Nonablative Laser and Light Rejuvenation

Abstract

or centuries, patients and physicians have sought a safe and effective method for treating skin changes associated with photoaging. Currently, a variety of modalities are used to treat facial rhytids, including dermabrasion, chemical peels, and laser skin resurfacing (LSR). Although these modalities are relatively effective for rhytid reduction, epidermal disruption or removal results in an open wound that places the patient at risk for bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. Abnormal or delayed wound healing may result in skin dyspigmentation and scarring. In addition, the wound resolves with significant erythema that often lasts for weeks or months and is cosmetically troubling to patients (Figure 1). The ideal method of skin rejuvenation would achieve optimal cosmetic improvement of photodamage while minimizing wound care and the risk of adverse effects.

Topical 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Combined With Intense Pulsed Light in the Treatment of Photoaging

“…1 The benefits of nonablative treatment include quicker patient recovery time because of the absence of marked postoperative erythema, desquamation, and crusting. 4 Moreover, the risks of unwanted pigmentary and textural abnormalities are much decreased in nonablative treatment compared with ablative treatment. The benefits of nonablative treatment are partially counterbalanced by its reduced efficacy relative to laser resurfacing.…”

Skin fluorescence controlled photodynamic photorejuvenation (wrinkle reduction)

“…The objective of this study was to investigate if the clinical efficacy of photorejuvenation type II (wrinkle reduction) could be further improved by optimizing the PDT effect by using either standard 30-to 60-minute pretreatment with 20% 5-ALA prior to IPL irradiation [23,24,25,[27][28][29] or a new 1-1 1 2 hour repeated spraying regime with 0.5% liposome encapsulated 5-ALA followed by IPL irradiation. Also, the incidences of phototoxic side effects for these two modalities were compared.…”

“…Treatment of pigmented disorders, reduction of telangiectasias and erythema (photorejuvenation type I) are successfully performed by different lasers types [1][2][3][4][5][6] as well as different IPL systems [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. In general, IPL systems have shown considerably better clinical results than laser systems for type I photorejuvenation.…”

Lasers and Optical Technologies in Facial Plastic Surgery

“…While ablative laser skin resurfacing is in many ways safer and more predictable than the chemical peels that it has supplanted, its consequent epidermal and dermal destruction leads to prolonged recovery times and the potential for complications. 7 Nonablative resurfacing aims to selectively heat dermal tissues, while sparing the epidermis from significant thermal injury, and thus to reduce complications and recovery times. 7,23,[78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88] Nonablative therapies rely on the selective heating of regions of tissue within the dermis, which is accomplished by using lower laser fluence rates or by protecting the epidermis using cryogen spray, 89 [95][96][97]115,116 Other Nonablative Technologies.…”