Why Combine Multiple Laser Treatments?

I realize that we, and everyone else who does laser skin improvement, explain everything wrong. We talk about the technology: microns and ablations and fractional and this and that and people get confused.

Really, we all have the same problems – age spots, laxity, fine lines and wrinkles and those annoying spider veins in the corners of our noses and cheeks. And we mostly need the same treatments.

The fact is, if you talk to anyone who does lasers for a living, they all do treatments on themselves, and they all pick them the same way. They say: “How many days do I have to look bad?” and then they do 3-4 different treatments at the same time with a matched healing time. You can do a MicroLaserPeel with 3 days tof recovery, or a Fractional Resurfacing with 3 days of recovery – or you can do both together and still take 3 days to recover. And you can add in a BBL and a SkinTyte session and still not increase the recovery time.

Its kind of like cooking Thanksgiving dinner- you’ve got to be home while the turkey cooks, so you might as well chef up some cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes at the same time.

So, we’re going to quit describing things with names that don’t make any sense. Instead of a 4-micron peel, we’ll call it a one-day peel, because that’s how long you look bad. Instead of an 11%, 75 micron fractional resurfacing, we’ll call it a 3-day fractional, because that’s how long you look bad.

We call our new protocol series the Max Series℠ Laser Treatments.

Most people are coming in and getting multiple treatments at the same time, but we’re going to make it more clear – we have a One Max℠ package, which is the maximum result you can get with one day of down time, and a Two Max℠, which is the maximum you can get with two days of down time. We also have a Three Max℠, Four Max℠, and Five Max℠, but you’ll have to guess what those are.

We even have a Zero Max℠ package for the maximum result you can get with no down time at all.

And, if you have a long block of free time, we can perform our Ulti Max℠ Laser Treatment, which is the most result you can get, period.

We have found that when we combine treatments like this people get much, much better results than any single treatment alone.

How Dr. Gelber Combines Treatments

Laser technology is constantly evolving, so the treatments we use or the way we combine our treatments may change - our goal is to constantly evolve and offer the absolute best treatment we can. We get really busy in the office taking care of patients and can sometimes be slow to update the website, but the information below is current as of November 2012.

First Step (part of all Max℠ series treatments)

The first part of all of our combined treatments is a Broad Band Light (BBL) treatment. This is sometimes called an Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatment, or a photofacial. The BBL treatment primarily addresses brown spots, pink areas, and fine spider veins. Studies are starting to come out showing that BBL alters slows skin aging and alters gene expression to make skin look and act younger (click here for more info).

Second Step (part of all Max℠ series treatments)

The second step is a SkinTyte II treatment. SkinTyte slowly heats the deep layers of skin, stimulating collagen production and tightening skin. The effect is modest but real.

Third Step (part of One Max℠ and greater treatments)

The third step is a MicroLaserPeel, which precisely removes a shallow layer of skin. When the skin cells regenerate, the skin is brighter, tighter, and more evenly colored. The deeper we treat, the greater the result, but the longer you look red and peely. MicroLaserPeels can help a little with color irregularities, but they primarily address textural issues.

Fourth Step (part Two Max℠ and greater treatments)

The fourth step is a fractional resurfacing, to get deep into the skin. The laser vaporizes tiny columns of skin cells which immediately close, leaving the surface of the skin intact. A fractional laser treatment can reach 5-10 times deeper into the skin than a MicroLaserPeel with the same healing time, but it only treats a fraction of the skin. By penetrating down into the deeper layers of skin where collagen is produced, it can addresses problems that MicroLaserPeels can't. Most of the effect is textural, but it does have a moderate effect on color irregularities as well.

Fifth Step (an optional add-on to the Two Max℠ and greater treatments)

Optionally, we can do a fifth step. Dr. Gelber can put metal eye shields in and perform a fractional resurfacing of the eyelid skin. This is commonly called a "Madonna Eye-lift")

Sixth Step (an optional add-on to any Max℠ series treatment)

Optionally the same treatments can be extended onto the neck and chest. A lot of people have as much or more skin damage on the neck and chest than they do on their faces, and the effects can be really nice. Typically the neck and chest are treated much more lightly than the face since the skin is much thinner and more sensitive.