(bright music)
- Hi, my name is Dr. Gavin Chan
from the Victorian Cosmetic Institute.
And today I'll be talking about the Fraxel Laser,
and more specifically the new wavelength on the Fraxel Laser
which is the 1,927 nanometer wave length.
This is a new wave length which was released
about a year and a half ago now.
This laser wavelength was designed specifically
for the treatment of sun damage, pigmentation,
including melasma, which a form of hormonal pigmentation.
There is actually two wave lengths on the Fraxel laser.
There's the 1550 nanometer wavelength
which we have another video on,
but the main difference between
the 1550 nanometer wavelength
and the 1927 nanometer wavelength,
which is the wavelength we're talking about,
is that this wavelength really doesn't penetrate
very deeply in the skin.
It only penetrates .2 of a millimeter.
Now you might wonder what the advantage of that is,
but if you actually look at the skin
most of the problems within the skin,
say sun damage or pigmentation,
actually are within the very superficial layers.
So it's not necessary for this laser to go very deeply
to actually treat those problems.
It actually covers a wider surface area
than the 1550 nanometer wavelength
so you get more of a uniform cover.
But it still has the fractional nature
of the 1550 nanometer wavelength
which is that it won't treat every part of the skin,
it will treat little columns of skin
but it will leave bits of skin in between
which help the treated parts heal
as well as reduce the risk from the treatment.
Today we have Michaela who's going to be our subject
for the Fraxel treatment,
the 1927 nanometer Fraxel treatment.
And Michaela's main concern with her skin
is her pigmentation.
And she has a little bit of pigmentation over the cheeks
and a little bit between the brows.
This is an example of melasma,
which is a hormonal type of pigmentation.
And it usually occurs between the brows,
on the cheeks, sometimes on the upper lip as well.
There's also some sun damage on Michaela's skin
which would also benefit from treatment
with the the 1927 nanometer wavelength from the Fraxel.
The skin also, as you get older, tends to lose it's glow.
It becomes more sallow, it loses its brightness.
And one of the things the Fraxel laser will do
on this patient is to improve the general glow of the skin.
So she'll notice that it really almost appears
like she's wearing makeup when she's not.
The process of doing the Fraxel laser
is firstly to apply the numbing cream to the skin
and that shine that you see
at the moment is actually numbing cream.
And that helps to reduce any discomfort from the procedure.
Okay I'm just going to get you some googles
and put these around your face to protect your eyes.
(beeping)
You can use this, your cooling hose there
to help cool the skin and I'll use one as well.
I've got one built in to the laser here.
Okay so just let me know how this feels.
(chirping
How does that feel?
- [Michaela] I don't feel anything.
- Oh good, that's a really good sign.
Usually patients usually feel a little bit
of a hot and prickly sensation.
Michaela hasn't felt a lot so far and that's a good thing.
So what I'm doing here is pulling down
multiple passes of this laser in different directions.
And what that does is ensure good coverage of the face.
With each pass the laser is actually laying down
thousands of of little dots of energy,
or little columns of energy which go into the skin.
And these little dots of energy
are what break down the pigmentation,
remodel the skin, and rejuvenate the skin.
The light and the rollers actually track the skin
and lay down a particular number of dots
depending on the speed of the movement,
so you get a very very even result.
So how'd you go Michaela?
How do you feel?
- Great, there was no pain at all.
- Good. - It's a bit ticklish,
but besides that, no it was good.
Just cold. - Yeah
- But no pain at all.
- You can see her face is a little bit red
but certainly there's not a lot of swelling or redness.
And in a few days this will all sort of crust up
a little bit and peel off and sort of bring out a new skin.
So the total down time is anywhere from three to five days.
(bright music)