Archive for the ‘Light and Lasers’ Category
Three Ways to Minimize Your Acne Scars
Living with embarrassing acne is one thing, but dealing with the scars it leaves behind is another. Thanks to certain medical procedures, acne scarring no longer has to leave you in the dumps feeling “scarred for life.” Talk to a dermatologist you feel comfortable with about the following 3 methods that can be used to minimize the appearance of acne scars.
Red Begone With Pulsed Dye Laser (PDL)
This form of laser treatment will help get the red out of acne scars in their early phase by reducing inflammation in the area (Modern Medicine, 2006). Not only will this treatment help reduce scarring, but it will help prevent future break-outs from reoccurring. This procedure is painless and does not have any harmful side effects.
Flattening Scars Using Microdermabrasion
When scars newly develop they appear reddish in color; however, over a period of time they will turn a whitish silver color. Microdermabrasion can help bring back the pigmentation in acne scars. This procedure uses a fractional laser to stimulate the collagen in the skin, making the scarring less visible (Modern Medicine, 2006). Some patients may experience skin peeling after treatment, but the whole procedure is non-invasive.
Go Topical With Retin-A
Though scars are a nuisance, they are the skin’s way of healing itself. With topical treatments such as Tretinoin, you can reduce the inflammatory changes that acne scars cause, and help speed up the healing process. Certain side effects may occur such as itching and mild stinging. Talk to your dermatologist before starting any treatment.
If for some reason you’re unable to seek medical help for your acne scars there are other alternatives that have worked for many people. The healing properties of Aloe Vera not only treat sunburns and dry skin, but it also treats acne scars. I suggest taking the gel directly from the Aloe Vera plant and applying it to your scars. Another option is camouflage makeup. This will hide almost any imperfection on the skin including scars, stretch marks, and tattoos. This stuff works miracles!
I hope the above methods help you find the treatment that is right for you and your acne scars. After all, who needs the constant painful reminder?
Light Therapy Receives a Boost From the Use of Suction
“With time research, and experience, laser, and light therapies may eventually be light years ahead of traditional acne therapies,“ says Gilly Munavalli, M.D., who has been experimenting with a combination of light therapy and suction. Light therapy for the reduction of acne symptoms has been used for sometime; now a new approach is combining light therapy with the use of suction on the skin. This new approach, known as photopneumatic therapy (PPX), has so far only been tried in a small study, but the results are promising. According to Munavalli, the bacteria killing effect of the pulsing light used in the treatment is significantly enhanced by skin vacuuming, which unclogs pores and brings them closer to the surface, where thelight will be more effective.
The study
Munavalli’s original study was conducted on fifteen patients, whose acne had failed to respond to traditional treatments. Most patients showed improvement after two or three PPX treatments. The treatments take only fifteen to twenty minutes and the study patients were treated at one or two week intervals. Munavalli was so impressed by the results of his study that he has since used the treatment on a hundred other patients.
The Benefits
PPX reduces the incidence of skin blistering sometimes seen in other light therapies, since it uses less light energy. PPX is bound to be enthusiastically greeted by many acne sufferers, such as myself, who are tired of the skin drying effects of topical treatments and the sometimes serious side effects of oral acne medications. As I’ve grown older, I have become increasing dissatisfied with drying tropical treatments. Who wants to be rid of pimples, but look like a wrinkled prune as a result of acne medications? I welcome any new innovation in external treatment.
FDA Approval, But
The new treatment has already received FDA approval; however, this only means that the agency considers the combination of two previously approved treatments to be reasonably safe, it does not mean that the government is saying that PPX effectively treats acne. Some dermatologists routinely use laser and light therapy to treat acne and are convinced of its effectiveness, but the jury is still out on PPX. The American Academy of Dermatology has yet to determine if light and laser therapies are effective in the treatment of acne.
Source
Boyles, Salynn. WebMD Medical News, “Light Plus Suction Promising for Acne,“ April 12, 2007.
http://www.webmd.com/news/20070412/light-plus-suction-promising-acne
