What Is Erbium YAG Laser Resurfacing?
Erbium YAG laser skin resurfacing involves an intentional controlled skin injury with the dual aims of replacing damaged tissue with newly produced tissue and collagen remodeling. This process leads to improved skin texture, destroys damaged or unevenly pigmented skin cells and restores a more youthful appearance.
What Are The Benefits Of Ebrium Yag Laser?
The degree of improvement in your skin with an Ebrium Yag laser treatment depends on the original condition of your skin, the aggressiveness of the Ebrium Yag Laser treatment, and how many treatments you receive. The Ebrium Yag Laser treatment is a perfect option to reduce skin imperfections such as sun damage, mild to moderate wrinkles, scars, and uneven skin tone/texture, large pores.
How Do I Prepare for Erbium Laser Resurfacing?
For starters, arrive at your appointment with clean skin. Secondly, you’ll want to avoid heavy sun exposure and deep facial peels at least four weeks before treatment. This includes chemical peels, microdermabrasion, and other laser resurfacing options. It is also advised to avoid the sun, hold the use of topical treatments like Retin-A, exfoliants, glycolic acid, and vitamin C for 5 days prior to treatment.
What Can I Expect During Erbium Laser Resurfacing?
Before the treatment begins, the skin is cleansed and numbed with a local anesthetic. During the procedure, patients may feel a mild warming or tingling sensation, but it is typically well-tolerated. Depending on the area(s) treated, the appointment can take between 30 and 45 minutes (for isolated facial treatments) and up to an hour for full-face treatments.
What Is The Recovery Associated With This Procedure?
Most patients experience up to one week of downtime with the first few days being the most intense, although predicted downtime can never be predicted with some patients undergoing a more moderate to aggressive treatment and may experience longer downtimes. Potential reddened and raw skin, a mild burning sensation, mild swelling and itchiness are common following laser resurfacing treatments. Hydrating ointments, skin care, limited sun exposure and exosomes can significantly reduce recovery time.
How Many Treatments Are Needed to See Results?
Most times results are seen after one treatment, but depending on the desired results, some may need several treatments spaced approximately 6-8 weeks apart for optimal results.
What Are the Potential Side Effects?
With any cosmetic procedure, there are potential side effects, including burns or damage to skin cells, scarring, patchy hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation, reactivation of cold sores, bacterial infections and milia (white bumps). If you do have a history of cold sores it is best to notify your healthcare provider so you can be pretreated with antiviral medications
Overall, the erbium YAG laser is an excellent choice for anyone looking to improve the appearance of their skin without the need for invasive surgery or prolonged downtime.
