Last week we talked about treatment of facial redness, facial veins, and rosacea as a cause. Most of these treatments involve some type of light therapy or laser treatments. The laser is used to close visible veins on the face and at the base of the nose. It works by damaging the lining of the vein, it ceases to function, and your body eventually gets rid of it. Of course, some new veins may appear with time and may require further treatment.
just a reminder..
For the redness associated with aging and, or rosacea, we use IPL (intense pulsed light). The intensity of the pulse of light also targets the red pigment in the smaller capillaries of the skin of the face, causing them to close. After a short time, the redness is much less. In many cases, we will use the laser and IPL at the same time, closing the larger, visible veins with the laser and the generalized redness with IPL. The IPL treatments also can target "age" spots on the face, or areas of Melasma (mask of pregnancy or pigmented areas).
melasma 
age spots
These areas are caused by Ultraviolet light (sun) exposure and hormonal changes. This is why we recommend not tanning your face!!!, or use sun screen on your face and re-apply often.
OK, after this reminder of what we are trying to address with the laser...what is, and why do you need "pre-treatment"? First of all, we want the treatments to be as effective as possible. If you pre-treat the skin, the dead layer or stratum corneum is not as thick and the light used penetrates better. This, of course, gives a better result. The other problems that can occur with light therapy are:
-hyperpigmentation: in other words, the skin cells that produce the pigment in the first place can respond by making more....not what we're looking for.
-hypopigmentation: loss of skin color. The pigment cell stop working and the skin becomes too light.
-persistant redness: redness of the skin after treatment that can hang on for months.
Of course the percentage of people that have any one of the three of these happen is very low, however, we want to decrease the risk as much as possible. How do we do this?....by pre-treating the skin of course.
What we, and most others, use is a combination of a retinol compound, and a fading agent. Retinol compounds are derivatives of vitamin A. (retinol, retin-a, tretinoin, etc.) There are chemical differences between them, but the end result is to compact or thin the outer, dead layer of skin and stimulate the live, basal layer to turn over quicker and thicken. They also retard the degradation of collagen and slow down the darker pigment cells that create dark spots. All retinols will also dry the skin to some extent and decrease oil production. These effects are great for acne and for some forms of rosacea. The other product we use is a hydroquinone. Hydroquinone works by inhibiting an enzyme in the melanocyte (the cell in the skin that produces pigment) that is critical in forming the melanin or dark pigment. By stopping this pigment production before any light treatment, we can decrease the likelihood of hyperpigmentation as a problem. The continued use, after laser or light therapy, of hydroquinone keeps the age spots and, or melasma from returning.
Of course, pre-treatment does not guarantee that any one, or all, of the problems that can occur will be prevented. But pre-treatment does greatly lower the chances. The darker the skin, i.e., ethinic skin, the greater the chance of problems with or without treatment.
At Total Body Surgical, we use the Obagi line of skin care products for pre-treatment and maintenance. It is medical grade (prescription grade) and works very well even if laser or light therapy is not used. Our pricing is great and we start people on the travel size products so they don't buy large amounts to start with. If your skin cannot tolerate it, (very unusual) or if you don't like it, you have not made a huge investment.
So come see us for facial pigment issues, rosacea, or acne. We have the experience and equipment to help you. Cosmetic consultations are complimentary so call 918-786-7780 or 1-877-weight-0.