OK, so maybe you weren’t overly enamored with fractions in your middle school days. Denominator, numerator? Puhleeeeeeeze.
But your skin loves fractions, at least when they’re provided by our Fraxel DUAL laser at Dr. Kearney’s. We use our Fraxel DUAL platform to improve our patient’s sun damage, areas of hyperpigmentation, and overall texture.
In this second blog of the New Year, let’s give Fraxel a little more love. After all, it was the first non-ablative laser resurfacing treatment and remains the most popular.
How does Fraxel DUAL work?
Fraxel DUAL laser treatments target aging and sun-damaged skin with microscopic laser columns that penetrate deep into your skin to expedite your body’s remodeling of collagen, along with triggering production of new collagen. And since the laser energy only treats a fraction of the skin’s surface with the microscopic wounds, it leaves the surrounding tissue intact, which promotes very rapid healing. Fraxel DUAL treatment resurfaces the skin by stimulating the growth of new, healthy skin cells from the inside out.
Why is collagen so important?
You see collagen in pretty much every skin product out there. Why is that? Collagen is a protein in our skin (and elsewhere in the body) that provides the structural framework. It is necessary to keep our skin firm, thick, and young looking. To do this, collagen builds a latticework under the skin.
The problem is, after we celebrate our 20th birthday, our body decides we don’t need as much collagen anymore. It cuts collagen production one additional percentage point every year. By the time we’re 45, our body is producing one quarter less collagen. That’s why our skin begins to develop lines, wrinkles, and shows volume loss on areas such as the cheeks.
That’s why Fraxel pioneered the above-described treatment that made the body think there had been a wound. When Fraxel delivers its laser energy through the epidermis with hundreds of microscopic punctures, it reaches the dermis. In the dermis, the light energy converts to heat, and when the body senses heat in the dermis layer it assumes there has been a wound. Its response? Remodel all existing collagen in the area and produce lots of new collagen to “heal” the perceived wounds. In reality, all of the tiny punctures heal in just a couple hours, but the body’s wound-response lasts for weeks. Therein lies the beauty of Fraxel fractional laser resurfacing.
Ready to give your skin some love for 2021? Call Dr. Kearny at (858) 677-9352 and set up a Fraxel DUAL session.