THE CANDELA VBEAM® PERFECTA LASER: OUR PHOTO-REJUVENATION PROGRAM
The Goodskin staff has years of experience with the VBeam® Laser technology, so you can feel confident that your treatment will be both safe and effective.
Whether you suffer from rosacea or sun damage, excessive flushing or unsightly scars, Goodskin’s photorejuvenation program can help even out your skin tone and return your healthy, youthful glow. Topical creams can only go so far, but incredible advances in dermatology have developed state-of-the-art pulsed dye laser technology that can reach beneath the skin and reverse the effects of discoloration from photodamage, angiomas, and more.
Everything in our world absorbs light of different colors to different degrees, including our skin.
Most modern medical laser treatments utilize something called “selective photothermolysis,” which means that the laser is made to give off a very specific kind of light that will be selectively absorbed by the target area, or “chromophore,” to counteract its particular color.
The VBeam® Laser utilizes a yellow light, which effectively neutralizes the red color of hemoglobin in capillaries that cause spider veins, flushing, and rosacea.
As the light energy from the laser is absorbed, it selectively heats the tiny blood vessels, damaging their walls so that they will gradually fade and disappear. It can also neutralize brown melanin and certain tattoo and water pigments.
Brown spots are often caused by an overgrowth of melanocytes, the cells that make melanin.
Melanin is the brown pigment in skin. Laser treatable brown spots include age spots, photodamage (sunspots), keratoses (non-cancerous lesions), melasma (brown splotches), freckles, and moles.
Red Spots are mostly made up of clusters of tiny blood vessels, but it’s not yet clear what exactly causes their prominence. These spots can be very concentrated, as with cherry angiomas, or they can fan out to give the sunburned or flushed appearance common to spider veins and rosacea.
Some are enlarged capillaries that leave apparent red lines across areas of the face. Treatable red spots can also include red acne and stretch marks from pregnancy.
Our complete list of treatable areas:
- Facial veins/rosacea
- Photodamage
- Poikiloderma (mottled red and brown areas on the neck)
- Spider angiomas (veins)
- Red birthmarks
- Melasma (brown splotchy irregular pigmentation on the face)
- Sebaceous hyperplasia (enlarged oil glands)
- Large pores (in photodynamic treatments)
- Hypertrophic scars
- Leg Veins
- Stretch Marks
- Red Acne
The doctor will evaluate your skin type and perform a series of test pulses to determine the best laser settings to use in your first session.
The sensation of most laser treatments is often described as that of a rubber band being snapped against your skin.
It’s not painless, but the VBeam® Laser applies a cooling spray to the target area just a fraction of a second before each laser pulse, pre-cooling and protecting the skin.
The majority of patients undergo the treatment without even a topical anesthetic. The entire session only takes a few minutes.
A cooling gel will be immediately applied to calm this sensation.
Some redness from the treatment can last up to a day, and if cheeks are treated, some puffiness is common for 4-5 days after the session. It’s perfectly safe to disguise these post-treatment effects with makeup.
Depending upon your personal desires, complete success could require anywhere between one and twelve treatment sessions at varying intervals.
Individual cherry and spider angiomas are usually permanently eliminated within one to two treatments, while a large birthmark could require up to a dozen sessions for optimum success.
In most cases, over time and repeated sessions, the skin discoloration will gradually fade and neutralize. Widespread rosacea or excessive flushing may require a series of sessions in one-month intervals, determined by the doctor.
After the desired appearance is achieved, the results will usually last up to 3 years.
Depending upon your situation, the doctor may suggest touch-up sessions twice a year to keep flushing under control.
You can make your improvement last longer by using extra sun protection and avoiding flushing triggers such as allergens, hot drinks, alcohol, spicy foods, or cold wind exposure.