Pearls Of Anti-Ageing

Posted: Sunday 6 June 2010 01:02pm

What’s your poison – lines and wrinkles, pigmentation, spider veins, redness, large pores, lax or lacklustre skin in general?

Whatever form it takes, there is an antidote in the form of laser therapy.

“Many modern laser companies have developed systems using the `platform’ model,” says Gold Coast surgeon Dr Terrence Scamp.

“The Cutera system is one such device. By adjusting its parameters it can in one session treat prominent blood vessels such as those on the face, particularly common around the nose, or spider veins on the legs, and in the next session used for non-ablative skin remodelling.

“This means that the texture of the skin can be improved without the downtime of removing the top layer of the skin.”

The Cutera laser platform consists of:

Laser Genesis, which fires short pulses of low energy laser light onto the skin in a rapid fire method producing a gentle heating several millimetres into the skin “This modality aims to improve the texture of the skin over a series of treatments with no downtime,” says Dr Scamp. “This is one of the few laser techniques that is safe to be used on all skin types and is therefore a particular boon to those with darker skins.”

The Titan device is an infra-red light source designed to sink heat several millimetres into the skin over a long pulse time with a protective cooling tip.  The aim of the device is to cause some tightening in the deeper layers of the skin and stimulate collagen formation.  “While it is by no means a `face lift in a box’, some impressive results can be seen, particularly with leaner patients who are bothered by their lax neck tissues,” says Dr Scamp. “It has also been used successfully elsewhere in the body, such as the abdomen and, of coursem the face.

The “work horse” light source on the Cutera platform is the Limelight.  This uses an intense pulsed light with an effective cooling tip and a versatile software program, allowing the operator to effectively treat a range of skin conditions, according to Dr Scamp.  “By varying the wavelength of the light and the pulse width, red or brown discolourations can be specifically targeted and adjustments can be made to treat some darker skin types which were previously problematic with light source devices,” he says.

The Cutera platform also allows use of the big guns, Pearl and Pearl Fusion fractional lasers.  “These can be used to resurface the skin,” says Dr Scamp. “The specific wavelength seems to have advantages over CO2 [ablative laser] in its vastly improved safety margin and lower risk of complications.  The Pearl laser can be adjusted to give a varying depth of treatment; either as gentle as a laser mini-peel or something more profound. The sophistication of this device has also allowed treatment goals to be achieved with fewer sessions.

“The Pearl Fusion device allows more effective treatment of lines and scarring, such as acne scarring, by removing only part of the skin’s surface at once. There is more rapid healing and complication rate is low, but enough energy is directed into the deeper portions of the skin to profoundly stimulate collagen formation and smooth the skin.”

RELATED ARTICLES:
> Before & After gallery: Cutera Pearl Fusion
> 10 Ways to Wage War on Wrinkles

by Jenni Gilbert

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