Light therapy has been used to treat conditions like acne and psoriasis since the dawn of man. Over recent decades sophisticated light machines have been developed that deliver safer and more precise light for a wide variety of skin disorders, including age spots (of the face, chest, arms and hands) and redness (of the face, neck and chest). These devices provide a huge improvement over prior methods as they drive the safe light deep into the skin to chase away the unwanted colors in a more thorough and rapid fashion.

Light therapy is often referred to in generic terms by the names of older machines such as "IPL" (intense pulsed light) or "Photoderm." Like most medical devices, there are now many generations of these machines. At our office, we use a new devise called "BBL" (broad band light) made by the respected Sciton Corporation in Palo Alto. While the older devices are safe and effective, they require more treatments to do the job, thus costing the patient more time and money.

In general, BBL can chase away most of the unwanted brown or red within 2-4 treatments given about 3 weeks apart. The treatment involves reclining in a comfortable chair while a flashing hand-held wand is moved across your skin. Each site takes about 10 minutes to treat and there is no recovery other than avoiding strong sunlight for a couple of days. Aside from the brown or redness possibly becoming a shade richer for a few days after the treatment, no one will know you have been treated. The colors will fade with each treatment and most patients are surprised to see how much better they appear after removing the years of color accumulation to which they have become reluctantly accustomed. Because lifestyle (sun exposure, alcohol) and genetic predisposition play a role in ones tendency towards unwanted skin color accumulation, it is common for an individual to require one or two light therapy treatments per year to maintain their desired appearance.

It is imperative that the operator of these devices have experience. If a patient is under - treated, they will require unnecessary additional treatments to complete the task at hand. If the patient is over-treated, they risk getting a mild (yet uncomfortable) burn (similar to a sun burn). At Cosmetic Dermatology we are proud to report that our two technicians, Crista and Melina, have a combined 15 years of experience at using these devices. While Dr. Degnan is very capable of running these machines, he has deferred treating patients as he knows he can never catch up with the years of experience already obtained by Crista and Melina.

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