Dr. Buckingham’s Q&A

May 16, 2012

What is IPL?

Filed under: IPL,Laser Treatment — admin @ 10:10 am

Question:
I’ve heard a lot about IPL but what does it actually treat?

Answer:
IPL which stands for intense pulsed light, aka photofacial, is a broad band of intense light which is filtered to produce a narrower band of wavelengths. It has been touted to treat wrinkles, pigment, vascularity and for hair removal. In our experience it does very little for wrinkles and the hair removal is less than impressive. It is effective in temporarily reducing pigment and redness caused from small dilated capillaries. It is a nice treatment to get some improvement with very little recovery.

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March 1, 2012

There are so many different types of laser skin resurfacing procedures out, what laser procedures do you perform and what are they best at treating?

Filed under: Laser Peels,Laser Resurfacing,Laser Skin,Laser Treatment — admin @ 8:10 am

Question:
There are so many different types of laser skin resurfacing procedures out there that it can get very confusing. What laser procedures do you perform and what are they best at treating?

Answer:
You are exactly correct in your assessment. There are two main groups of laser treatments however, ablative and non-ablative. This term refers to whether the epidermis is disrupted during the procedure or not. Non-ablative procedures include intense-pulsed light (photofacial), KTP vascular lasers and others. Industry further confuses this by giving other names to devises like “cool glide”. Non-ablative devises are good at reducing problems confined to the dermis such as redness and pigment. Different devises are better at improving different conditions. In the non-ablative category we use a KTP laser and a pulsed-dye laser for pigment and a combination of IPL/photofacial and a Fraxel laser for pigment. Non-ablative lasers are not very good at reducing wrinkles. The Fraxel restore laser crosses the barrier between ablative and non-ablative as it leaves the very top layer of the epidermis intact to aide in fast-healing, but affects the living layers of the epidermis and dermis to provide some wrinkle reduction. For significant wrinkle reduction we use an ablative fractionated CO2 laser or deep chemical peeling. These modalities have a longer recovery time, but also provide the best results.

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February 1, 2012

How much will my skin color affect scar revision procedures?

Filed under: Laser Treatment,Scar Revision — admin @ 4:20 pm

Question:
I am a darker skinned person looking to have a scar removed from my chin. How much will my skin color affect scar revision procedures?

Answer:
Darker skin is more difficult to work with regarding scar revision since scars tend to lighten with time. Because of this a scar needs to be nearly perfect to blend into the surrounding skin. Also, skin resurfacing procedures such as dermabrasion and laser are more difficult to perform because of temporary hyperpigmentation or possibly permanent lightening of the skin, hypopigmentation. While these issues make scar revision more challenging, it doesn’t preclude improvement. The procedure needs to be well planned and expectations set appropriately to succeed.

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Dr. Edward Buckingham is a Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon who specializes in Rhinopalsty, Facelifts, Eyelid Surgery, BOTOX, and many other
Cosmetic Facial procedures. His office is located in Austin, Texas and services the surrounding areas including: Sunset Valley, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park,
Round Rock, and many of the other nearby Texas cities. © 2011 Austin Texas Facial Plastic Surgery
Dr. Buckingham is a Eyelid Surgery and Rhinoplasty expert in the Austin metropolitan area on RealSelf.