, we found the Fraxel re:store Dual to be the most effective treatment of multiple facial AKs, as it is safe and requires minimal downtime while simultaneously improving other signs of photodamage,” said Dr. Roy G. Geronemus, director of the Laser and Skin Surgery Center of New York, in a news release. “While the 83.5 percent removal rate was comparable to other topical therapies and AK treatment options, Fraxel was overwhelmingly well-tolerated by all the patients and offers the added benefit of improving a patients’ overall skin quality, color and texture.”
Fraxel re:store Dual has a 1927 nm wavelength in addition to a 1550-nm deep-penetrating Erbium fiber laser. The 1927 nm wavelength is optimized for treatment of pigmentation and other superficial skin conditions, such as AK.
The FDA has also cleared Fraxel re:store for:
Skin resurfacing
Eye wrinkles
Acne scars
Surgical scars
Skin discoloration and pigmented lesions, such as age spots and sun spots
Patients frequently travel to Dr. Stacy Cosmetic in Bellevue, Washington, from across Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Oregon for Fraxel re:pair laser resurfacing treatment. Fraxel re:pair treatment has FDA clearances for wrinkles, irregular texture, sun and age spots and sun-induced redness.
Dr. Anne Chapas, a dermatologist in New York City, explained to Meredith Vieira how she used Fraxel, Thermage, and Isolaz to help the patients with a variety of skin problems, including skin laxity, acne, and sun spots—all without going under the knife.
Jill, a 40-something with years of skin damage from the sun, received Fraxel restore treatment. Dr. Chapas explains that Fraxel gives energy that stimulates new skin cells to grow and gives a refreshed appearance to skin, making it look more youthful and healthy.
Of the treatment, Jill says, “I’m thrilled. It really got rid of so much of the sun damage that I could see. It just makes me feel like I have fresh, new skin.”
Dr. Chapas estimates that it usually takes 1 to 3 treatments to see results. After treatment, patients may have a few days of redness and a little dryness, according to the doctor.
Lisa, a new mom, received Thermage treatment on her stomach. She says she had a lot of extra flab in her mid section after her second child. Thermage tightened her belly and helps her fit better in her clothes.
Thermage can also be used to tighten the face. Lisa B. was suffering from skin discoloration, breakouts and blotches, and looseness. She first received Thermage treatment, which helped tighten her skin and build collagen, followed by Fraxel the next week to help even out her skin tone.
Thermage and Fraxel treatments are available at Dr. Stacy’s Bellevue, Washington office. She is the number one Thermage provider in the state of Washington and patients frequently travel from southwest and eastern Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Oregon for Thermage treatment. Learn more about travel accomodations.
Environmental 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.
An NBC news affiliate in Santa Rosa, California recently aired this brief segment on Dr. Steve Weiner and his use of Fraxel re:pair laser therapy.
Dr. Weiner, who conducted a year-long study on the laser, claims that his patients see “dramatic results in just days.” He adds, [Fraxel re:pair] gives you a very natural result without the associated risks of surgery, there’s no general anesthesia, there’s no scars behind the ear and the recovery time is down to about 5 to 7 days.”
Fraxel Repair is intended to smooth out lines, wrinkles, scars and sun damage in one session that may require as little as 30 minutes. For more information on Fraxel repair with Dr. Stacy, see our Fraxel Repair before and after photos or call us at 425-413-8864.
The acquisition of Mountain View, California based Reliant Technologies by Thermage Inc. was recently completed. The deal was reportedly valued at approximately $66.2 million in stock and cash. Reliant has become a fixture in the cosmetic surgery market, largely because of the success of Fraxel, its brand of fractional laser technology treatment.
The acquisition required $23 million in stock shares, $25 million cash and must assume $7 million of Reliant’s debt. Shares of Reliant stock have dropped since the deal was publicized in July.
With the effectiveness of Fraxel laser technology, Reliant has been a highly profitable company. Fraxel treatments stimulate collagen growth and resurface skin by penetrating the outer dermis with ‘fractional’ microscopic laser columns. The patient’s natural, bodily healing process then promotes skin rejuvenation and collagen growth.
Thermage is known for marketing a unique, non-invasive skin treatment that uses radiofrequency technology to heat and subsequently tighten skin. The treatment is also said to improve superficial skin characteristics like texture and tone.
In Seattle, Dr. Stacy is one of the few cosmetic practices offering both Fraxel Repair and Thermage. Dr. Stacy has been a physician trainer for Thermage and provides highly effective combination treatments customized to each individual’s needs.
Reliant Technologies Inc., maker of Fraxel laser systems, was recently ranked 157th on Inc. Magazines list of the top 500 fastest growing companies and eighth among American health companies.
Reliant is known for their advanced laser technology, which has quickly become the standard in the fast-growing aesthetics market. Increases of the sales of their Fraxel laser systems (a 1450 percent increase) over the past 3 years has largely contributed to the company’s success.
The criteria for Inc. magazine’s prestigious list is dependent on dramatic revenue growth. Companies must also be private, for-profit, U.S. based and not a subsidiary of another corporation. According to the magazine’s editor Jane Berentson, “If you want to find out which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500.”
In response to the ranking, CEO Eric Stang said, “We are pleased to be included in such a prestigious group of fast growing, successful companies that have been chosen by Inc. magazine.”
Chief technology officer Len DeBenedictis explained their rapid growth and success as a direct result of the success of Fraxel lasers used in aesthetic practices, saying, “We’ve seen continuous dramatic growth in the demand for Fraxel treatments as consumers become more aware of the safety and efficacy of our unique suite of skin rejuvenation products.”
An unnamed third party has made an unsolicited buyout offer for Thermage, Inc. – just weeks after Thermage announced a buyout of Reliant Technologies (which makes Fraxel).
Thermage said in a statement that it would “consider the unsolicited, non-binding proposal” and “will respond in due course.”
A Leerink Swann & Co. analyst said in a note to investors, “We are not surprised to see this bid, given the marginal strategic rationale for the pending acquisition of Reliant and Thermage’s current valuation.”
We have both Fraxel Re:pair and are the top Thermage provider in Washington, and assure our patients that no matter what the marketplace does, we’ll still be offering the highest level of treatment for both resurfacing and tightening.
Last week, Fraxel and Thermage became one company as Thermage purchased Fraxel for $95 million. We’re not sure what this will mean going forward, but we do know that both technologies are the best in the marketplace for what they do.
Thermage has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years, so if you’ve heard negative feedback about it, you haven’t been talking to our patients. We have been carefully documenting our Thermage results with photography too, so come by and see the results that others have achieved.
We added Fraxel Repair this summer, and knew immediately that it was a winner. For skin resurfacing with tightening, there’s nothing better out there.
Fraxel re:store Dual, a non-invasive laser resurfacing treatment, has been granted clearance by the FDA for the treatment of actinic keratosis (AK), also known as sun or precancerous spots.
