Of course all of the listed treatments I carry out myself. As a dermatologist I am not to delegate invasive methods, especially not in aesthetics. Only trained specialists should perform the treatment of skin lesions with lasers.
Laser methods are not suitable for the treatment of pigmented birthmarks (moles) or skin lesions suspicious of malignancy.
Erbium laser
Unwelcome skin color changes, warts and scars can be treated with the erbium laser. The laser works with little to no scarring at all. Therefore this method is particularly suitable for face, neck and hands, but also any other part of the body. On one hand, using lasers is a very gentle process by ablating only superficial layers of skin; on the other hand, there is also depth effect on the connective tissue. There, a new formation of collagen is stimulated, resulting in skin tightening and thus a more youthful appearance of the skin. The tissue penetration of the laser beam influences medium deep wrinkles particularly well. Another advantage of the erbium laser therapy is the relatively short healing period compared to other laser systems. Also, there is less reddening than with other laser methods.
Laser treatment of veins in the face (telangiectasias) or hemangiomas is carried out with the KTP laser (ND YAG laser), which has already proven itself very effective in countless procedures.
KTP laser (ND YAG Laser)
For many years the KTP laser has proven to be an excellent and safe method. Due to its low penetration depth it is particularly suitable for cosmetic treatment of superficial skin changes such as pigmentation spots, broken capillaries, hemangiomas, port-wine stains (nevus flammeus), etc. Overall duration varies individually, but usually requires more than one session. After treatment the affected skin areas should be treated with the utmost care. Direct exposure to UV light should be avoided for 4 weeks after the session.
Fractional laser therapy
Fractional laser therapy or photothermolysis is an excellent, new method for treating sun damage to the face, especially the small wrinkles on the lower eyelids. It is also suitable for the neck and décolleté. A particular advantage of this method is that it can be performed using a local anesthetic ointment containing lidocaine. General anesthesia is no longer required. Fractional laser therapy is very suitable for reducing excessive or gaping scars. For the first time also melasma, a hormone or sunlight-induced skin darkening can be treated with great success and low complication rate. A previously defined skin area is treated with so-called microscopic treatment zones (MTZ) at each session. These denote microscopic columnar zones where a thermal effect penetrates the skin and stimulates the deep connective tissue to proliferate. The epidermis remains intact and acts as a natural bandage. To achieve the desired result usually several sessions are required. After treatment, a visit to the sauna or the gym should ideally be avoided for two to three days. Strict sun protection is recommended. This method is ideal for working professionals. Visit our practice on Friday and use the weekend for recuperating as skin rejuvenation over the weekend.
For complete healing and peeling of crusts it is important to note that treatments around the neck and on the face take about one week while the décolleté will take about 2 weeks. Treatment of the eyes, however, can be done over the weekend.
Ruby laser – removal of pigmented lesions and tattoos
For the removal of pigmented lesions and tattoos the ruby laser is ideal. The process is called “selective photothermolysis”, referring to selectively targeting and removing of pigment in the skin cells. These pigments are thereby fired at with ultra short laser pulses, whereby the color particles in the cells are destroyed with a shock wave. The laser pulses are too short to damage the surrounding tissue and destroy only, i.e. “selectively” pigment contained in cells. On one hand the color residues are removed from the body by the bloodstream and the lymphatic system, on the other hand they are eliminated by forming a superficial crust on the skin, which later peels off.
This method is suitable particularly for the removal of blue and black colored tattoos. Not possible is the destruction of yellow, orange, red and green pigment. These colors don’t disappear but merely change their color to black.
To completely remove a tattoo several treatments are usually needed, by which the tattoo starts fading more and more from session to session until becomes blurred and vanishes. Ruby laser therapy should be repeated at intervals of 4-6 weeks. When treating pigmented stains such as age spots, melasma, lentigines or cafe au lait spots fewer sessions are usually required. However, this has to be decided in each individual case. A removal of pigmented birthmarks (melanocytic nevi) with the laser is not possible. Please also take a look at the section called “prevention”.
