After a long winter or a prolonged rainy season, very few things bring more joy to your heart than being able to go out and bask in the radiant glow of the sun. Being out in the sun is invigorating. It gives you energy, it makes you want to have a good time and it just makes you feel happy. However, for all of the benefits that come from spending time in the sun, there are also some downsides that can come from being overexposed to the sun’s rays. Many individuals who have spent an extended period of time in the sun without the necessary protection know firsthand how damaging this can be.
These individuals may be battling things like uneven pigmentation, sunspots, premature wrinkling and in some extreme cases, melanoma. Fractional CO2 laser therapy is a non-invasive procedure that is designed to repair some forms of damage caused to your skin by the sun.
This procedure involves using a laser beam that is divided into thousands of micro-sized treatment zones. The idea is that the laser will target a fraction of your skin at a time. The best way to understand how this procedure works is to think about a digital photograph that is being corrected one pixel at a time. This is basically what the therapy is doing to your skin.
The beautiful thing about fractional CO2 laser therapy is that it is able to treat both the epidermal and the dermal layers of your skin. This means that it is able to address sun damage on the areas that people see while at the same time fixing unseen sun damage in the middle layers of your skin.
Fractal lasers can be used on any part of your body. However, they are most commonly used on a person’s hands, chest and neck. In addition to being used to repair sun damage, fractal lasers have been shown to be beneficial in treating things like stretch marks and pigmentation issues.
To get a good understanding of how fractal lasers work, you need a basic understanding of how your skin has been designed. Your skin has three layers, the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutis. The epidermis is where your skin coloring happens. The dermis, or the mid-layer, is where your body produces collagen and elastin that make your skin strong and flexible.
As you get older, the external layer of your skin starts to become thin. As a result, any blemishes you have are more visible. At the same time, the collagen that is in the dermis dissipates and you start to get facial lines and wrinkles. Fractional CO2 laser therapy works because it repairs the damage to both the epidermis and the dermis. It causes the epidermis to produce more collagen.
Thanks to its ability to address both the epidermis and the dermis, fractional CO2 laser therapy is able to provide deeper, more permanent sun damage treatments. Blemishes begin to disappear, and your skin will regain its youthful, vibrant appearance. As a result, when the summer months come, you will be happy to show your skin off to the world. It will look healthy, you will look rejuvenated and you will feel more confident.
With locations in Indianapolis, Santa Rosa, Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, Chernoff Cosmetic Surgery proudly offers fractional CO2 laser therapy as a safe and effective way for patients to reverse the signs of sun damage on their skin. Contact us today to schedule your consultation to learn more about how this treatment can benefit you.