See yourself in a Different Light: Photorejuvenation
Photorejuvenation technology may seem like a paradox. After all, we are often advised to stay out of the sun if we wish to maintain our youthful appearance. Many types of sun damage are responsible for women and men looking older. Staying out in the sun can give a person a weathered, leathery appearance. How, then, can light make a person look younger?
Types of Radiation
One of the first things to know about light and why sunlight can be bad while other light good, is that light is not a uniform thing. Light comes in different colors, which is technically measured in wavelengths, and visual light is only a small portion of the light that exists. In fact, radio waves are actually light, as are microwaves and gamma rays. Obviously, microwaves and gamma rays can be much more damaging than radio waves. This is because light of different wavelengths has different energies, with smaller wavelengths having higher energies. Radio waves are the longest waves of light, while x-rays and gamma rays are the shortest. The type of damaging radiation in sunlight is the ultraviolet waves, which are shorter than visible light waves.
Rate of absorption
The other thing to know about light is that different material absorbs light differently. One thing that affects absorption rate is color. Dark material absorbs more light than light material, as you know if youve ever worn a shirt with a black-and-white pattern in the sun. You can feel the dark parts of the pattern getting warmer than the light parts. In addition, some material, as a result of its chemistry or structure, can absorb more or different types of light.
Spotlight on your problems
Photorejuvenation technology takes advantage of these two things, then, by pairing specific kinds of light with the specific problem to be tackled to correct damage to your skin that may be caused by other kinds of light. For example, intense pulsed light (IPL) treatment can be used to eliminate freckles, age spots, spider veins, or other discolorations because these dark spots absorb the light radiation more than lighter skin cells. This is also how IPL can be used for hair removal, since the darker hair follicles absorb light more than the skin around it, so the follicles are destroyed before surrounding skin is significantly hurt.
Thermage, on the other hand, takes advantage of the fact that most of our tissue simply lets infrared radiation pass through. The infrared goes through the skin and into the layer of fat beneath, where it is absorbed, heating the fat, which then softens and smoothes.
The Power of Lasers
On the other hand, laser skin resurfacing, and Fraxel laser technology take advantage of the ability of the laser to apply intense, even destructive, light, instantly. Laser skin resurfacing works by vaporizing the outer, damaged layer of your skin and exposing the fresher, newer skin underneath before it has been damaged by exposure. In addition the layer of skin exposed is stimulated into producing more collagen, leading to lasting improvement of wrinkles.
The Fraxel laser works by creating deep pits in the skin with the laser, which can lead to a deeper treatment than is seen by typical laser skin resurfacing, although it often requires more treatments.
These specific parameters allow photorejuvenation to accomplish positive results using light that is very different from normal sunlight. Thus, although San Diego is famed for its sunshine, you can only get the positive effects of photorejuvenation from treatment by a photorejuvenation cosmetic surgeon.
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