Lasers and Lipo

More from the ASDS meeting:

So what’s the story?

The new “hot” laser technique is the ablative (fractional) CO2. It takes our old CO2 resurfacing lasers and “breaks” the 6 mm pulse into 49 pinpoint wounds leaving the adjacent skin untouched to help heal the damage. This technology may replace the “non-ablative” lasers due to the improved results in fewer treatments with similar to only slightly longer downtime. It is being used off the face but we are being advised to be much more respectful of these areas that have fewer follicles to help repopulate the wounded areas. Those of us who have experienced the improvement with the original CO2 resurfacing were consistently underwhelmed by most all of the subsequent non-ablative lasers. Finally, we are seeing results that are similar to that of the older technique, particularly if a series of 2-3 treatments are done. The “checking” of the skin that happens with age and accumulated collagen breakdown from solar radiation is nicely smoothed with these treatments. We are also seeing response to the “hill and valley” acne scars and the toughest, ice pick acne scars.

Right now, the non-invasive lipo devices are still in the learning curve phase. When listening to the lectures, several referrals were made to “manage the patient’s expectations”. These comments take me back to my experiences with endermologie for cellulite. The phase means not “there” yet.

Dr. Jeffrey Klein, the father of tumescent liposuction surgery, still seems to be underwhelmed with the value of adding any laser to tumescent liposuction surgery. My fellow lipo doc friend, who owns the lipo laser, confided that it slows the surgery down and hasn’t significantly improved the result to justify the $90,000 cost. It is, however, popular and glamorous.

One of the big issues with lipo surgery is the fact that it should be mainly preformed in diet and exercise resistant areas referred to as “the family curse area”. If you are eating too many calories for your activity, they will have to be stored somewhere and it isn’t good if that happens to be the omental fat pad (intra-abdominal) which is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks. Liposuction is not a weight reduction technique but your workout clothes will fit better.

NEXT, I’ll talk about our Colorescience products.

Dr. Ann