Laser Treatments

Written by Administrator

For all the most popular and in-demand laser and aesthetic treatments, including laser hair removal procedures, skin therapy treatments and more, Alma Lasers has the systems to provide the reliable, safe and effective results your patients are looking for. Count on Alma Lasers for visibly dramatic improvements with minimal discomfort and downtime.

Effective alternative to daily pills and creams

Acne is a common condition characterized by obstructed sebaceous glands, pimples and sometimes deeper cysts or nodules that occur on the face, neck, chest, back, shoulders and upper arms. Acne begins in adolescence and usually affects most teenagers at some time. However, adults too can suffer with acne. When severe, acne can often result in scarring. Even less severe cases can lead to scarring, if not properly treated.
Until recently, patients with persistent, moderate acne have been treated with only topical or sometimes systemic antibiotics. Recent studies have demonstrated, however, that certain discrete spectra can trigger endogenic porphyrins that naturally destroy P. acnes bacteria — and in just a fraction of the time it typically takes for antibiotics to work. Within eight brief acne laser treatments, over just four weeks, Harmony®XL's AFT can provide significant improvement. This is three times faster than common antibiotics and topical. Patients should achieve 80% clearance and treatments for acne take only a few minutes.

Technology in use

Clear inflammatory acne lesions without drugs or undesirable side effects using the HarmonyXL AFT laser handpiece. Intense blue wavelengths in the range of 420-950 nm target the porphyrins produced as part of the normal metabolism of P. acnes bacteria. The interaction of the intense blue light and the porphyrins creates singlet oxygen that rapidly destroys the bacteria without damaging the surrounding tissue.

Key advantages for physicians

• 8 treatments over 4 weeks produce results three times faster than pharmaceuticals
• Quick treatment times that can often be delegated
• Completely painless, no adverse effects or downtime

Key advantages for patients

• Quicker results than pharmaceuticals
• Safe treatment with 80% acne clearance on average
• 8 easy treatments instead of daily pills or creams

Psoriasis, vitiligo, stretch marks, hypopigmentation

Psoriasis

According to the National Psoriasis Foundation (www.psoriasis.org), psoriasis affects nearly 2% of the global population. Psoriasis is a chronic, life-long illness and most people need ongoing treatments and visits to the doctor. In severe cases, people may need to be hospitalized. About 56 million hours of work are lost each year by people who suffer from psoriasis, and between $1.6 billion and $3.2 billion is spent per year to treat the condition. Traditional treatments range from topical creams or ointments to oral medications (which must be monitored for systemic side-effects) to ultraviolet phototherapy, which is extremely time-consuming and has other associated risks. The UVB handpiece on the HarmonyXL laser rsystem provides psoriasis sufferers an alternative treatment that includes no pharmaceuticals, reduces the number of required sessions and takes only minutes.

Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a form of leukoderma, or loss of skin pigmentation. Vitiligo affects at least 1% of the world's population, and about half of people with this skin disorder experience some pigment loss before the age of 20. About one third of all vitiligo patients report that other family members also have the condition. Vitiligo develops as white spots in the skin that vary in size and location. The spots occur when melanocytes are destroyed and melanin can no longer be produced. Melanocytes normally occur throughout the skin, and in the hair follicles, mouth, eyes, and some parts of the central nervous system. With vitiligo, pigment cells can be lost in any of these areas.
Severe trauma such as burns can also destroy pigment cells, resulting in leukoderma. Stretch marks, acne scars, post-surgical and traumatic scars can also produce a similar loss of pigment. Until recently the only treatments available included UV phototherapy and topical or injected corticosteroids. And while none of these worked very well, there were some forms of leukoderma for which there was no known method of repigmentation.
The UVB handpiece available on the Harmony®XL laser system has the ability to produce short pulses of 295 - 350 nm light, which has been demonstrated to successfully treat leukoderma, including vitiligo. While most UV therapies require treatments that expose both the effected and healthy skin, Alma's UVB procedures only require treatment of affected areas, which minimizes the risk of injury to the surrounding areas and significantly reduces treatment times.

Technology in use

The UVB handpiece uses high-power, spectral irradiance in the UVB and UVA wavebands to target and treat dermatoses such as psoriasis, leukoderma, vitiligo, stretch marks (striae distenase), atopic dermatitis (eczema), seborrheic dermatitis and hypopigmented scars.

Key advantages for physicians

• Faster treatment than either PUVA or UVB phototherapy
• UVB handpiece uses high-power, spectral irradiance in the UVB and UVA wavebands

Key advantages for patients

• Effective treatment for a chronic illness
• No need for topicals, creams or ointments
• Reduces the number of sessions required to see results

Laser Treatment for Vascular & Pigmented Lesions

Non-surgical, quick and effective

Nearly 100% of all people have one or more pigmented lesion. Some are caused by sun exposure, others by aging. Still others are congenital. Regardless of the cause, pigmented lesions are simply spots on the skin where there is a higher concentration of melanin. Some lesions are flat; others are raised. In most cases, pigmented lesions are merely a cosmetic concern, but in some cases, they can be an early sign of skin cancer.
For most benign pigmented lesions that are of a cosmetic concern, there is a non-surgical option using the VP handpiece available on the Harmony®XL. By exposing a pigmented lesion to short pulses of visible light, the temperature in the highly concentrated melanin can be raised sharply, enough to shatter the cells containing the melanin. The body then replaces these cells with new cells generated by the surrounding untreated area. The AFT 540 VP handpiece offers unique wavelength and pulse width capabilities, allowing it to treat pigmented lesions on any skin type.

Technology in use

AFT is the next generation of intense pulsed light. It takes formerly unused short-wavelength light and converts it into part of the usable spectrum through a special filtering system. It increases emission and penetration, for safer and more effective treatments.
AFT also delivers Equally Distributed Fluence, which means that every pulse has uniform energy density across the entire output face. This fluence ensures repeatable results and remarkable safety. AFT yields a more efficient system for ideal clinical improvements, less discomfort and minimal skin damage.

Key advantages for physicians

• Non-surgical option for pigmented lesions
• No need for topical or numbing agents
• Quick, effective treatment provides tremendous customer satisfaction

Key advantages for patients

• Effective non-surgical treatment for a common cosmetic concern
• Quick 20-minute treatment time makes it easy to fit into a busy day
• Safe, effective and no downtime

Pain-Free Hair Removal

Virtually pain-free hair removal technology

Laser hair removal is the #1 non-invasive aesthetics treatment available today with an estimated growth  rate of 18%. With nearly 3.1 million laser hair removal treatments performed in 2006 alone, hair removal is a fantastic way to inject profit into your practice. While there are many methods to eliminate unwanted hair, very few can eliminate hair regrowth while leaving the surrounding skin undamaged. And photoepilation is quickly becoming the most popular. Lasers and light sources use the principle of selective photothermolysis to eliminate hair and its potential regrowth without damaging the surrounding skin. During a laser hair removal treatment, light passes through the skin and is absorbed by the melanin in the hair shaft. This absorption raises the temperature of the hair follicle and thermally destroys the cells responsible for regrowth. The attributes of the light (wavelength, pulse duration and power) are chosen to ensure damage to these cells and not to the rest of the skin.
Alma Lasers provides you two great options for laser hair removal, both providing Alma's virtually pain-free hair removal technology. If your practice is looking to add laser hair removal along with several other aesthetic treatments, then the Harmony®XL's SHR handpiece is an ideal fit for your needs. If your business is looking for a dedicated laser hair removal machine, then the Soprano®XL with its SHR mode is ideal for your location. Either solution enables you to provide Alma's patient-friendly Pain-Free, Hair-Free hair removal procedures.

Technology in use

With HarmonyXL

To perform light-based hair removal with the HarmonyXL SHR handpiece, a large rectangular window emitting broad-spectrum light is applied to the surface of the skin. The energy travels harmlessly through the epidermis and dermis until it strikes the hair follicle, which contains a dense, melanin-rich hair shaft and bulb.
The dark-colored melanin absorbs the light and rises slowly in temperature, destroying the hair-producing cells surrounding the follicle. Because the heat is not sustained, however, no damage occurs outside the follicle area.

With SopranoXL

SopranoXL uses 810-nm diode laser technology, the gold standard in laser hair removal since its introduction in 1998. Unlike earlier systems, however, SopranoXL energy penetrates deep into the dermis (where the hair follicle is located) with high average power and a rapid 10 pulse-per-second repetition rate.
Using CW Pulse™ technology allows homogeneous distribution and more effective fluence to be delivered with improved patient comfort. The unique pulse structure of SopranoXL incorporates two discrete pulses. The first is a preheated long pulse that safely heats the tissue; the second short pulse effectively destroys the hair follicle and its surrounding vasculature.

Key advantages for physicians

• IN-Motion™ technology - virtually pain-free hair removal without the use of anesthesia or numbing gels
• Permanent hair reduction of all pigmented hair on all skin types, including tanned skin
• Low cost of ownership with no disposables required

Key advantages for patients

• Comfortable treatment with little to no irritation
• Effective permanent reduction of hair
• Little to no chance of side effects