WEBVTT
00:00:00.059 --> 00:00:06.847
Welcome to Listen to your Skin by Moon Skin, the podcast where science meets nature to celebrate the story of your skin.
00:00:06.847 --> 00:00:11.467
Your skin is a living canvas, ever evolving, deeply personal and uniquely yours.
00:00:11.467 --> 00:00:19.010
Each week we'll dive into the science of healthy skin, share empowering stories and uncover transformative self-care rituals.
00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:23.466
We're here to help you embrace every phase of your journey with confidence and care.
00:00:23.466 --> 00:00:27.164
Hi everyone, welcome back to Listen to your Skin by Moon and Skin.
00:00:27.164 --> 00:00:35.811
I'm your host, dr Jen Haley, and I have my favorite dermatologist that's local to Scottsdale back on the show to talk about lasers today, dr Brenda Lutowski.
00:00:35.811 --> 00:00:37.664
Welcome back, thank you, jen.
00:00:37.664 --> 00:00:38.926
Thank you so much for having me.
00:00:38.926 --> 00:00:44.709
I love having you so in all the ways of friendship and also fully respect as a colleague.
00:00:44.709 --> 00:00:48.942
So, of course, I want to talk about lasers.
00:00:48.942 --> 00:00:55.167
I think that in some respects, society is very familiar with lasers and in some respects not at all.
00:00:55.167 --> 00:00:57.246
So can you break it down?
00:00:57.246 --> 00:01:02.371
Lasers 101, what is a laser for the skin?
00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:15.353
A laser is simply targeted light or focus light that goes into the skin and then it's absorbed by something and it has its effect, and that something is called a chromophore.
00:01:15.353 --> 00:01:22.713
And so we have lasers that target brown, where something called melanin is the chromophore.
00:01:22.713 --> 00:01:25.974
We have lasers that target red, where something called deoxyhemoglobin is the chromophore.
00:01:25.974 --> 00:01:29.186
We have lasers that target red, where something called deoxyhemoglobin is the chromophore.
00:01:29.186 --> 00:01:38.049
And then we have lasers that target water, where we're more interested in resurfacing of the skin, excuse me.
00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:58.483
And so these lasers are very, very focused and each one tends to specialize in doing a different thing, but we can really safely and effectively treat brown spots of the skin, red spots of the skin, including rosacea scars, etc.
00:01:58.483 --> 00:02:12.632
And then we can resurface the skin, meaning create new collagen and therefore have some skin tightening and texture improvement due to the action of these lasers.
00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:19.349
So lasers that address pigmentation basically will.
00:02:19.349 --> 00:02:29.043
They can treat hair, they can treat tattoos, they can treat sunspots, and the difference is based off of, like, how deep they go in the skin.
00:02:29.043 --> 00:02:40.786
So there's a lot of science that goes behind laser technology, and one of the things that I've seen so often over the last 20 plus years is people will often mistake that one laser can do everything.
00:02:40.786 --> 00:02:55.865
So what I want you to break down is kind of categories of lasers if you can and what they can do, and what kind of categories of lasers if you can and what they can do and what they can't do, because you know, a laser that's really good at treating hemoglobin or blood vessels, for instance, is not going to be the laser you want for wrinkles per se, necessarily.
00:02:55.865 --> 00:02:57.549
So I don't think people understand that.
00:02:57.549 --> 00:03:12.567
What I see often is these med spas will have one laser and they'll promise someone the world with that one laser and they don't deliver and often they cause scarring because they don't understand the science and the physics behind how the lasers have to work.
00:03:13.789 --> 00:03:15.013
I think that's such a great point.
00:03:15.013 --> 00:03:22.319
There are so many different lasers out there and sometimes it's hard for even me to keep track of them.
00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:33.281
We were talking about that offline and that's because the number of lasers out there are, because each laser can kind of specialize in a different thing.
00:03:33.281 --> 00:03:53.188
And the reason why you go into a practice and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming because you look at someone's menu of services like you can look at our menu of services you see we have this laser, we have this laser, we have this laser it's because each laser can safely and effectively best treat one category.
00:03:53.188 --> 00:03:55.435
So what are those categories?
00:03:55.956 --> 00:04:05.294
Like you said, there's laser hair removal, there's tattoo removal and there are also lasers for brown spots.
00:04:05.294 --> 00:04:06.897
I would put those in a category.
00:04:06.897 --> 00:04:13.152
Lasers for red spots I put that in a category and lasers for resurfacing just total rejuvenation.
00:04:13.152 --> 00:04:16.843
In addition, there's energy-based devices.
00:04:16.843 --> 00:04:29.475
So those also have little niches that they focus on and so it can get very confusing.
00:04:29.475 --> 00:04:33.423
I think the key is it can get very confusing to the consumer.
00:04:33.423 --> 00:05:02.303
I think the key is really finding a practice and an educated provider whether that's a physician or someone working under the physician who can help to guide someone, and even if that particular practice doesn't have the laser that's going to be the best for that category or that condition, they can be a resource and refer them out to another practice who does have the laser.
00:05:03.086 --> 00:05:29.964
Right, okay, so I'm thinking as we're sitting here, because we previously did the podcast on Botox, neuromodulators and fillers, and now we're talking about lasers, and then, of course, we and other energy-based devices, and then we have things we want people to do at home like skincare, or do with estheticians maybe microneedling and chemical peels, say, I am 40 years old, I spent quite a bit of time in the sun.
00:05:29.964 --> 00:05:40.581
I've got some broken blood vessels on my face, some brown sunspots We'll leave melasma out of this just sunspots, because not all brown spots are created equal.
00:05:40.581 --> 00:05:47.872
Some brown spots, such as the ones I struggle with which you know you've helped me with this they can get worse with certain types of lasers.
00:05:47.872 --> 00:06:08.168
So someone who's able to diagnose your brown spots is very important, because I've seen litigations regarding someone making a diagnosis of brown spots and it being melasma or the hyperpigmentation or the brown spots after acne scarring, which respond very differently than sunspots to lasers.
00:06:08.168 --> 00:06:17.151
So, okay, I've got brown spots, I've got some broken blood vessels, I have some wrinkles on my face and coarse skin.
00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:18.584
Where do we start?
00:06:18.584 --> 00:06:21.011
Oh my gosh.
00:06:21.011 --> 00:06:23.720
And where does the budget kind of go with all of these things?
00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:26.165
If we could talk hundreds, thousands, yes.
00:06:26.565 --> 00:06:26.745
Yes.
00:06:26.745 --> 00:06:33.802
So I love doing this hypothetical situation because I I just think it's so fun.
00:06:33.802 --> 00:06:35.464
This is this is what I do every day.
00:06:35.464 --> 00:06:36.588
It is so much fun.
00:06:36.588 --> 00:06:45.132
So I would start in this hypothetical 40 something year old patient with sun damage, and how appropriate.
00:06:45.192 --> 00:06:50.447
Since we're in Arizona, I would start by suggesting some laser resurfacing.
00:06:50.447 --> 00:07:16.074
In our practice we have the Fraxel laser, which is my favorite skin resurfacer, if you will, and this is a laser that has two different wavelengths and it focuses on heating the skin to produce collagen, and so the new collagen is going to cause someone's skin to look tighter, to look more exfoliated.
00:07:16.074 --> 00:07:25.031
The pore size will shrink because of the new collagen contracts the skin, if you will and it just looks healthier and younger.
00:07:25.031 --> 00:07:37.391
In addition, the exfoliation that occurs as part of the healing from the Fraxel and also, most likely, the heat, the intense heating from the Fraxel it actually makes the skin healthier.
00:07:37.391 --> 00:07:49.062
So this device is FDA approved for the treatment of precancers or actinic keratosis, and it also has been shown to reduce the risk of non-melanoma skin cancers.
00:07:49.062 --> 00:08:02.153
So here in Arizona, I think it's really important someone in that age category start thinking about not only how they look now, but preventative modalities for the future.
00:08:02.153 --> 00:08:04.024
I think it's the perfect option.
00:08:04.865 --> 00:08:06.028
You mentioned capillaries.
00:08:06.028 --> 00:08:12.557
I have seen capillaries improve after Fraxel just because the health of the skin has improved.
00:08:12.557 --> 00:08:18.360
Although, speaking of chromatophores, it's actually not a laser that has that targets that chromophore.
00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:34.553
So if someone has ongoing capillaries, especially around the nose, cheeks or chin area, then we have another laser in the practice that specifically targets those and we would do that after the fraxel.
00:08:35.022 --> 00:08:36.807
At the same day or at a different day.
00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:45.229
Typically I will encourage for that particular scenario a different day, because oftentimes those capillaries will improve when the skin gets healthier.
00:08:45.229 --> 00:08:58.597
So sometimes patients are no longer bothered by the capillaries after the fraxel, but I will treat patients same day with multiple lasers, just depending on the goals that we want to achieve.
00:08:58.918 --> 00:09:01.510
Okay, you know it's so interesting and I'm going to admit this.
00:09:01.510 --> 00:09:04.160
I'm going to admit this because you know I to admit this.
00:09:04.160 --> 00:09:06.245
I'm going to admit this because you know I always admit everything.
00:09:06.245 --> 00:09:17.283
So I've had Fraxels with you every six months for years now, for four or five years, and I didn't even know it did all of this and I keep thinking, oh, I need to do something more heavy duty.
00:09:17.283 --> 00:09:29.456
But now I'm realizing why I don't think I have needed to do anything more heavy duty, because doing that consistently has really made a difference in my skin and I didn't realize that it had all of those benefits.
00:09:29.456 --> 00:09:34.875
But one of the things I do notice after you do the treatment on me is because I'm religious about wearing a hat.
00:09:34.875 --> 00:09:45.428
My forehead doesn't get much of a reaction, but even though I wear sunscreen very thickly and very deliberately, the lower part of my face, where the hat doesn't cover it, definitely lights up more.
00:09:45.428 --> 00:09:46.331
Let's just say that.
00:09:47.072 --> 00:09:47.693
Is that typical?
00:09:47.693 --> 00:09:48.902
That is typical.
00:09:48.902 --> 00:09:52.892
I also think it has to do with circulation issues and gravity issues as well.
00:09:52.892 --> 00:10:06.653
But for sure, I'm advising patients to stay out of the sun about a week to 10 days beforehand longer for patients with darker skin, and then a week to 10 days afterwards.
00:10:06.653 --> 00:10:13.642
And you're so good and diligent about staying out of the sun, even though you have a very active lifestyle.
00:10:13.642 --> 00:10:20.945
But a lot of times we will actually postpone patients' lasers till the fall and winter and early spring here.
00:10:21.527 --> 00:10:22.390
Okay, interesting.
00:10:22.390 --> 00:10:26.364
Yeah, I feel like now's a good time because people don't go out in the summertime, at least in Arizona.
00:10:26.364 --> 00:10:29.873
We're opposite other places as far as our indoor season.
00:10:29.873 --> 00:10:32.869
Okay, so the Fraxel is good for those things.
00:10:32.869 --> 00:10:35.597
What about photo facial or IPL?
00:10:35.597 --> 00:10:38.365
Are people still doing that and what are the indications for that?
00:10:38.365 --> 00:10:40.511
Like, what's the ideal kind of patient?
00:10:41.059 --> 00:10:51.148
So there is a device that looks and acts like a device, like a laser, called IPL intense pulse light, but it's actually not technically a laser.
00:10:51.148 --> 00:10:57.354
So we were talking about lasers being very specific bands of light or very specific wavelengths of light.
00:10:57.354 --> 00:11:03.164
Ipl is actually broadband light and we can put filters in it to make it act like a laser.
00:11:03.164 --> 00:11:20.400
So yes, to answer your question, it is being done very, very commonly and it really, in my opinion, does well for brown spots, but it will help with red as well.
00:11:20.400 --> 00:11:25.490
Doing the IPL consistently actually can keep the skin really tight and healthy as well as helping the brown and red spots.
00:11:25.490 --> 00:11:32.893
So in my practice, if a patient doesn't want to do Fraxel, they don't want to have the downtime for Fraxel.
00:11:32.893 --> 00:11:39.714
You will hear me recommend the IPL treatment and recommend the IPL treatment a couple times a year.
00:11:39.714 --> 00:11:49.630
I think it's a really, really great treatment for patients who don't want any downtime, like for a stronger skin resurfacing treatment.
00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:50.260
Okay.
00:11:50.260 --> 00:11:52.909
So IPL or BBL is another name brand, right?
00:11:52.909 --> 00:11:55.587
That's a lighter kind of treatment.
00:11:55.587 --> 00:12:01.543
Yes, Less downtime, usually less reward, that's correct, Okay.
00:12:01.543 --> 00:12:03.349
So we've got those two covered.
00:12:03.349 --> 00:12:07.751
Now if someone is looking to do laser hair removal I don't know if you still see this.
00:12:07.751 --> 00:12:20.668
I know when laser hair removal first came out and we were doing it 20, 25 years ago people didn't seem to understand that if you have red hair or if you have blonde hair, your hair has to be darker than your skin.
00:12:20.668 --> 00:12:29.703
So even if you're African-American, as long as the hair is darker than the skin, we can target the hair versus the skin.
00:12:29.703 --> 00:12:31.572
We don't want to burn the skin in the process of getting rid of the hair.
00:12:31.572 --> 00:12:38.796
Is that the same as the lasers nowadays, or do we have better technology for addressing hair removal, and are people still doing a lot of hair removal?
00:12:39.317 --> 00:12:41.243
People are still doing a lot of hair removal.
00:12:41.243 --> 00:12:47.163
It's extremely popular and, yes, we are still met with the same challenges in hair removal.
00:12:47.163 --> 00:12:50.932
It still works the best on dark, coarse hair.
00:12:50.932 --> 00:12:59.980
That's like the ideal hair removal hair, if you will, and the finer it is, the harder it's going to be to get rid of.
00:12:59.980 --> 00:13:12.041
The lighter it is, the harder it's going to be to get rid of, and I do tell patients if it's white or light.
00:13:12.041 --> 00:13:13.403
Nothing's going to work at it at this point.
00:13:13.403 --> 00:13:15.548
We do have technology that's actually FDA approved but it's not available in the US at this point.
00:13:15.548 --> 00:13:22.613
That may make a difference with light hair, but time will tell if that's going to be a widespread treatment here.
00:13:23.340 --> 00:13:26.048
I think we'd have to learn to pigment the hair bulb, wouldn't we?
00:13:26.048 --> 00:13:32.311
And then target the pigment in the hair bulb, because hair dye is not going to work because we're not getting it in the bulb.
00:13:32.640 --> 00:13:35.870
You're right, there's no melanin there from the dye.
00:13:35.870 --> 00:13:47.076
This particular technology heats the hair follicle in a way that the hair follicle becomes extremely heated without having the chromophore there.
00:13:47.581 --> 00:13:48.283
It kills the root.
00:13:48.283 --> 00:13:52.322
You're not just tearing like the upper part of the grass, you're getting the root out Exactly.
00:13:52.322 --> 00:13:53.546
It's the only way, okay.
00:13:53.546 --> 00:13:55.530
Okay, so we have hair removal.
00:13:55.530 --> 00:13:56.902
What about tattoo?
00:13:56.902 --> 00:14:02.945
Because I think I mean over the years, you know those little gang tattoos, you see, that are put in by amateurs.
00:14:02.945 --> 00:14:04.769
Those are fairly easy to remove.
00:14:04.769 --> 00:14:11.322
They take one or two treatments, but for the most part, I find that the multicolored tattoos can be quite challenging to remove.
00:14:11.322 --> 00:14:17.527
What kind of guidelines do you give people and what should they look for if they're looking to do tattoo removal?
00:14:17.606 --> 00:14:30.308
Because when I used to do it, it was a lot of treatments and quite expensive and quite painful that basically still sums it up it's always more expensive to get rid of the tattoo than it is to get the tattoo by many fold.
00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.770
Tattoo removal is still met with challenges.
00:14:34.770 --> 00:15:05.706
Part of the technology that makes tattoo removal successful or not is the speed with which the beam is the light is going into the skin, and so nowadays there is a type of laser called a pico laser, and that usually is done with more success than some of the older lasers, although I have heard cosmetic doctors going back and forth even with some of those older technologies.
00:15:05.706 --> 00:15:10.490
If the pico laser isn't working, we don't currently do tattoo removal in my practice.
00:15:10.490 --> 00:15:18.866
So if you came in with a tattoo, that's an example of when I would refer someone out to a trusted physician to do that tattoo removal for you.
00:15:18.866 --> 00:15:20.634
But it is fraught with challenges.
00:15:20.634 --> 00:15:27.969
One of the challenges is actually what's in that ink that we're seeing in the skin and the different proportions of ink.
00:15:27.969 --> 00:15:39.421
Each artist out there is just that an artist and has different concoctions, and that can translate into an unpredictable tattoo removal experience.
00:15:40.201 --> 00:15:52.578
Do you remember out of I think it was out of Boston one of the main tattoo laser guys in our world had created a tattoo ink that can be removed with one laser treatment?
00:15:52.578 --> 00:15:55.171
Do you remember that years ago and no one took it?
00:15:55.171 --> 00:15:56.013
Because it's like art.
00:15:56.013 --> 00:16:00.873
Imagine creating art and then knowing that somebody can erase it Like nobody.
00:16:00.873 --> 00:16:02.817
No tattoo artist wanted to take that on.
00:16:02.817 --> 00:16:04.726
That's a really great perspective.
00:16:04.846 --> 00:16:10.015
I do remember that and it is kind of sad that that technology was kind of a flop.
00:16:10.015 --> 00:16:18.778
But I think most tattoo removal doctors would really really love it if people would just use that ink.
00:16:19.304 --> 00:16:19.505
Right?
00:16:19.505 --> 00:16:39.654
I mean, just as someone who's seen thousands of people naked, I love asking the story behind the tattoo and asking the story behind somebody's scar, because scars and tattoos tell stories of our lives, and we also see that people have so many tattoos that they wish they didn't have, because of what you believe at one time in your life, you don't believe 20 years later.
00:16:39.654 --> 00:16:42.335
So there's pluses and minuses to everything.
00:16:42.335 --> 00:16:44.143
Always For sure, right?
00:16:44.143 --> 00:16:47.414
Okay, so we talked about pigmentation.
00:16:47.414 --> 00:16:49.134
We talked about photo facials.
00:16:49.134 --> 00:16:49.799
We talked about hair removal.
00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:50.585
We talked about photo facials.
00:16:50.585 --> 00:16:52.190
We talked about hair removal.
00:16:52.190 --> 00:16:53.274
We talked about tattoo.
00:16:53.274 --> 00:16:59.337
We talked about removing or helping reverse some sun damage with the Fraxel.
00:16:59.337 --> 00:17:08.017
Say, I've done two Fraxel treatments, I'm still dealing with some coarseness of my skin, some more sun damage, and I want to step it up.
00:17:08.017 --> 00:17:09.346
Where would somebody go from there?
00:17:10.127 --> 00:17:21.269
So there is a laser called the CO2 laser that is more aggressive than a fraxel laser, which is a non-ablative fractional erbium laser.
00:17:21.269 --> 00:17:30.953
So there is an ablative laser called fractional CO2, and it will give the patient more downtime.
00:17:30.953 --> 00:17:40.759
It usually costs more money and it for sure hurts more, but that is a laser that's more aggressive than the Fraxel.
00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:42.587
Now, is it worth it or not?
00:17:42.587 --> 00:17:46.176
It depends on each individual and their skin.
00:17:46.944 --> 00:17:54.125
Right, Okay, we used to do that under general anesthesia and that was the days where we overdid it and people had the porcelain doll faces.
00:17:54.125 --> 00:18:06.300
You know, I think things have gotten so much more balanced and natural nowadays where we understand we need to do multiple treatments of something without being so aggressive to keep like everything as natural looking.
00:18:07.247 --> 00:18:08.632
I think safety is always first.
00:18:08.632 --> 00:18:18.336
So the traditional CO2 was ablative and non-fractionated and, to your point, was fraught with complications.
00:18:18.336 --> 00:18:36.949
I've seen so much scarring out there, like you said, porcelain doll face, hypopigmented scarring, infections that had occurred, and even hypertrophic scarring, meaning the scars are raised, especially around the jawline.
00:18:36.949 --> 00:18:43.640
From there, fractional CO2 was developed and that's a more.
00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:45.708
That's a much safer technique.
00:18:45.708 --> 00:18:58.218
However, the results are not the same and so, to your point, they need to be done more frequently and unfortunately for the patients that means more downtime, more costs.
00:18:58.218 --> 00:19:03.987
But it is a safer way of doing things and I think ultimately that's the goal, right, I agree.
00:19:04.587 --> 00:19:07.053
Okay, so what about?
00:19:07.053 --> 00:19:08.094
I hear these words?
00:19:08.094 --> 00:19:10.759
So we talked about Fraxel, pixel, tixel.
00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:12.772
What are Pixel and what's Pixel and Tixel?
00:19:13.345 --> 00:19:16.895
Oh my gosh, there's so many terms, there's so many lasers out there.
00:19:16.895 --> 00:19:19.664
I can't even keep them all straight anymore.
00:19:19.664 --> 00:19:30.960
So there are so many competitors and I think for most people just going to someone who has those categories of laser treatments.
00:19:31.204 --> 00:19:33.413
Because there's names even under the category.
00:19:33.413 --> 00:19:36.952
So each category is a category, but then there's different names under there Exactly.
00:19:36.972 --> 00:19:49.035
It's hard to keep up with it is, and that's where you really have to trust your laser doctor and trust that they are investing in the best devices for their patient's interests.
00:19:49.836 --> 00:19:53.535
Okay, so what about if somebody was on a GLP-1 analog?
00:19:53.535 --> 00:19:56.753
They lost some weight and now they're noticing some sagging around their face?
00:19:56.753 --> 00:20:05.729
I know there's huge variations in how much sagging people have and there's only so much devices can help with or filler can help with.
00:20:05.729 --> 00:20:07.352
What is your sagging?
00:20:07.352 --> 00:20:10.818
Your sagging device Like what devices would you go to for?
00:20:10.818 --> 00:20:15.914
You know, maybe some jowls or some loose skin, what?
00:20:15.914 --> 00:20:17.919
What device would you go to for that?
00:20:18.464 --> 00:20:24.330
So I have two sagging devices or non-sagging devices, yes, non-sagging devices.
00:20:24.330 --> 00:20:36.545
The first one that I tend to recommend most frequently for that specific problem is RF microneedling, is utilizing RF microneedling.
00:20:36.545 --> 00:20:39.795
Our device that we have is called the Agnes.
00:20:39.795 --> 00:20:47.636
It's a very, very strong device and so it can really tighten skin in a very precise way.
00:20:47.636 --> 00:20:51.376
So for the jowling I often use this device.
00:20:51.376 --> 00:20:57.997
It has a tiny, tiny little needle in it and then it delivers heat through the base of the needle.
00:20:57.997 --> 00:21:12.567
So this needle goes into the skin and then the heat comes out or the radio frequency comes out the base of the needle and therefore the energy goes very deep into the skin and results in more tightening and lifting.
00:21:14.590 --> 00:21:30.593
So oftentimes people who've had a lot of weight loss or just aging in general and they genetically have more jowls, I can use it in a precise way to reduce some of the redundant tissue here and then tighten the skin back here.
00:21:30.593 --> 00:21:37.220
So we reduce this, make it flatter, tighten in the jawline and therefore define the jawline.
00:21:37.220 --> 00:21:42.933
And a lot of times this device will be used for patients who don't want to do filler.
00:21:42.933 --> 00:21:56.096
Best case scenario we first tighten the skin like this and then we use filler to strategically replace some of the structure and volume that's been lost, and that's really the best case scenario.
00:21:56.116 --> 00:22:03.872
Give us the best results okay, that's really nice because we've heard we talked about this before we started recording about some of the rf microneedling.
00:22:03.872 --> 00:22:09.734
You know, getting rid of people's fat, which, if you're using it for redundant tissue, that's great.
00:22:09.734 --> 00:22:10.355
But like where?
00:22:10.355 --> 00:22:17.830
When do you know where to use it and when not to use it, and what should people look out for basically, if they're considering using this device?
00:22:18.211 --> 00:22:23.490
That's a great question, because there have been reports of unwanted fat loss.
00:22:23.490 --> 00:22:24.814
So there can't.
00:22:24.814 --> 00:22:35.093
These devices are really great because, for instance, this one that I have can reduce fat, but in a way that I wanted to, so double chin area, gel area, etc.
00:22:35.093 --> 00:22:52.385
There are some devices out there that have gotten too hot and have resulted in unwanted fat loss, and so, again, I think this really underscores the need for someone you trust to be doing the procedure and picking the right device for your condition.
00:22:52.926 --> 00:22:56.595
Right, yeah, it really the same device can do multiple things.
00:22:56.595 --> 00:22:57.897
So okay.
00:22:57.897 --> 00:23:00.249
And then you had mentioned earlier with Softwave.
00:23:00.249 --> 00:23:04.425
Can you talk about the technology of Softwave and what it can do, what it can't do?
00:23:05.047 --> 00:23:07.010
So this is an ultrasound device.
00:23:07.092 --> 00:23:14.576
It falls into that category of ultrasound treatments, and the device we've chosen in our practice is called Softwave.
00:23:14.576 --> 00:23:21.444
I love, love, love this technology because, number one, it's completely non-invasive.
00:23:21.444 --> 00:23:24.656
That means there is nothing going into the skin.
00:23:24.656 --> 00:23:27.951
Not even a little tiny Botox needle is going into the skin.
00:23:27.951 --> 00:23:36.997
So it is strictly ultrasound waves that are focused and that go to a certain depth in the skin and then they work their magic.
00:23:36.997 --> 00:23:49.095
And then the second thing that makes it so nice, especially here in Arizona, is that these ultrasound waves are focused to the middle part of the skin or the dermis, and so it skips.
00:23:49.095 --> 00:24:02.349
The waves skip the epidermis, so there is no collateral damage in the epidermis and therefore we don't have to worry about skin color and sun exposure.
00:24:02.349 --> 00:24:07.965
So safe in all skin types and safe if someone's been out in the summer, which is really nice.
00:24:07.965 --> 00:24:11.872
It makes it a very good summer treatment, especially here in Arizona.
00:24:12.653 --> 00:24:21.472
And so the ultrasound waves go in, they heat the skin and that causes some collagen production.
00:24:21.472 --> 00:24:24.117
It causes elastin production.
00:24:24.117 --> 00:24:25.078
What does that do?
00:24:25.078 --> 00:24:39.412
It makes the skin glow, it makes the skin a little bit tighter on the surface because of the new collagen, and it makes the skin look healthier, just like the Fraxel, because the end result for each one is collagen production.
00:24:39.412 --> 00:24:49.932
But some of that heat also goes a little bit deeper and can actually heat the connective tissue or the SMAS, connecting everything in the face.
00:24:49.932 --> 00:25:05.465
So we do get more lift with an ultrasound device because we can have the energy go a little bit deeper into the skin and tighten or lift the SMAS and that lifts everything up.
00:25:06.170 --> 00:25:07.275
Okay, that's really interesting.
00:25:07.275 --> 00:25:13.344
So when you're first talking about ultrasound, I'm thinking, oh, like when I was pregnant there was an ultrasound, but it's different technology.
00:25:13.403 --> 00:25:19.946
It's heating, yes exactly, and that has to do with the way that the ultrasound waves are targeted and focused.
00:25:20.448 --> 00:25:22.492
Okay, so it's heating the deeper layers, is there?
00:25:22.492 --> 00:25:27.471
Are there any other devices out there that go by name brand that do have that kind of an effect?
00:25:30.721 --> 00:25:41.611
Yes, so there's also a device called Ultherapy that has been around for years and years and in fact the company just released a second version of it and that's also widely available.
00:25:41.611 --> 00:25:49.452
We just happened to choose the software version because we like the technology better and it gives an extremely predictable result.
00:25:50.201 --> 00:25:51.386
Okay, how painful is this?
00:25:51.386 --> 00:26:00.789
Because I'm going to disclose that I had Ultherapy maybe eight years ago and I had children, naturally with no pain medicine.
00:26:00.789 --> 00:26:02.346
So I thought I had a good pain tolerance.
00:26:02.346 --> 00:26:09.133
But when they touched my forehead I said I'm out of here, I don't care that I had to pay, I'm not having this pain.
00:26:09.133 --> 00:26:10.681
It was really, really painful.
