Laser Vein Removal Knowledge Page

Introduction
Laser vein removal is performed using a 1064 wavelength laser, which is safe for all skin tones and is able to hit deeper spider vein and reticular veins. Treatments are done and we recheck your progress in about 2 months. Our device uses contact cooling, meaning a water-cooled crystal is placed on the skin and the laser shoots through this. the cooling helps to protect the outermost layer of skin, the epidermis, from burns or pigmentation changes.

Discussion
Long wavelength lasers, such as the 1064 have become the gold standard for treatment of unwanted veins. The longer wavelength allows the beam to reach deeper into the dermis to hit the target hair follicles. Some veins are too deep to be reached by other lasers or IPL. The long wavelength also makes it safer for darker skin-types. If you do not have green or blue eyes, you are a person of color from a laser treatment perspective. Melanin gives the skin its color tone and can absorb energy from any laser used for vein treatments. This can lead to burns and pigmentation problems. In general, hyperpigmentation or darkening of skin patches is temporary while hypopigmentation or lightening of patches of the skin may be permanent. These worries do not exist in the 1064 world as more energy goes into the dermis and less affects melanin producing cells in the epidermis. Our device is also able to cool the epidermis during the treatment. We set the temperature to a specific setting for your skin type. This improves safety even further and makes the treatment more comfortable.

FAQ

I had laser vein treatments before but it did not work, why was that?

If the treatment looked like a flash of light you had an IPL treatment and not a laser procedure. IPL is limited in its ability to treat deeper and larger veins due to the risk of heat induced skin damage and therefore low energy is often used. the IPL is like a shotgun of light, shooting out many wavelengths of light. this is great with for photorejuvenation, but not vein treatments. Our laser goes deeper, and puts more energy down without risk of complication because it has a specific wavelength to hit just blood vessels. IPL does work wonderfully well on tiny telangiectasia on the face.

I had a treatment and I had blisters afterward. What happened?

Treatment for veins goes after hemoglobin as the target for the laser. Melanin, the pigment in the skin, follows a very similar absorption curve and short wave length lasers can hit both. In order to not burn a patient, the energy to the dermis must be greater than the energy on the epidermis. The way to increase the amount of energy going into the dermis is 1) use a long wavelength, 2) cool the epidermis, 3) decrease the distance to the dermis and 4) extending with width of the pulse. All of these conditions can be met with our long wavelength 1064 laser with contact cooling.