Laser treatments are a highly effective way to address unwanted sun spots and age spots, but it’s crucial that you find the appropriate provider. Hyperpigmentation is a risk associated with laser procedures; even with seemingly harmless procedures it may occur in some patients.
Today there are numerous effective laser treatment options for dark skin!
1. Pico Laser
As its name implies, Pico Laser uses ultrashort laser energy pulses to target pigmented lesions and skin damage. These pulses can shatter pigment granules without heating nearby tissues allowing for less downtime and faster recovery times.
Laser technology can effectively treat numerous skin conditions such as freckles, age spots, sun damage and melasma. Additionally it can reduce fine lines and wrinkles as well as light acne scars while treating fibroblast activation and collagen stimulation for more youthful-looking skin.
Pico Laser therapy offers many other advantages as a laser treatment option, including its ability to prevent post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH). PIH occurs when skin injury occurs such as from dermabrasion or other superficial forms of injury; most often occurring among individuals with darker skin tones due to inflammation from acne, eczema or various dermatoses; medication side effects or even certain medical treatments can lead to it; it usually only lasts temporarily but sometimes becomes permanent; Pico Laser provides a safe solution by causing less irritation than other forms of laser treatments do; hence making this treatment safe against post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH).
Conventional laser toning treatments use thousands of pulses of energy that build gradually into heat in targeted tissues. By contrast, PicoWay laser technology utilizes ultra-short pulses that trigger photomechanical effects to shatter pigmented granules in skin similar to crushing rocks into dust without creating heat buildup and its potential side effects.
PICO Genesis laser uses two highly effective wavelengths of laser light in ultra-short pulses to shatter pigmented areas on your skin. Absorption by your epidermis triggers new collagen formation, leaving behind fresher and healthier looking skin without any downtime necessary after treatment.
2. Nd:YAG
Those with darker skin tones looking for an effortless complexion without pigmentation issues and vascular lesions should consider the Nd:YAG laser as their top choice. This laser uses a crystal that emits light energy as heat that penetrates the epidermis and absorbs by hemoglobin and melanin chromophores to form new collagen and elastin that help smooth out wrinkles and fine lines – without damage or burns being the result. Nd:YAG is also one of only few types capable of working without damaging or burning dark skin tones without damaging or burns occurring to darker tones without harm or burns being caused.
An Nd:YAG laser emitting invisible wavelength 1064nm light safely penetrates deep into skin to target blood supply feeding each hair follicle and destroy them without harming nearby tissues or creating scar tissue. It is highly effective at eliminating unwanted facial and body hair removal as well as improving complexion in patients with dark skin tones who have experienced damage caused by other laser types.
Since 2006, the Nd:YAG laser has been an efficient means of treating well-defined vascular and pigmented lesions; more recently it has also proven successful at diminishing hair growth by targeting its source without harming surrounding tissues. A typical session usually lasts only 20 minutes with results typically evident within weeks.
ND:YAG laser treatments are considered the safest solution for treating skin concerns on dark-toned individuals, although other skin types may benefit as long as certain precautions are observed during your appointment. You will be provided with a topical numbing agent during your visit that protects the surface of your skin from the laser’s energy; upon finishing treatment you should experience only temporary discomfort that usually subsides within several days to a week.
3. Erbium:YAG
There are various laser treatments designed to eliminate unwanted sunspots, age spots and freckles; however, most are only suitable for people with lighter skin tones. Fraxel laser treatment works best on patients with skin types I-III while Clear + Brilliant laser (commonly referred to as a “mini-Fraxel”) works equally effectively on these individuals. If darker skin tones require treatment as well, however, another specialized solution called AlexTrivantage laser (an nd:YAG laser specifically tailored towards targeting pigment without damaging surrounding tissue).
Prior to this laser’s arrival, patients with dark complexions were unable to use laser devices because the devices could not differentiate between skin pigment and hair follicle pigment, creating the risk of burnt or damaged skin. Now thanks to technology advancement, nd:YAG laser can safely treat dark skin tones while leaving surrounding tissues undamaged.
Erbium lasers can also be used to remove various lesions such as skin tags, solitary keratoses, benign nevi c, and seborrheic keratoses. Furthermore, it can be used to treat eye-related skin lesions like acrochordons and superficial intradermal cysts around the eye, as well as treat conditions known as balanophosthitis plasmacelluaris or Zoon’s disease of the prepuce (external portion of penis).
Erbium laser treatment is one of the safest and most effective means of treating hyperpigmentation and other skin conditions, including hyperpigmentation. The laser will target and eliminate diseased cells while simultaneously protecting other areas from spreading infection. Therefore, using an erbium laser may be considered one of the safest and most efficient means to address hyperpigmentation and related skin disorders.
4. Erbium:Yttrium
Erbium laser treatments are tailored specifically for Fitzpatrick skin types I-II but may also be utilized on patients with darker complexions with appropriate laser pulse frequency and depth adjustments. Light energy penetrates deeper layers of the skin to break up pigmented cells that accumulate, leaving behind healthy, lighter-colored tissue instead. In addition, collagen production stimulated by laser production plumping up and volumizing skin as a whole for an overall healthier and younger-looking appearance with reduced hyperpigmentation.
Erbium, like yttrium, is a rare-earth element. First discovered by Carl Gustaf Mosander in Ytterby, Sweden in 1842 and named for the location where it was discovered, it belongs to the Lanthanide Series and shares characteristics with yttrium, lanthanum and terbium.
Erbium metal has an extremely stable atomic structure and is non-toxic, producing silvery white pure erbium metal which reacts slowly with air. Soluble in dilute acids except hydrofluoric acid. Erbium acts as both an effective paramagnet above 85 K and an antiferromagnet below this temperature threshold.
Erbium dopants can be added to crystals or glasses to add laser activity, by replacing a small fraction of yttrium ions with erbium ions in their host crystal. When excited, both sets of ions emit infrared radiation of 2940 nanometer wavelength and can only work where there is water present (such as in human bodies).
Erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet lasers are commonly used for laser skin resurfacing and treatment of benign and malignant cutaneous lesions, making them particularly helpful for melasma which is difficult to treat using other means. A recent study concluded that using fractional ablation laser therapy combined with topical hydroquinone (HQ) reduced mean MASI scores significantly more quickly compared with only using topical hydroquinone alone.
5. Diode
Laser treatments can be an effective and safe solution to reduce PIH and other skin imperfections caused by hyperpigmentation or sun damage, such as pigmented areas of hyperpigmentation (PIH). When performed by experienced medical professionals like board-certified NYC dermatologist Michele Green, diode laser treatment may provide safe and effective relief of cosmetic concerns; it’s also important to follow post-treatment precautions such as proper skincare and sun protection practices to reduce any side effects from treatment.
Diode lasers’ longer wavelengths make them an excellent choice for darker Fitzpatrick skin types, unlike short-wavelength treatments such as the erbium laser that may damage surface layers of skin. Furthermore, their fast repetition rate enables rapid treatment of larger body areas.
Diode lasers offer many advantages, one being they’re safe to use on all skin tones due to their slower frequency compared to Nd:YAG lasers – meaning less heat reaches superficial layers of your skin and reduced risks associated with delayed wound healing and complications when treating diabetic patients or those with impaired circulation. If considering treatment with diode lasers it would be advisable to seek medical advice prior to receiving this therapy.
Diode lasers are another excellent choice for hair removal. Their built-in cooling system helps protect the surface of skin during treatment and alleviate irritation or discomfort, as well as using Super Hair Removal (SHR) techniques which deliver low-fluence pulses of energy directly to each follicle.
