Fun in the sun is great. All of the tennis games, city walks and outdoor-pool swims were worth it and you’d do a repeat of the summer now if you could. Except that it’s getting colder outside and your skin needs a break. Despite the layers of sunscreen you slathered on throughout the summer months of warm weather, you still can’t help but notice all of the new fine lines, brownish sunspots and weathered areas that have recently appeared on your face and you don’t like it.
According to Dr. Heather Rogers, a dermatologist, the founder and CEO of Doctor Rogers RESTORE®and the co-founder of Modern Dermatologyin Seattle, you don’t have to, at least not with the right laser treatment. “Once school starts,” says Dr. Rogers, “there is nothing better at cleaning up the summer fun on the face, neck, and chest.” Here are four laser options you may want to consider.
Enhanced Fractionated C02 Laser
This carbon dioxide (CO2) fractional laser removes age spots, sun freckles, fine lines, wrinkles, discolouration and other skin irregularities in a very systematic way. The laser eliminates small sections of your skin, leaving the surrounding areas of each section intact to help promote healing. “This treatment stimulates significant production of new skin and collagen,” says Dr. Rogers.
Clear and Brilliant by Solta
“A great laser for beginners or for maintenance to treat brown and textured areas with minimal downtime,” says Dr. Rogers. “It’s especially effective and safe for diffuse brown like melasma.” For this treatment, make sure to book an extra half hour beforehand, as it requires 30 minutes of numbing before you begin. You can expect your skin to be red for approximately 24 hours afterwards. It will also look and feel dry, as well as slightly bronzed for about a week until the skin cells fully rejuvenate.
Intense Pulsed Light
One of the more popular laser treatments is IPL, as it’s often called, is excellent at helping heal eczema and rosacea as well as treating broken blood vessels. “This is the treatment of choice for redness including broken blood vessels and rosacea,” affirms Dr. Rogers. “It is also effective at treating brown spots such as sunspots and freckles, but I do not recommend it for diffuse brown like melasma. Post-treatment, expect a few days of swelling, redness and a coffee ground-like peeling of brown spots.”
Fractional Resurfacing
Anyone who has spent way too much time outdoors without sunscreen or feels their skin is aging beyond their control may want to explore this laser option. “It’s for those wantingsignificant improvement of skin, including brown spots, texture, pore size, laxity and wrinkles,” adds Dr. Rogers. “It requires more downtime [to recover], but has longer-lasting results.” Typically, these treatments require one hour of topical numbing beforehand, laughing gas (nitrous gas) during and then, seven days of recovery. The results are significant, but it may not be for the squeamish, as your skin can become very red, crusty and swollen during the first fours days of recovery.
