Clients that should not be treated include:

Contraindications:

- Clients who are sunburned (should wait until the burn subsides) or have irritated skin in the sites to be treated

- Clients who are exhibiting unidentified skin conditions in the sites to be treated

- Clients who have healed poorly after other types of laser treatments

- Clients prone to skin discoloration - patients who are taking photosensitizing medication, such as Accutane, should discontinue the medication 6 months before treatment

- Clients who are taking topical Retin-A, patients should wait 2 weeks before treatment

- Clients with autoimmune diseases

* Herpes Simplex Labialis (fever blisters) can be activated by laser treatment, especially on the upper lip, and clients with a tendency for fever blistering can be started on antiviral medication before treatment.

What is the difference between Refresh,Reveal and Renew? Essentially, the major differences between each of the treatments are the aging conditions that are the focus of treatment and the depth of ablation that is required in order to obtain the patient’s desired outcome.

Refresh – This treatment ranges from subablative treatment to a micropeel and aims to ablate the most superficial layer(s) of skin. The subablative treatment leaves a healthy glow to the skin, which can be noticed immediately after treatment. There is no downtime associated with this treatment and patients with skin types I-V are candidates. The micropeel treatment resurfaces slightly deeper into the skin, but only minimal redness and downtime (typically 1-2) days may be present. This is perfect for enlarged pores and uneven skin tone and texture.

Reveal – This slightly more aggressive treatment aims to gently vaporize moderate sun damage and fine lines. It is recommended that a topical anesthetic is applied before treatment. Downtime for this procedure can generally range from 2-4 days.

Renew – This procedure is to address much more pronounced signs of aging, such as deep wrinkles and extensive sun damage. While the most aggressive treatment, this procedure is still much gentler than other ablative modalities thanks to the 300- microsecond pulse duration and carefully controlled depth of ablation, which will enable profound rejuvenation in just one treatment as compared with 4-8 fractional treatments. Therefore, downtime occurs only once, instead of after each procedure. While redness may last up to 3 weeks at most, depending on the depth of treatment and your body’s natural healing process, you may still continue your normal activities while avoiding any prolonged sun exposure

How many treatment sessions are required? Generally, only one treatment session is needed for any ablative treatment, but subsequent sessions may be needed anywhere from 6 to 18 months following treatment, to upkeep any normal progression of aging. Typically, the more aggressive the treatment the longer you will be able to go before a subsequent treatment.

Do I need to use anesthesia or a numbing agent? This will depend on the actual treatment itself. If you are going for a subablitive peel or a micropeel (Refresh) topical anesthesia may not be needed, but this should be determined and mutually agreed upon by both patient and practitioner. For sun damage and deeper wrinkles (Reveal), the use of topical anesthetics is required.

Is it painful? No, there is just a mild, very tolerable sensation of heat. This is one of the key technical breakthroughs of Aerolase technology! The LightPod Era has set a new standard for gentle treatment and comfort. Once the anesthetic wears off there may be some swelling and discomfort depending on the aggressiveness of the treatment, which is normal. Any discomfort should subside within few hours up to 48 hours post-treatment and an NSAID may be needed to ease such.

Is it permanent, or will my signs of aging come back? While your skin will have a much more youthful tone, texture and appearance, the skin will continue to age so maintenance treatments may be required in the future. To reduce the signs of aging it is important to wear sunscreen, which will slow any increase of wrinkles and sun damage.

What are the risks associated with skin resurfacing? While each client will respond differently, there are a number of certain factors that you should consider when deciding to undergo skin resurfacing:

Prolonged redness: Redness is a natural response to heat and is to be expected. The length of normal redness experienced will depend on the aggressiveness of the treatment.

Hypopigmentation: Certain skin types may be more prone to losing their natural pigment. This is associated with the skin’s natural color, not darkened age spots or sun damage. This is more common in darker skin tones. Both client and practitioner should mutually agree upon which procedures are appropriate and the associated risks.

Scarring: Post-treatment care is extremely important for ablative procedures and the treated area should be consistently moisturized as to reduce any adverse effects. While this may be more common with aggressive procedures, scarring is still very rare with appropriate post-treatment care.

Infection: This is also very rare with laser resurfacing and the most common type of infection is viral herpes as it lies dormant in the outer skin and can be activated with due to dermal stress.

Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation: PIH is a condition in which the melanocytes in the dermis rapidly create melanin in response to inflammation. This more commonly occurs in darker skin types. It is typically a temporary condition that will fade over time, but can be treated with topical medication to quicken recovery.

Can it be used on dark skin? Certain treatments may carry a heightened risk for certain skin types. The type of results that you would like to achieve versus the treatment options and risks should be discussed at length with your practitioner in order to decide on the best treatment regiment.

What happens after treatment and when can I expect to see an improvement in my condition? Improvement may be seen anywhere from immediately after the treatment to a couple weeks after. Each individual result can vary as each person responds to the treatment through his or her particular immune system and collagen restorative response. Depending on the aggressiveness of the procedure and your body’s healing process, the time to fully recover may take anywhere from 1-28 days, but the final results should not be judged until 6 months after aggressive treatments as the collagen production and remodeling takes about 6 months to complete.

Will my lesion or scar tissue be permanently gone or can it come back? There is a very good chance that your lesion(s) or scar tissue will be permanently gone or diminished, but due to the body’s natural aging process and other factors there is a chance that there could be additional lesions formed and maintenance may be needed. Certain people also have a heightened risk of hypertrophic scars, which may need more than one treatment to maintain the desired appearance. These are factors needed to be taken into account when deciding whether or not to undergo any procedure