A 62 year-old woman visited the office to discuss photodamage she had accumulated over the years. She was looking to even out skin tone and improve the appearance of her skin overall. She presented with larger lentigos, sometimes referred to as “sun spots” or “age spots,” primarily on her cheeks.
To achieve a dramatic result with limited downtime, I treated the patient with the Qs Alexandrite laser, or Alex for short. Treatment with the Alex laser is very well tolerated, but some patients prefer to have a topical numbing cream applied which stays on the skin for up to 10 minutes. The actual laser procedure only takes about 15 minutes to treat the entire face. The areas that were treated with the laser appear slightly red and swollen, similar to a bug bite. That redness and swelling decreases significantly the next day and the treated spots will appear slightly darker before sloughing off about one week later. During that week, patients may wear make-up and resume all their normal activites, but should wear sunscreen and a hat while outdoors. After about a week, patients can expect the lentigos to be much lighter, if not completely removed.
To learn more about this and other cosmetic procedures offered in our office, please follow this link to our website: San Diego Dermatology and Laser Surgery: Cosmetic Dermatology
Before treatment with Qs Alexandrite laser
After 1 treatment- notice that the large brown spots have resolved resulting in an impressive improvement.
View more articles about: Alexandrite, dark spots, laser, photodamage, sunscreen
