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Lasers offer chance at unextreme makeover |
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Written by Knight Ridder
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Wednesday, 26 April 2006 |
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Who is that in the mirror?
Sharon Mebus can’t help but laugh every time she asks herself that question.
She expects a young woman with fresh, unlined skin.
Instead, she sees a 57-year-old with a few wrinkles here and there and tiny blood vessels visible around her nose.
With plenty of options, Mebus last month chose a FotoFacial procedure to freshen her skin at American Laser Center. A package of 10 treatments, which alternates laser with another skin procedure called microdermabrasion, costs $3,000.
“I wouldn’t want a facelift,” says Mebus, a retired licensed nurse practitioner. She reports: “I look at least 10 years younger, at least in my mind.”
For millions of Americans, extreme makeovers are, well, just too extreme. Scalpels, anesthesia, bruises and weeks of recovery are scary. Lasers, as well as heat and light devices, offer what many consider the right compromise to rejuvenate the skin, eliminate rashes, birthmarks and imperfections, remove hair, get rid of fatty tissue and more.
“The industry as a whole is growing dramatically,” says Rich Morgan, president of the Farmington Hills, Mich.-based American Laser Centers. The company expects to double its revenues from last year to $100 million this year, at 100 clinics in 27 states. It offers skin rejuvenation, hair removal and cellulite reduction.
Laser treatment is performed by a doctor or a technician working under a doctor’s guidance. Michigan law, for example, requires only that doctors be accessible for supervision, such as by telephone.
In 50 years, the use of lasers in medicine has spread widely, so consumers need to
know what they’re getting into.
The technology is changing so fast that newer equipment can accomplish more than machines that may only be a few years old. Some older-model lasers, for example, are not appropriate for darker skin.
Once strictly industrial tools, lasers have transformed some areas of medicine, such
as dermatology. There are dozens of different types, from cold, or so-called low-level, lasers, to sophisticated, high-powered devices. Others use radio waves, heat or pulses of intense light. The energy and light work at the cellular level of the skin, changing pigment and other skin imperfections. | Only registered users can write comments.
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