Laser Skin Resurfacing
Lasers can be used to help improve the appearance of skin on the face. The skin of the face is frequently one of the first things someone notices about your appearance and is important to care for. Our faces age naturally as we get older, but the appearance of and "old" face can be due to many factors. The skin on the face can appear more aged if it has wrinkles, sun spots, age spots, acne scars, broken blood vessels, vascular telangiectasia, or abnormal pigmentation. Fortunately, we have several lasers that can treat these conditions and give you a more youthful appearance to your face. These lasers include Intense Pulsed Light and CO2.
Intense Pulsed Light or IPL use laser technology to target specific areas of the skin. Our IPL laser here at Alex Colque Plastic Surgery and Skiin anti-aging lounge has several settings. We set the laser to a specific wavelength to target individual chomophores in your skin to ablate our target. IPL lasers are excellent to treat aged skin with a Photofacial. In addition, it can also treat sun spots, age spots, and broken blood vessels or vascular lesions. IPL can also treat Acne Rosacea and some forms of pigment abnormalities.
CO2 laser technology is a more aggressive laser treatment that can achieve even greater results. This laser ablates layers of damaged skin and allows for new, fresh, younger skin to take its place. Your body then generates this new layer of skin cells which are not damaged by the previous aging condition. CO2 laser resurfacing can be done at different levels to achieve different results. These levels also can be adjusted for downtime required for the skin to regenerate. This can vary from 1-3 hours to 1-2 weeks. Fractional CO2 treatments can be done to allow for a more rapid healing time. At Alex Colque Plastic Surgery, we have the most stat-of-the-art and sophisticated CO2 laser that allows for Dr. Colque to have absolute control over the depth, area and time the skin is treated. This is unique to our CO2 laser.
Reasons for Considering Laser Resurfacing with IPL or CO2:
- Reduction of fine lines
- Improve skin texture
- Improve appearance of skin from sun damage
- Correct pigmentation issues
- Remove age spots
- Treat scars, acne, moles
Generally, recovery from laser skin resurfacing depends on the type of laser used and the depth or level of treatment. In general , the deeper the treatment, the longer the recovery and the better the result. Specific post procedure instructions will be given to you to help the healing process as well as give you the best possible result. The skin may be red for a varying amount of time based on the level of treatment and this is normal. Very minor pain associated with the procedure can be treated effectively with oral pain medication.
Laser Skin resurfacing with Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) or CO2 is a very effective procedure that can benefit those who wish to improve their skin and treat the appearance of aging. To schedule a consultation for a laser treatment in the greater Milwaukee or Waukesha Wisconsin area, contact Dr. Alex Colque today at 262.781.9000.