5 Problems that Laser Resurfacing Resolves

The largest organ of your body is the skin. It covers you from head to toe and is the primary source of defense against external threats, regulates body temperature, allows you to sweat, and renews itself monthly. The 19 million skin cells, 650 sweat glands, 1,000 nerve endings, and 20 blood vessels that make up just one inch of skin perform myriad tasks to help your body on a regular basis.

Sadly, as the outer defense of our bodies, the skin also comes under threat from many environmental, bacterial, viral, and other factors that cause several conditions ranging from mild to life-threatening. There are many different ways to treat these conditions, but fractional laser resurfacing is a method that helps your skin without invasive procedures and can have you back doing your daily routine in a short time. Let’s look at how this technique can help by exploring how your skin can get damaged, how laser resurfacing works, and what it can treat.

If you live in the Lake Oswego, Oregon, area and you’re dealing with problems affecting your skin, the team of doctors at Lake Grove ENT has the tools to help you get the treatment you need.

Ways your skin can be damaged

Your skin barrier is a part of your body’s epidermis, the outermost layer of skin that is responsible for protecting your body. It is composed of the stratum corneum and the acid mantle, the former being composed of lipids, cholesterol, fatty acids and ceramides, and the latter is a barrier against harmful bacteria and other other threats to your skin.

Internal and external factors that can harm this barrier include allergens, irritants, pollutants, overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays, extreme weather environments, alkaline detergents and soaps, harsh chemical exposure, and genetic factors. A malfunctioning skin barrier can show symptoms like dry, scaly skin, itchiness, rough, discolored patches, acne, sensitive or inflamed areas of skin, or bacterial, viral, or fungal infections.

How fractional laser resurfacing works

This noninvasive procedure uses a laser, but unlike other forms of laser treatments, this method divides the beam into thousands of microscopic beams that target a fraction of the overall area to be treated. This allows the fractional laser to treat both the epidermis and dermis (the upper and middle layers of skin), providing an opportunity to treat many different skin conditions that affect one or both areas of your skin.

We use the ICON 1540 fractional non-ablative laser (meaning it doesn’t destroy tissue to treat conditions), which uses this method to stimulate proteins in the skin, like collagen, to help create healthy skin cells and repair damage to the skin.

Conditions it treats

This treatment is useful in treating many skin conditions, including:

1. Acne scars

The scars you can get from bad acne can last a long time, but with the fractional laser, the collagen and elastin in your skin can be stimulated and remodeled to reduce the appearance of the scars.

2. Skin discoloration

Stimulating the skin tissue can also break up damaged epidermal pigmented cells that cause discoloration, helping to restore normal skin color to affected areas.

3. Sun damage

The sun can damage the skin in several ways, and this treatment’s therapeutic properties can help heal the skin..

4. Wrinkles

Several things can lead to wrinkles, including sun damage and the effects of aging. This procedure helps to build more collagen and elastin, which reduces wrinkles and restores firmness and elasticity in your skin.

5. Stretch marks

These indented streaks on your skin can result from rapid growth, pregnancy, rapid gaining or loss of weight, anabolic steroids, and certain genetic disorders. Similar to how it treats acne scars, building new skin cells can reduce the damaged tissue and help reduce the appearance of these marks.

This treatment can help to treat many skin conditions, and if you’re dealing with any of these problems, make an appointment with the doctors and medical staff at Lake Grove ENT today to see what fractional laser resurfacing can do for you.