Posts Tagged ‘Lasers’

Everything You Need to Know About Laser Wart Removal

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Laser hair removal, have you heard of it before? Laser hair removal is rapidly increasing in popularity. Amazingly, laser treatment can prevent or greatly reduce the growth of body hair. If you think that is amazing, wait until you hear what else laser treatment can do. If you suffer from warts, you may be able to have your warts eliminated with laser treatments.

Laser wart removal is done at a professional office. There are a number of dermatologists who can offer this type of treatment, but it is most commonly found in laser treatment centers. Laser treatment centers are centers that tend to focus solely on conditions that can be treated by lasers. These conditions may include, but are not limited, unwanted body hair, poor vision, as well as warts.

As previously mentioned, your best chance for undergoing laser wart removal is to contact a local laser treatment center. If you have a primary care physician, they may be able to point you in the direction of a well-known and trusted laser treatment center. If you do not have a primary care physician, who can provide you with recommendations, you are advised to use the internet or your local phone book. Both of these resources should be able to provide you with the contact information of local laser treatment centers.

When it comes to undergoing a laser wart removal, there is a good chance that you may need to make a consultation appointment. This appointment, if it is needed, will be used to fully examine your body, as well as the warts that you would like removed. If you are being referred by a dermatologist or even your family physician, it is possibly that you may not need to have a consultation appointment; however, to make that possible you should request that your doctor share all of your medical files with the laser treatment center that you plan on using. This may make it possible for your consultation appointment to be eliminated.

Consultation appointments are not only used to examine your warts, but they are also used to prepare you for the procedure. If you are not planning on having a consultation appointment, it is important that you understand exactly how the procedure will go. You should easily be able to do this online or by speaking to your laser treatment centers staff. You will likely find that the laser, which is typically a pulsed dye laser, will cutoff of the warts blood supply. This will cause the wart to dry up and later fall off.

When it comes to laser wart removal, one of the most common questions asked is about pain. Despite what you may believe or may have heard, laser wart removal is relatively painless and sometimes even pain-free. Most professionals will use topical numbing gel and you may be asked to take an over-the-counter pain medication, but that is usually about it. In fact, there is a little or no complications associated with laser wart removal. It has even been said that most patients can return to their daily activities that same day.

Perhaps, the best part about laser wart removal is that it is ideal for individuals of all ages. In addition to being a great treatment option for adults, laser wart removal is also safe for children. If that werent enough, laser wart removal can effectively and safely remove warts from anyplace on the body. If you would like more information on this relatively new, but popular wart removal method, you are advised to speak with a professional healthcare provider today.

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The History of Laser Hair Removal

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

The lasers used for laser hair removal developed from a theory instituted by the Nobel prize-winning physicists Albert Einstein and Max Planck. This theory, first introduced in the 1920s, defined stimulated emission, or laser. The word laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s that the first true laser was built and patented by Gordon Gould, an American physicist.

Laser hair removal devices of the 1960s sent out a continuous wavelength which caused damage to the surrounding skin tissue. In the late 1960s, Dr. Leon Goldman was the first to begin testing a ruby laser for hair removal. It was also in this time frame that the Q switch with developed for use with a laser. With the development of the Q switch it was possible to control the energy of the laser beam to be sent to out in controlled pulses. The Q switch worked much in the same way as a camera shutter.

Early devices for laser hair removal proved to be ineffective. In order to remove the hair follicle, there was severe damage to the surrounding skin area. The ruby laser, as well as the argon laser, are no longer used for laser hair removal.

Throughout the next several decades, researchers and physicists continued to experiment and test lasers for successful hair removal. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the first laser was introduced as a safe and effective method of hair removal. This discovery actually happened by chance when scientists noted that birthmarks treated with certain types of lasers caused the hair in that area to disappear and not grow back.

The FDA cleared the first laser for hair removal in 1995 . This laser, called the Soft Light, was a NeoDymium Yttrium Aluminum Garnets laser and was manufactured by Thermolaise. This laser was used with a chromophore of carbon-based lotion. After the skin was waxed, the carbon-based lotion would be rubbed onto the skin and enter the hair follicle. The beam of light produced by the laser would heat the carbon quickly and destroy the hair follicle. However, this type of laser treatment could easily damage nearby skin cells. Eventually, this type of laser hair removal proved to be less effective than targeting the natural pigmentation that existed in the skin.

In 1997, several types of laser hair removal devices were cleared by the F DA. One of these was the ruby laser, which used a shorter wavelength system. However, clinical research eventually showed that the laser did not produce damage far enough down the hair shaft to result in permanent hair loss. Researchers also found that if a t the ruby laser was used on people with dark or tan skin there was a high risk of hyperpigmentation. Other types of laser hair removal devices today include alexandrite, diode, and NeoDymium Yttrium Aluminum Garnets lasers.

Research and development in the area of laser hair removal are still in the early stages. However, continuing research, testing and development in this area continues to produce safer and more effective equipment.

Tray-Based Teeth Whitening: Extending Professionals Touch

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Out of curiosity, have you ever asked the question why teeth get dark? Or have you even pondered on the possible answers to this simple query?

Tooth discoloration should not be taken lightly though the case should really lighten to brighten up a smile.

There are many reasons why teeth get stained. The most typical reasons vary from factors written below:

1.heredity
2.consumption of staining substances (such as tea, coffee, and colas)
3.excessive fluoride and use of abrasives (which only expose dentin and causes severe discoloration)*
4.tetracycline (antibiotic) staining
5.old fillings
6.aging

Toothpastes that have whitening agents can minimize the stain that is on the surface of the teeth. The case is also coined by dentists as extrinsic staining. However, professional dental cleanings and whitening toothpastes will not change the intrinsic staining of the teeth, if used appropriately. This is the main reason why tooth bleaching or tooth whitening is so popular.

Normally, teeth whitening remedies are categorized into two:

1.Professional whitening systems

This is usually performed by dentists using whitening gels and lasers to activate the solution. This is normally done inside a dental clinic.

2.Home-based teeth whitening remedy

This could either be done in-between appointments of professional treatments using whitening kits and tray-based whitening techniques or are just home-made remedies from kitchen and medicine items. These applications are usually done at home and according to the frequency suggested by dentists and/or by a products instructions.

Just how is tray-based teeth whitening technique employed to the patient? Read on the following four-step procedure:

1.A whitening gel is poured all over a tray that just fits over the teeth of the patient.
2.The active ingredient inside the gel, carbamide peroxide will be broken down sp that oxygen can enter the enamel to bleach the discolored areas.
3.By this, the physical structure of each tooth is not actually transformed. Crowns, fillings, and Bonding will not lighten but the colored substances will.
4.Casts or impressions of the tray are customized by dentists. The accuracy of the trays is critical to the treatment

Below are follow-up questions most patients are curious about tray teeth whitening method.

How safe is the method?

Most dentists agree that tray bleaching or whitening is relatively safe, fast, provides easy ways to lighten teeth between two and five shades in a matter of few days.

How is this different from other professional whitening systems?

Below is a list of some professional whitening products dentists in choosing items for their professional whitening system. The kind of bleaching laser or light is enclosed in parentheses.

1.BriteSmile (gas plasma light/light emitting diode)
2.LaserSmile (a Biolase laser)
3.LumaArch (halogen light)
4.Rembrandt Sapphire (plasma arc light)
5.Zoom! (metal halide light)

Generally, laser treatment is done by applying a 35% Hydrogen Peroxide gel-based solution on the teeth of the patient. After applying the solution on the surface of the teeth, a light is held several inches away from the patients mouth to activate the peroxide component of the gel. There are manufacturers and dentists who advertise that this method works better than tray whitening method. There are no actual data completed to support their claims.

Actually, after a year of usual lifestyle habits (drinking tea, colas, coffee, smoking, etc.) treatments using laser-accompanied whitening gel are disregarded. This will cost you another $ 500 or more to have the same treatment again.

However, with the custom-made mouthpieces, you can have your usual lifestyle habits for a year and perform touch-ups one day roughly alternately every 3-6 months to take off the new stain inexpensively.