A patient’s skin can become quite damaged over the years, and one of the biggest causes of damage is the sun. Even when the sun is not damaging skin, it can often result in unsightly sun spots and an uneven skin tone. While preventative care such as sunblock will delay these issues, many people will not even notice that they are harming their skin until years after the damage is done. For these patients, it may be time to take a look at laser repair with intense pulsed light (IPL).
How the Sun Changes Your Skin
The sun is actually incredibly important when it comes to a person’s health as it allows them to produce vitamin D from direct sunlight. In fact, modern studies show that a relatively high percentage of adults are actually deficient in this vitamin which can lead to a myriad of other health issues. Unfortunately, getting too much sun can be even more dangerous and lead to deadly medical problems such as deep burns and skin cancer.
Within skin is a compound known as melatonin that helps protect a person from the sun’s UV rays. After prolonged exposure, the melatonin can no longer protect the outer layer of the skin and the UV rays will penetrate deep into the epidermis. When this takes place, it will begin to damage skin and can cause a loss of elasticity, brown spots, and pigmentation problems. As a patient grows older, many of these problems will become more pronounced.
Repairing Sun Damage
Once the damage has been done, it can be somewhat challenging to actually treat and reverse it. Most over-the-counter products such as repairing creams are actually designed to slow the damage or only provide a short-term solution. For those that want to make real changes, however, intense pulsed light could be an ideal solution. These gentle lasers were developed to target skin damage around overworked melatonin and repair soft tissue in the deepest layers.
Many of the lasers that are used to treat various skin issues must be set at a very specific frequency, and the lasers designed for IPL are no exception to this rule. These lasers specifically target brown spots and other pigmentation issues due to their specific frequency. The final goal is to even out the tone of the skin and remove problems such as lingering red tissue and non-cancerous brown patches.
What to Expect
What makes IPL treatments so extraordinary is the fact that they are highly effective and cause minimal damage. The treatment sessions typically last for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and patients will often notice some changes the very same day. There is absolutely no downtime for this treatment and you can return back to your daily activities as soon as you would like. For those that are particularly sensitive, a numbing cream may be used to reduce the chance of any discomfort and get you back to your life as quickly as possible.
Contact Pender MediSpa in Vancouver to schedule your consultation for sun damage repair. Our medical team will work with you to determine the safest and most effective treatment plan for your needs.
