Plastic Surgery Medical Spas: Starlux 2940

Starlux 2940: Fractional Laser Skin Resurfacing Technologies by John L. Jeghelian Cosmetic dermatology, plastic surgeons, medical spas and their patients will be hearing more and more about fractional skin resurfacing technologies like ActiveFX, DeepFX, Starlux 1540, Starlux 2940, Fraxel Repair. A small bit of history surrounding fractional laser treatments and C02 laser ablation treatments provide a place to start when looking at what's here in cosmetic medicine regarding fractional treatments, and what's coming next. Fractional Laser Skin Resurfacing History Fraxel was the first non ablative fractional laser for the cosmetic medical market. From the beginning it's been upgraded and has been improved on by a number of other competing fractional laser skin resurfacing technologies including the DeepFX and ActiveFX from Lumenis, the Starlux 1540, and Starlux 2940 from Palomar Medical. Fractional laser skin resurfacing is new area of medicine that intersects cosmetic dermatology and traditional plastic surgery. Rapid advancements and new breakthroughs in these types of cosmetic medical technologies are occurring frequently and are fueled by an aging population of patients. The benefit for these patients is a rapid increase in the effectiveness of fractional laser treatments and less down time and potential side effects. Fractional laser technologies new cosmetic applications are expanding into related areas like skin tightening treatments, where fractional treatments compete with radio frequency (RF) treatments like Thermage, and will eventually move into fat and cellulite treatments and removal. The revolutionary cosmetic medical advance in 1995, full face CO2 Laser Resurfacing to treat wrinkles using the Ultra pulse CO2 laser, now relates poorly when faced with the new fractional laser technologies and although the wrinkle removal results for the time were fantastic, CO2 laser resurfacing created a very traumatic "burn wound" that literally vaporized the top layers of the skin that took many months of recovery in addition to the need for general anesthesia and the extra problem of the skin turning white with hypo pigmentation as the pigment cells were destroyed. Because of the side effects, few patients choose this procedure. The Newest Fractional Skin Resurfacing & Rejuvenation Technologies Now, cosmetic Fractional Skin Rejuvenation or Fractional Laser Skin Resurfacing has evolved and eliminated many of the previous technologies shortcomings. The new erbium lasers are 'fractionated' into tiny micro-lasers, treating only a small portion of the skin (think tiny pin pricks) and leaving surrounding skin completely intact, greatly improving healing times. These 'fractionated' treatment areas are referred to as micro-treatment zones and cause just enough injury to the layers of the dermis to trigger new collagen production and stimulate the replacement of collagen damaged by aging and sun exposure. This production of new collagen 'fills in' or 'plumps' the underlying dermal tissues and smoothes wrinkles. The surrounding, untreated skin speeds the healing process to a mere 3-4 days. Since most of the pigment cells remain intact, hypo pigmentation is effectively prevented. Palomars Starlux Fractional Non-Ablative Laser Resurfacing The Fraxel and Starlux 1540 are new non-ablative lasers (ablate means to "surgically remove) which means that the skin is not removed by the laser. Instead, the laser instantly heats the skin, causing new collagen growth. Results for wrinkle removal and skin tightening are less dramatic than with ablative lasers, but the benefit of reduced recovery time and fewer side effects are mean that non ablative laser treatments are often the patients first choice. Starlux 2940: Fractional Ablative Laser Resurfacings Future Starlux 2940 fractional ablative lasers now provide the benefits of fractional treatments (less down time and reduced complications) with ablative skin resurfacings benefits (better wrinkle removal and facial rejuvenation) offering patients the best of both worlds. These newer fractional ablative lasers remove tissue in the micro treatment zone instead of just heating the dermis like the old Fraxel or Starlux 1540. The benefit of this new fractional laser ablation is that a greater amount of wrinkled and sun damaged skin can be removed than with the older laser technologies, and a better medical result is achieved. There is some minor increase in recovery time with redness for around 5-6 days. Still, the Starlux fractional ablative lasers require much less recovery time than the old non fractional erbium and CO2 ablative lasers which actually burned off the top layers of the patients dermis. Starlux 2940: Competing Fractional Laser Technologies Reliant: (the company that makes Fraxel) CO2 fractional laser called Repair Lumenis: CO2 fractional ablative lasers; ActiveFX & DeepFx Palomar now has the Starlux 2940 Erbium fractional ablative skin resurfacing laser. Medical Spa MD is a medical community of Plastic Surgeons, Cosmetic Dermatologists, and Aesthetic Physicians with more than 2,000 physician members and offers current physician discussion forums on Starlux 2940 Fractional Laser Skin Resurfacing and nonsurgical cosmetic medical technologies and treatments.