Lasers & Devices - 3/1/2007

Fraxel is still king of the lasers as far as I'm concerned. The results that I am getting with the Fraxel SR 1500 are fantastic.

Acne scar patients that I would have been quite pessimistic with before can look forward to very impressive improvement. Pain with the new machine is significantly less and we can put much more energy into the skin without increased risk of injury. Thermage - mixed results, but people are finding that, if they are patient, they are seeing impressive skin tightening. It just takes a while sometimes.

One patient recently told me that she is happy now, after 4 months, whereas she was disappointed afterwards. So, some people see great results right away, and others have to wait for the collagen to be stimulated and to build. I really want people to see results from this procedure, and sometimes a second session is necessary 6 months after the first. If that is the case, I want to encourage people to do it, but without bankrupting them, so I'm offering that second session at 1/2 the price that we charged for the first one.

I have begun using Thermage for resistant acne. I heard anectodal accounts from another facial plastic surgeon's office that it was a good treatment. They noticed accidentally that with some of their patients, the Thermage procedure cleared up their acne. I have used it on a few people who did not improve on PDT, Blue Light, topical treatments or facials. The results have been very impressive, so I'm looking forward to offering this as an effective treatment.