← Derm Approved
Derm Approved
Deep Dive into the World of Lasers and Skin-Tightening Devices
01:05:25
<p>In this episode of Derm Approved, we're diving deep into the world of lasers and energy-based devices! If you've ever wondered how these cutting-edge technologies work to resurface your skin, tighten it, and tackle pigmentation or sun damage, this is the episode for you. In this episode, I’ll break down the different types of lasers, what they do, and how to know if you're a good candidate for these treatments. Plus, I’ll guide you on choosing the right technology and provider, including some red flags to watch out for. I'll also share what to expect during a treatment—the prep, downtime, cost, and how it actually feels. Stay tuned for the ultimate guide to laser treatments!</p><p><em>This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.</em></p><p>Connect with me on social media <a href="https://www.instagram.com...
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- [00:00]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
The following podcast is a Dear media
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Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
production I'm Dr. Sheila Farhang and welcome to Derma Proved, your number one source for all things dermatology, from skin and
- [00:09]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
hair health to the latest celeb cosmetic treatments.
- [00:12]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
I'll be providing you with valuable science
- [00:14]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
backed information so you can feel more knowledgeable and empowered as you navigate and make decisions about what's right for you and your journey.
- [00:22]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
So let's get into today's Episode in
- [00:25]
Podcast Narrator or Announcer
this episode of Derma Proofed, we're diving deep into the world of lasers and energy based devices.
- [00:31]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
If you've ever wondered how these cutting
- [00:33]
Podcast Narrator or Announcer
edge technologies work to resurface your skin, tighten it and tackle pigmentation or sun damage, this is the episode for you. In this episode, I'll break down the different types of lasers, what they do
- [00:45]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
and how to know if you're a
- [00:46]
Podcast Narrator or Announcer
good candidate for these treatments. Plus I'll guide you on choosing the right technology and provider, including some red flags to watch out for. I'll also share what to expect during the treatment so the prep, downtime, cost and how it actually feels. But before we get into today's episode, this show was made possible from four of my favorite beauty and wellness brands. Here is more about them. Stay tuned for the Ultimate Guide to Laser Treatments.
- [01:13]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
As a dermatologist, I often get asked if gel manicures are bad for the nails. The truth is it's not the gel polish, but rather the improper application or removal that causes problems. That's why I recommend CND Shellac to my patients. It's the original gel polish brand tested to ensure no damage to your natural nail when used correctly. There are many brands out there that don't follow the latest regulations which can lead to damage or allergic reactions, so keep your nails looking and feeling healthy. With C and D Shellac, you can Visit c&d.com to find a C and D salon near you. As a board certified dermatologist that specializes in integrative derm, I'm always looking out for the most effective clinically tested supplement on the market. Hyocera is a once daily skin supplement clinically proven to reduce wrinkles and fine lines and increase skin skin smoothness. In 90 days you can start Hyacinth to minimize wrinkles without compromising on clean science. Hyacra from Ritual is a clinically proven skin supplement that you can actually trust. You can get 25% off your first month at ritual.com Dr.sheila25 you can start ritual or add Hiacera to your subscription today. That's ritual.com doctorsheela25 for 25% off at home devices I get asked about this all the time so let's talk about red light therapy. One of my favorites from Solo Wave is their 4 in 1 rating Radiant Renewal skincare wand that combines four scientifically backed proven skincare technologies for the ultimate non invasive at home skin care treatment. And in addition to the Solo Wave devices, they also have a skincare line which is a blend of pre and probiotics which helps benefits the skin microbiome. You can visit mysolawave.com and use code doctorsheela at checkout for 25 off your first order. So that's M-Y-S-O-L-A-W-A-V E.com and you can use Dr. Sheila for 25 off your first order. As a board certified dermatologist, many patients ask me what they can do at home to treat wrinkles and one of my all time favorite anti aging drugstore brands is ROC Skincare. I've been working with them for years. Every ROC product is science led, developed and tested to ensure highest quality and efficacy. Every single ROC product is clinically proven with over 100 clinical studies, 75 safety studies and 35 patents. Every ROC formula is scientifically crafted and clinically tested to ensure the best results for your skin. For more info on this this skincare product visit www.rockskincare.com. all right, let's get back into the episode.
- [03:44]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
On today's episode we are delving in to lasers, so lasers 101 and energy based devices. So these are devices that you see at dermatology and plastic surgery offices or wherever you get your injectables for things like skin resurfacing, rejuvenation, dark spot, red spots, tattoo removal, hair removal, body sculpting. And there's so many technologies out there and of course it would be impossible to go through and name every single one of them.
- [04:15]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
But I want this to be a
- [04:16]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
guide for you so you at least know number one what these lasers and energy based devices offer and number two a good idea of maybe what type of device. And I will mention some brand names because that's a lot easier than saying something like non ablative fractional CO2 or something like that. That way you'll kind of have like a brand name that you can see if anyone near you has. Or you can use that and kind of work backwards to see what type of benefits you get from it and then see maybe where you go has like similar benefits and also It'll be really good for you to kind of understand, okay, my provider is recommending this, but is this actually what I really need? Because I find that a lot from other places they'll get lasers done and it perhaps isn't the exact type of device that maybe they should have used for their specific concern. So we'll definitely dive into there. So you have all of the knowledge to be educated and feel confident and going through this route. Because when it comes to lasers and energy based devices, it's that one thing that is oftentimes missed when I have patients coming into my office and they have great contour. So, you know, they've had fillers, they have not a lot of dynamic lines. So they have their toxin perhaps maybe even they've had a facelift. So they don't have a lot of skin laxative or they have threads. But their skin quality and the sun damage or the sunspots, hyperpigmentation, the laxity of their skin, the structure of their skin, the collagen which gives structure to our skin isn't there. And that is achieved with lasers. And that is a big part of your anti aging or should be a big part of your anti aging kind of portfolio as far as what you're looking out for. I have tons of patients who actually don't go the filler for fine lines and wrinkles, don't go the filler and tox route. And they want to use something a little bit more, I guess, on the more natural side, which doesn't inject anything in and they opt for lasers. So I wouldn't say one is exactly the same as the other. However, if your goal is skin resurfacing, deep lines, things like that, and there's only so much fillers can do, things like lasers or energy based devices are a great thing to look for as you're kind of deciding what's right for you. So, so that's why I'm really dedicating
- [06:53]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
a whole episode on this.
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Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
And we're honestly just going to be skimming the surface because there's so much to it. In fact, as a dermatologist, you know, as a dermatologist we go through med school, four years of dermatology residency, including an internal medicine year. And then we of course dermatologists do lasers, but there's actually a laser fellowship one at Harvard mgh. They're the ones that developed a lot of the technologies of how lasers even work. And so there are specific, like laser surgeons, laser dermatologists, that this is like all they do. And they have all of these devices. So it's very kind of intricate. There's a lot of physics behind it. But I think when you think of the devices itself and kind of break it down, which hopefully I will do for you guys, I believe that you'll leave here with the good, just knowledge base of lasers in general. At least that's my goal. All right, so let's get into the types of lasers, right? And lasers specifically is one type of device that the wavelength and the light is kind of targeted in a specific way where it's either specifically targeting water, which is the resurfacing devices. It's targeting red pigment, which is like rosacea blood vessels, or pigment, which is like tattoos, dark spots, things like that. So you can think of lasers as being very specific. And what's nice about this is it's very specific towards what we want to treat. And the technology is amazing because it's supposed to, if done correctly, not really interfere or affect the surrounding tissue. So basically it does it in a way where it's targeting specific tattoo pigment, but not the skin around it.
- [08:48]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Right.
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Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
So first let's break it down into what a laser is, because things like ipl, which you maybe have heard of, or brand name Clear and Brilliant or something like that, these are all different types of energy based devices. Clear and Brilliant is a type of laser. Morpheus. Clear and Brilliant type of laser. Morpheus is a type of radio frequency micronutrient, which is not technically a laser, even though people will call it that. Technically it's not. IPL is technically not a laser, but people sometimes lump it into there. So just so you kind of have an idea, people may call it med spas, you know, offices, websites may call them lasers, but they're not all specifically lasers. So that's why I put them into the energy based devices. So if your goal is to resurface the skin, as far as resurfacing lasers, which means it's affecting the top layer of the skin, the most aggressive type of laser is called an ablative laser. So an ablative laser, as you can kind of like get with the name, it's ablative, it takes off the top layer of the skin. One of the most popular ones are CO2. There's also Erbium, and this is targeting water. So that means it goes really deep, but then also goes very on the surface level of the very surface of the skin. Traditional CO2 lasers are still used, but because of the downtime and because of how aggressive it is, there are some Newer technologies which I'll get into with these lasers, like CO2 or Erbium or something like that, they are ablative and it's kind of like a one time session for these. So with these types of ablative resurfacing CO2 devices, you kind of have to think of it as like a laser surgery. These are oftentimes done by plastic surgeons or whoever there is at their office right after a person's facelift because the patient is completely knocked out. You need to be medicated for this. It has fantastic results. However, you're like a burn patient for a couple weeks. So there was a, I think one of the housewives kind of showed her experience and you get puffy, you look like a burn patient. And you have to kind of treat yourself like a burn patient. We have to pre medicate you, make sure you don't get any infections, viral breakouts, things like that. And then afterwards there's very strict instructions, almost more so sometimes than the factual facelift. So you don't have poor wound healing or anything like that. This is also a treatment for very, very severe acne scarring. Although there's more alternatives now that are not as intense. And in the derm world and maybe reconstructive plastics as well, we use this for burn patients where there's a lot of contractures in like the elbows and other limbs and also our veterans. So this type of CO2 device is very aggressive. I would say most of us are not going to use that unless maybe if you did a facelift. But even with that there's updated technologies where people aren't going in straight with a CO2. So with the ablative CO2 comes risks because it is such an intense procedure. It's a one time procedure. Usually other lasers have series. It's a one time kind of thing, especially for acne scarring. Some people like that. Or if someone's getting a facelift, they're like, yeah, just you know, go ahead and torch me up and laser me up. So I have this downtime while I'm getting the facelift, right? So because it's very aggressive, you have risk of scarring, you have risk of your pigment going away. Especially in darker skin types. Me being my. One of my main offices in Tucson where we have darker complected patients, I will have patients come in who maybe they did a very aggressive CO2 laser because it was recommended to them and they are maybe Hispanic skin type and they have a lot of white scarring that's left over. It's almost like based on your body and based on the energy settings and everything like that by the provider who's doing it. If it's not done correctly or if it's done very aggressively, you can almost get scarred skin from it. So I only say that because if it's offered to you at a doctor's office, don't take it lightly. It's a very major procedure. Look at before and afters. If you're a little bit more mature and again you're getting other procedures done and you're okay with the downtime because you just want to get something done one time and if they'll feather kind of around your neck because. Because that's the other thing is you'll almost get new skin on your face. But then if you have very sun damaged neck, you can see that difference. And this is very similar to the phenol peel, where this is something we used to do way back in the day and people would look completely different in the face than the rest of their body because it was just new skin. So if straight ablative CO2 is recommended to you, just know that it's a very intense procedure. You can have very good results, especially in the mature, in our mature patients. But there are other technologies out there that may be better for you. All right, those Newer technologies include CO2, but it's fractional. So that means instead of kind of ablating the entire skin, it's like little micro zones of like little columns of the laser going in instead of like the entire thing. So as you can imagine, instead of a couple of weeks, it still will be a couple of weeks downtime depending on which laser. But it's not as bad and the risks aren't as high as far as discoloration and pigment. So things like Fraxel, this is like a brand name that maybe you've heard of. So with Fraxel there's something called Fraxel Repair and that's an ablative. It's a little bit more intense versus something like Fraxel Dual. So if you're looking at names of companies and you're googling this, there are differences. And the different types of say Fraxel or something like that. So your goal is to really tell your provider what you're looking for. And if you don't want a lot of downtime, you let them know. Or if you're like, I really want good results because the more intense the procedure is, say the CO2 that I was talking about, that procedure can cost a couple thousand dollars because you Know, the follow ups involved the medication that we have to, you know, usually we give you something for anxiety. And some people are kind of just like out because it's a very intense procedure. So with that, some people prefer it, some people prefer to split it up in a couple of sessions and pay 1,000 or 2,000 for each instead of a few thousand. So with the fractional type of lasers, there are also some that are very, very mild and that's cool peel and that's been really popular, especially at the Beverly Hills office that I'm at because that is a few, almost like a few days of like you're just a little windburn, you're a little scaly, you can do your face, neck, hands. And this is really great for those that want to do something that may have darker skin types as well and want low downtime and are really kind of nervous about the laser world. And again, low downtime, great for resurfacing just. And it stimulates collagen. A lot of these things help kind of renew the skin and help stimulate collagen that are not heat based, which we'll kind of talk about radio frequency and things like that, which stimulate collagen kind of in a different way. So if you're looking for something that's a little bit more of a few days, a good introductory cool peel is a really good example of a device or something similar to it that you can see if a provider next, you know, around you has. And similar to that one that is non ablative and fractional is something called Clear and Brilliant. This is another brand name device and this is really good again for patients that are in their 20s, 30s, 40s plus, not so much, that are 50 plus and very mature and want to see a big difference. Because something like the Clear and Brilliant is very subtle. It's a good introductory. You'll see the most kind of result with the first one. And if you want a little bit more of a resurfacing or changes, you either have to like continue or kind of change it up to something a little bit more aggressive. But that cool peel and Clear and Brilliant are great. Again, resurfacing devices that are very minimal downtime, cool peel being like a couple days and the Clear and Brilliant being like a week, which is a good introductory for people who want to stimulate collagen but really help with pores, texture, things like that. These will kind of help with pigment as well. They're not targeting pigments specifically, but if you have hyperpigmentation from acne, things like that, it'll help with that. And then we have things like Halo. Maybe you've heard of Halo. And that is a different type of laser that is both ablative and non ablative based on the settings. And that's a procedure that's kind of a device that I don't have in my office. But people who've had it done elsewhere weren't expecting how intense it was. So I will just say that people like the results. If they're going in for it, kind of expecting they want a little bit of resurfacing, helps with pigment a little bit. But people get really swollen from it and there is quite a bit of downtime. I would say maybe at least a week, if not more. And so just with that, maybe if you're worried about downtime, just knock out your schedule, block it out. Or also ask your provider if they have any photos one day after, a few days after. I know in my office a lot of the procedures I've done on myself and I've taken photos the day of, the day after, the week after. And we like to show those patients and it's me. So they're kind of like, oh, Dr. Sheila does it, you know. And with my skin complexion being a little, I'm like Fitzpatrick 4, where I mostly tan, we have to be very careful with my skin type, which is a little bit more on the olive skin type.
- [18:56]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Okay, let's take a quick break from the show. As a board certified dermatologist, I'm only usually recommending products that I actually use and have vetted. Ritual has been one of my favorite supplements for years. I love their science. I love that they're very specific with their claims. And when I learned about their new wrinkle support skin supplement, I had to try it. Hyacinth is a once daily skin supplement clinically proven to reduce wrinkles and fine lines and increase skin smoothness in 90 days. And what I love is that it's rigorously tested and validated by a third party for allergens, microbes and heavy metals. If you're obsessed with reading the skincare labels, this is for you. Hyacinth is made traceable so you know the form supplier and studies behind its key ingredients because not all skincare ingredients are created equal, as you know. I love that it's formulated with hyaluronic acid, which naturally occurs in our skin but decreases with age. The decrease in hyaluronic acid can cause thinner drier and make your skin more prone to wrinkles. Ritual's Hyacinth supplement is clinically proven to reduce wrinkles and improve skin smoothness. You can start Hyacinth to minimize wrinkles without compromising on clean science. Hyacira from Ritual is a clinically proven skin supplement you can actually trust. Get 25% off your first month at ritual.com drshiela25. You can start ritual or add hyacra to your subscription today. That's ritual.com drshiela25 for 25% off from running between my dermatology practice, performing skin cancer surgeries and balancing with my other projects, I notice eye bags. I've been talking about eye bags a lot lately on my podcast and when I'm not getting enough sleep, if my diet is not the way it's supposed to be, with a lot of carbs or salty foods, and if I'm traveling, these eye bags will show up.
- [20:44]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
It's usually due to fluid or sometimes
- [20:47]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
a little fat pad that's showing up there. But there's other things with the eyes too, such as dark circles that can show up if you are again not getting enough sleep, if you're dehydrated or fine lines that can just happen over time as we mature and with some damage. So it's so important to do skincare
- [21:06]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
as part of the regimen to help
- [21:09]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
with the eye and eye issues. And of course when it comes to
- [21:12]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
skincare, I am looking for things that
- [21:14]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
are scientifically backed, that are drugstore and affordable. And Roc is a brand that I've worked with with years. They have a Rock Dual eye cream. It's a two in one eye treatment really for that age defying result. With this product, in just one week 96% saw the look of lines plus puffiness reduced and in two weeks 90% experience visibly lifted eyelids and reduced darkness. Which is really great when it is
- [21:38]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
something that you can do at home, it's affordable.
- [21:42]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Every ROC product, like I said, is science led and developed and tested to ensure the highest quality and efficacy. Every ROC product is clinically proven with over 100 clinical studies, 75 safety studies and 35 patents. And this is a brand that has been around for over 65 years. For more information you can visit www.rockskincare.com okay, let's get back into the conversation.
- [22:07]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
So now hopefully that gave you a good idea of what a resurfacing device is, what a CO2 is. There's different types of CO2. It can be fractional, it can be ablative, non ablative and so hopefully that kind of brought it down to you, because one person can have CO2, which is different than someone else's CO2.
- [22:28]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Right.
- [22:29]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
Now let's talk about some of the lasers that are focusing on pigment, right? So pigment being kind of redness, red being hemoglobin in our red blood cells. So if we want a laser that targets the. That gets rid of vessels like something like from rosacea, just the redness and flushing from rosacea leg vessels, it can help with red hemangiomas, those little red moles that some of us have called hemangiomas. And these come with just time and maturing, or sometimes they sprout after pregnancy. They're benign, but sometimes people want them zapped off and helps with bruising and. And let's see.
- [23:10]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Redness. Redness.
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Podcast Narrator or Announcer
Redness.
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Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and sometimes red, like tattoo, because it's going in, focusing on redness. So with this, you want to find devices that are focusing on that. So I would say know that it exists. And if you want a laser to really help with some of the flushing you get or some of the redness that you have, broken blood vessels that you have, a laser that focuses on red pigment or redness or red blood
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Dr. Sheila Farhang
cells can really help with that.
- [23:41]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
And there is one that's very similar that also targets redness and rosacea, and that is an ipl, which I'll get into. But that is a really good alternative where with my patients, if they have rosacea. With rosacea, you'll get kind of this pink undertone, which are really tiny little blood vessels that are broken because of just like them expanding and going down, expanding and going down. And then people have the larger blood vessels either on the cheek, but mostly on the nose. So the ipl, which is intense pulse light laser, doesn't really address those larger vessels. So I will do a combination and treat my patient's face with IPL to help with all the reds and browns on their face.
- [24:22]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
And then I'll go in with the
- [24:23]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
vascular laser that targets red pigment or blue kind of vessels to help with those specifically. So that is a better optimized, I guess, procedure. So my patients have the best results. And similar to something like targeting pigment, you can also target actual pigment, which is dark pigment, either it being sunspots, black tattoo, or dark tattoo, sometimes melasma. Although we have to be very careful with treating melasma in my practice, I don't really do a lot of lasers for it. You definitely don't want to do something called IPL for lasers, as that's Heat based and it may look like it's improving, but it'll just rebound and look so much worse afterwards. And I've seen some really bad cases of melasma because they were treated with IPL and they shouldn't have been. So that's a huge red flag if you're going somewhere and they're like, let's ipl. Your, your darkness. And your darkness is actually melasma. You may know you have melasma or no one may know you have melasma, but it should be diagnosed first. And that's one conversation I have a lot with my patients. So just knowing something like there's a pico laser that targets pigment, dark spots, again, any type of dark moles or anything that you have. Although I don't recommend removing your moles with a laser. And then also any tattoo that you have, it can be specifically targeted by a laser. Also similar to targeting pigment, laser hair removal also will target that same kind of chromophore, which is what the laser is targeting. So I don't prefer people to use IPL for laser hair removal.
- [26:04]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Number one, it doesn't work that well.
- [26:05]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
Number two, you have a big risk of burning. I can't really speak for some of those IPL devices at home. I've got some sent to me. I've never really used them. I think that they're not strong enough. Where hopefully if you're not tan and hopefully there's like really strict instructions on there where I just think with those it's just not as efficacious, you know, even laser hair removal at our offices, I tell patients it's not technically laser hair removal, it's laser hair reduction. It decreases the hair. And of course it's not forever. Nothing's forever. I wish it was. And with this it only targets two dark hair, at least with the technologies we have now. So it does not target red hair, blonde hair or gray hair. And the laser, what it does is it specifically targets that, you know, that hair follicle. So we usually recommend eight to 10 sessions. It's about a month monthly thing. And your hair should be going. You should see a difference within the first few months where you're shaving less. And I always tell my patients it's like a bush to like twigs. So you can think of it like that. It may not completely go away, but the hair will thinner. You may not have to shave it more. And later down the road, you may need some maintenance sessions. Like at my office, we have patients coming in who maybe got it somewhere else. And they're coming to us for maintenance sessions once maybe they'll do a few sessions, or maybe they'll do one every year or something like that just to keep things at bay. So that's one thing to kind of look out for. If your hair didn't completely go away and you feel like you're shaving exactly how you were before, maybe where you went, they didn't use the right settings, or maybe they have an older device, who knows, With a lot of these franchises that only only do that. Laser hair removal. Laser hair removal is one of the highest for like burns and things like that in addition to ipl. So a lot of the companies that have laser hair removal, they obviously want to be on the safer side. So they kind of bring down their settings a little bit. And I've had that experience with some patients that come in, or even my sister where she's like, I literally did 20 sessions and my hair is the same. It may be where you at, it may not technically be the technology, maybe just the laser settings because they weren't optimized to your hair diameter, your skin type, and it basically wasn't aggressive enough. So keep that in mind if you've had laser hair removal in the past and it really didn't work at all because you should see a difference. So now let's get into not a laser, but an energy based device called ipl, which I mentioned previously. IPL is not one specific wavelength, but it's like a whole broadband of light. It's like a little bit more wide range which is becomes a little bit more high risk because in a good sense it can target darks and you know, like sunspots, but it can also target reds like rosacea. But because it's so wide, you want to make sure it's not targeting tan skin. So and my patients that are like sunburned or tan, even if they're like a little bit tan, I'm like, you got to come back because this is the biggest thing and this is the biggest burns that I've seen. I'm sure you've, you can Google it where it's like IPL burn and you see these little squares because usually the settings are not done right or it's done on someone who is tan, even like a fake tan that's still pigment. I'll have my patients like scrub it off and come back like a week or two later because it's not worth a permanent burn. And some, and oftentimes they can be permanent because you're getting rid of, like, the. That pigment, especially if it's scaling and it's burning your skin, if it's a large surface area. So usually it's the chest or the arms where I see a lot of the burns, because you don't have the oil glands there. Like the face. Like, the face can. Can take on a lot when it comes to lasers and things like that and healing, like surgeries that I do on the face just heal so much better than like, the chest or the arms, because there's more blood flow there. Pilosebaceous glands are oil glands. And so compared to like, the chest and the arms, you really have to be careful when you're doing things like lasers that are focused on pigment, especially, especially here in Tucson because. Or. Or in la, because people. There's sun year round. So on the east coast or. Or Midwest, they have, you know, there's like laser season because there's not a lot of sun. So with something like ipl. Okay, so what does the IPL device do? It targets dark pigments, so sunspots, freckles, little hyperpigmentation from acne scarring, and also reds. So if you tend to be a little bit more pink on your acne scarring, if you have ro broken blood vessels that are not very large, but just kind of like diffuse pinkness or flushing, this is what IPL is really good for. It's really great for people really in their 30s, 40s, 50s plus. I mean, I've done this literally some and for someone in their 90s, because it was like a older guy, he lived at like a nursing home, and
- [30:57]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
he was like, you know what?
- [30:57]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
I don't like this pigment. And I'm trying to find a girlfriend, and I don't like this pigment on my scalp. And we treated that for him, and he was. He just loved it. So really no age, and it just depends on if it bothers you or not.
- [31:09]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
So this is really great for my
- [31:11]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
male patients because especially with guys, they want to keep their wrinkles, but they don't like sun damage, they don't like the dark spots. And so. And they don't want something that really hurts. APL is a little snappy. Feels like a little warm rubber band snap. As do a lot of the laser devices that I talked about today. Some of them require topical numbing. Some of them require maybe sometimes a little bit more than that. A little anti anxiety or Pronox, which is laughing gas. With this ipl, if it's my. If it's a Male patient who can't tolerate. I'll give them Pronox, which is laughing gas. Sometimes I'll numb, although I don't love to do that because that changes the quality. The discolor, it kind of discolors the skin a little bit. So it makes it a little harder for us to treat if there is prior topical numbing on there. So IPL is great. It doesn't really do a lot of resurfacing. So we can combine this with resurfacing devices. So if your provider is offering you kind of two devices at one time, one, you know the cost will be decreased. But this is like a really good way to kind of knock out more resurfacing. Or in my case, I'll do radio frequency microne, like Morpheus, for skin tightening and collagen production. And then we'll hit it with the discoloration with ipl and we'll do that on the same day. And people love that. And then with ipl, there's another one that's very similar called BBL broadband light. I think one of the Kardashians or something talked about it recently. And that's very similar to intense pulse light. Has just different wavelengths, a little bit, kind of broader range and has a little bit more anti aging effect. So if that's offered to you, I think personally it targets a little bit more pigment than redness. But if it's offered to you and you want kind of to help with some of the dark spots, things like that, that's mainly, I think, what it's for. And like I said, when it comes to lasers and melasma, you have to be very, very careful. If you're offered IPL for your melasma, it's a red flag that heat is going to rebound and make your LASMA worse. And it may improve it initially, maybe if you have some sunspots, because some people don't really know, and then boom, it'll just get a lot worse. So just be really careful about that. That is one of the biggest things I think I see here in Tucson is improper melasma treatment or improper laser use where they're trying to improve it and actually gets worse, especially with the settings. Cause we have darker, you know, we have a lot of sun here, so people are just more tan. So really be careful about that. And also with the laser resurfacing, I didn't mention this, but this is great for scars too. So you have a surgery scar or anything that's textured or acne scarring that's textured. A lot of these resurfacing lasers are really good for that. So just mentioning that Sometimes they're called IPLs, called photo facial. I would say it's more than just a facial though. It is actually like a laser device with something like ipl, It's a little more affordable than lasers in general because these devices are hundreds of thousands of dollars for the practice. Just in general, the technology is very expensive. So the procedure is very, can be very expensive. So when it comes to the procedures, I would say laser hair removal can be a little bit more affordable. I think that with just your underarm, doing your armpits over like six sessions should be less than $1,000. And with something like IPL, depending on where you are and depending on who's doing it. So if you're going to med spa versus dermatology office, are you going to a dermatology office? But is one of the laser techs doing it or is the actual dermatologist doing it? Are you in the Midwest or are you in like New York City? There's a huge range of prices out there, but expect to pay at the end, probably in the thousands range for like a whole complete set. So it is a bit of an investment. But what's really great is things that stimulate collagen. And I'll get into that with radio frequency microline, which is one of my favorite procedures to do, and energy based devices to offer my patients. It technically lasts forever. So it's not like Botox or filler that goes away. If you're stimulating collagen, the only thing that's going against you is like aging with time. And that may require some maintenance. But really stimulating collagen requires your body to work at it and create that structure in your skin. And that structure stays. And of course we're aging with time, which, like I said, requires maintenance. But that's like such an amazing thing.
- [35:58]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
One thing that I really wanna mention
- [36:00]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
is something called collagen banking, which is a term that I. It sounds like cute and fun, but it really makes sense, especially when it comes down to a lot of these devices, energy based devices that stimulate collagen.
- [36:13]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Right?
- [36:14]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
So if you are looking to stimulate collagen and let's talk about collagen for a second. Collagen is what gives our skin structure. We lose about 1% of collagen production each year starting the age of 20. And then we lose about 3, 30% of our collagen, like the first five years after menopause. And this is Something that after menopause we're just like not really stimulating collagen. We're not getting collagen. And that's why we get more lax skin and everything like that. So the idea is people that are in their 20s and 30s, kind of like prejuvenation, they may not see as good of results with things like radio frequency micro. I mean, they'll see like some snatched, their skin quality will be better. But for example, like, compared to someone that's like 60 plus who has a lot more skin laxity, the idea of collagen banking, which sounds like that you're like banking the collagen and increasing that collagen stimulation at a rate where you're able to so efficiently and effectively is that it'll almost slow down your aging over time. If you're doing this before, you almost need to. Not saying that you need to go in when you're teens or twenties and go in and do these expensive lasers. But if you're like unsure if you saw a result, know that on a cellular level you're stimulating collagen. And that five years down the road, that decrease in collagen production, or collagen in general, will be slowed down because you had the stimulation of collagen really on a cell. And that's a really, I think, great thing to know when it comes to these energy based devices like radio frequency microneedling or something like ultherapy, which is ultrasound. These are things that stimulate collagen and tighten the skin. And you're almost like banking it for later. You're investing in yourself. So I really like that term. This is how I explain it to some of my patients. And it's a really good thing to know. Even if you are in like in your 30s or 40s. This is usually when I recommend it, like late 30s, early 40s, where, okay, you may not see the signs of aging as much, but you're doing something for your skin and your skin integrity and the collagen. And how amazing is that?
- [38:40]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Okay, I'm sure you love getting your
- [38:42]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
nails done as much as I do, but we want to ensure we keep
- [38:45]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
them healthy in between salon visits. One of the best ways to do this is by incorporating a cuticle oil into your daily routine. My absolute favorite is CND solar oil. It's actually an award winning cuticle oil that will transform your nails and cuticles. And all it takes is applying a few drops every day. I literally keep mine at my nightstand. Make sure I use it every night before I go to bed. The CND Solar Oil formula is a blend of naturally light oils such as jojoba oil, vitamin E, rice brain oil, and sweet almond, which get right into your nails, the skin and the cuticle. It penetrates deeply by entering through the layers of nail polish in the tiny spaces in the nail plate, filling them with nourishing oils while pushing out any damaging moisture. So this keeps your nails moisturized, supple, and looking healthy. There's no more peeling, there's no more dryness, or no more breakage. Plus, it can help your manis last longer. I've been using C and D solar oil for months now, and my nails have never looked better. They're stronger, they're shinier, and the skin around my nails look moisturized pretty much all the time.
- [39:48]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
Whether you're at home or at the
- [39:50]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
office or on the go, you can use C and D solar oil as your perfect little companion for maintaining beautiful hydrated nails. You can head to Amazon.com and try C and D solar oil for yourself. Okay, as a dermatologist, one of the top questions I get is how to stimulate collagen at home using devices. So first let's get into what collagen is.
- [40:10]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
Collagen is so important.
- [40:11]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
It's basically what gives our skin structure. And we start losing 1% of the production of starting the age of 20 every year and then 30% the first five years after menopause. So it's super important to really think about collagen in your anti aging skincare routine. What I love to Recommend is Solo Waves 4 in 1 Radiant Renewal Skincare wand that I've been using for years now. It uses a red light therapy technology. It also has galvanic current, a warm therapeutic massage, which is really nice because it helps decrease that intensity, inflammation, maybe that fluid retention that's there. And then of course, the red light stimulates collagen. And then what's also nice about the red light, it helps decrease breakouts and discoloration. And as a dermatologist, I'm always looking out for what patients can do at home and in the office. But I think finding something that's affordable, that they can use, that actually has science behind it is so important. I think if you're looking for a safe and effective way to improve your skin's appearance and you want to do something at home, Solawave is worth considering. Its product combines multiple technologies all in one device, so it really saves you time and money on that aspect. And it's pain free, no needles or anything. Also, don't Sleep on their skincare line. They have pre and probiotics in their skincare line, which I'm all about a good balanced skin microbiome. Probiotic skincare is really nice to help hydrate and boost the skin barrier. You can visit mysolawave.com to use Dr. Sheila at checkout for 25 off your first purchase. That's mysolawave. M Y-S-O l-a W-A-V e.com and use code doctorsheela for 25 off your first order. All right, let's get back into the episode.
- [41:49]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
Also, a lot of my patients who kind of want to go like the more natural route and nothing wrong with Botox and filler, I do them and I have them myself and my face. This is a really good alternative for those that want to kind of go the more natural route, have their body do the work without perhaps chemicals, you know, injected into them. So, and I think that's valid and I think that's very fair. And I really listen to my patients when they want to go that route. So. Another energy based device that I was alluding to is radio frequency. This is not technically a laser. It works by way of heat. And what the radio frequency does is it stimulates collagen, it contracts the tissue and. And depending on the device that's being used, it can resurface the skin if it's going very superficially with microneedles. So with something like radiofrequency, it can be applied on the surface of the skin, something called the forma. Little bit stronger is called thermage and this is on the surface of the skin for something like forma. I do call it kind of like a forma facial. This is really great to kind of contract the skin. Skin depuff. This is a really great pre red carpet treatment that I do for patients, especially in my LA office. So this is really great for around the eyes, especially if you have swelling from filler. Not only does the radio frequency help kind of just contract that skin tissue and stimulate collagen, it's actually been shown to improve and increase lymph vessels. So what basically helps you drain all that extra fluid and especially because if you have filler improperly placed, what's really great about radio frequency and why I love doing it in my office, even if it's just the wand, which is something called Forma, is not only does it contract the tissue and stimulate collagen, it also helps improve lymphatic drainage. So it increases lymph vessels And I love this for under the eye or the tear trough area, especially in my patients that are dealing with some swelling. Post filler, tear trough filler under eye filler is notorious for causing swelling because of the obstruction of the lymph flow.
- [44:01]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Right.
- [44:01]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
We've seen this Kylie Jenner, some celebrities, and it's really no fault to the filler itself, because filler pulls in water, right? So if you're traveling had salt and your body is usually supposed to get rid of that extra fluid, and it's not able to because the lymphatic drainage is just not as optimal as it was before. Even if the filler is really old, even if you don't really see the filler there, there's a little bit of hindrance in your body's ability to get rid of that fluid there. So something like radio frequency is fantastic. And I have this in my protocol where if a patient comes in and I can see their under eye filler and it's creating like bags number one, I go in and I dissolve it. Even if it's years old, Even if they're like, no, it was like a couple years ago. The filler, you know, the filler we know stays for longer than the clinical studies or what we think, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. But when it's placed improperly or you have like filler migration around the lips or something or under the eye, in these cases, just waiting may not help because years and years and years can go by and it just doesn't go away. Especially the under eye filler, because your body's not able to get rid of that foreign substance, because we get rid of toxins stuff by way of our lymph fluid, by way of our lymph vessels. And so if you're not able to do that, it's just gonna stay there. It's gonna be really stagnant there. So I dissolve, even if it's years old. I go in there and I tighten the skin and I try to increase that lymphatic drainage. And that's with radio frequency microing, something like Morpheus, which is microneedling, that's emitting radio frequency. And then after I do three sessions, about one month apart, and I see a little bit more integrity of the skin there where it's actually able to hold filler, because really thin skin can't even hold filler. Maybe I'll go in if I feel like that's appropriate. Sometimes I'll do a little prf, which we can talk about in Another episode, which is not really a filler alternative. It's a little different, but it's, it's where we draw your blood, spin it, and we take your own growth factors, which is platelet rich fibrin. It's more regenerative than platelet rich plasma, which is prp. So PRF is more regenerative because it pulls in stem cells for weeks to months versus like hours to days, which is prp. So we use PRP in my office for things like hair regrowth, versus we use this easy gel filler system with PRF for under eye, improving skin quality. It helps stimulate some collagen too. But I wouldn't say that it helps with hollowness. And I've seen that a lot on TikTok where people are like, I don't do filler anymore. I do PRF under my eyes. And I think that's fantastic. But I think that it's not really like a fair comparison. But it does improve the skin quality under there, the blue. It just helps tighten. It just is a great, great thing. It's gonna pull in water, pulls in like a thousand times as weight in water. Hyaluronic acid, that's the filler material. I'm sure you know that that's very similar to skincare hyaluronic acid. So you have, we have to as providers under fill. So you may have an urge to go in and be like, oh my God, it's like almost perfect. And your provider, if they're good, they're gonna be like, it can't be perfect. We're almost there. But if we go to perfection, you're going to have those swelling days. And that is, I think, what happens with celebrities. I saw this really interesting, I saw this really, you know how like the whole thing happened with Madonna. I saw this really interesting interview with a plastic surgeon where they said perhaps what happened was providers and doctors are like scared. Not scared, but they, they want, intentionally want to create perfection for their patients. And their patients want, especially if they're a list lab, they want perfection too. And there's kind of like a disconnect where someone has to kind of stop, re evaluate and look at it from the outside looking in. Because when you're so involved in it like that, and if you're doing one thing, there's a trade off, right? So if you're doing the cheeks, maybe your temples will look hollow. And then if you do your, you know, you do your temples and then your face is not the same shape. And then your cheeks go away. So then you add more to the cheeks. There's always a little bit of trade off. So it's really not the best thing to get up to perfection. If we can get it looking better, that is the way to go. When it comes to injectables and things like lasers. Radio frequency microneedling is a great asset synergistically, can help where injectables and where neuromodulators like Botox or ZMN aren't really able to get to that level of skin tightening or anything like that. Right. So that's kind of how you have to look at it in your head. And if you haven't found a provider that's able to be on your team and like, figure this out for you, or if they don't have lasers, because again, lasers are such an expensive capital for places to have that. Usually it is a dermatology office or something like that. But if you're going somewhere where they're just doing injectables and they're not recommending lasers, ask them about it. And if they're, you know, if they're biased about it because they don't have it or they say, no, you don't need lasers, maybe just give it a second thought or understand where their intentions are because really, I think everyone really needs a laser. A little bit of resurfacing, a little bit of this. Of course, skincare comes to place. Microneedling is so underrated. Microneedling is just like little needle injury, controlled needle injury. It doesn't have that like energy in there. And I think that's like really great for people starting in their 20s to start that. And it's so underrated. Like one of the most underrated devices in my office is microneedling. It's a couple hundred dollars each session and low downtime doesn't really hurt. We numb you for like 20 minutes and it's, it's awesome. But it doesn't tighten, it doesn't contract that tissue. If anyone says that it does, it just really doesn't. And then also another thing that I saw on the Internet as it kind of pertains to lasers is if you're in your like twenties, be careful about going in hard with like ablative CO2 around your eyes.
- [50:48]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
I saw this on the Internet recently
- [50:49]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
and I think a derm did like a reaction to it, but you have to be careful about your skin integrity and going in too hard with things, you know, so maybe something like micro needling is better first or something that's like not very intense because intense lasers, again, your skin has to be ready for it. And if you're not doing the homework, like skincare at home and things like that, just maybe too aggressive. You got to just like ease into a lot of this stuff. So now that I talked about all of that, let's get back into radio frequency microneedling. So like I said, it contracts the tissue. I recommend it almost to everyone because everyone needs stimulation of collagen. Radio frequency microneedling, such as Morpheus, that's the one I use in my office, doesn't technically do anything with pigment, doesn't target pigment, but again, we can use it with other lasers and there's like a resurfacing when it comes to remodeling fat or melting fat, something like Morpheus. If the settings are done correctly to actually contract the tissue, stimulate collagen, which is between 41 to 43 degrees Celsius and the depth of 0.5 to 2 millimeters. Very specific settings. It should not melt fat. I'm sure people have had, and I know this was really big on the Internet where, you know, people are really nervous about using these heat based devices and they're like, I'm not going to do radio frequency at all. Or you know, I think that you just have to go to the right provider who understands because the benefits that you can get from stimulating collagen and contracting that tissue without going in and doing a facelift first. And even if you got a facelift, you still have to tighten that tissue and get skin structure. Because the worst thing is when someone gets a facelift in them, they haven't done any lasers and it's just really thin, drapey skin. So I see a lot of mature patients in my office and they've had facelifts or maybe they had a facelift like a decade ago. And we go in and we tighten the skin and it's just such a good combination. And I work with my plastic surgery colleagues here in town. I'm like, okay, okay, it's time for your facelift. You're gonna get your facelift after you get your facelift. Let's work on your skin quality. And we work really hand in hand. It's really collaborative. So with radio frequency, don't be scared about all the hype online. Bad things can happen when bad settings and bad providers don't know what they're doing. So if you really want to utilize some of that tissue contraction and stimulation of collagen, something like Morpheus is such a Great technology to have. So when something like radio frequency is supposed to actually target fat, the heat is a lot, lot hotter. The contact and duration of the contact of the heat is a lot longer and the depth is there too. So there is body sculpting devices such as True Body has a trusculpt device that's a deep radio frequency that actually goes in and gets rid of fat. And this is one session, it's 15 minutes. We have one at my office in Tucson as well as the one in Beverly Hills and it just feels warm. And this is such a great alternative to some of the surgical routes like or the cooling routes because it actually helps tighten the skin as well. So I really like that option and it's really kind of customizable. And then I use the Truflex, which is muscle stimulation to actually emulate muscle, you know, workout. So if someone wants to treat their abdomen, we'll put the plates on their abdominal muscles and it's like doing 50,000 crunches. So it's a really interesting technology and
- [54:36]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
what's great is it works.
- [54:37]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
And so that is a good route non surgically without needles or surgeries or anything like that. And you don't have that risk of the fat increasing that you can have with some of the other devices. So that is a really good alternative. And that's radio frequency, which is really, really cool. Another thing with these radio frequency microneedling devices, Morpheus is, and this is again all over TikTok, people talk about their, you know, obviously bad experiences and it's so hard to see that because I feel for them because they're going in, they're paying so much money to get to do something good for themselves and they'll leave with scarring and any energy based device and any laser has a risk of hyperpigmentation or scarring or check marks or anything like that. And that's why it's just so important to find a good provider.
- [55:22]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
If you have sensitive skin or if
- [55:23]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
you have a high risk of hyperpigmentation and your provider is not going through pre treatment with you, okay, maybe you just need a little hydroquinone or you need to do this strict instructions beforehand or during the treatment. If it's feeling like it's a little messy, they're applying things that they shouldn't be applying afterwards, like just a lot of they're not wiping down. If it doesn't feel like it's a very clean space, those may be some red flags that this is maybe not the right place for you, when it comes to these, you know, these laser devices and radio frequency microneedling, which is literally micro needles into your skin if the energy is too high. And what's great about these are it's not targeting pigment. So if anything, radiophorensic microneedling, I can use it in even dark, dark, black skin types. It's just the levels have to be correct. And that means your provider really needs to know what they're doing. If it's, you know, it's a place where they just got this device, or if it doesn't feel like your provider has been doing it for very long, ask them how long they've been doing it. Ask them how many, when they got this device. Because you don't want to be their first few months. You don't want to be their first few patients. You, you know, at my office with Morpheus, I have a laser tech who does like five a day. We're like one of the top, like performers for radio frequency microlink because I genuinely, really believe in it. And people trust my laser tech because she's just followed me and I did them for years and years and she saw me doing them for years and years. And I have a very strict protocol and it's the type of person that she is with very strict kind of protocols where she wipes, she makes sure there's no sunscreen and there's no alcohol and there's, you know, everything's clean. So this needs to be kind of the protocol when it comes to these laser devices. And I think that people who have had bad experiences, like track marks, maybe wasn't placed, it wasn't contacted correctly with the skin, or if I see someone that has more bumpy skin or red skin, perhaps like, like skin care was applied right afterwards that wasn't supposed to be applied afterwards because actually seeps down into the skin and that creates like an allergic reaction. So there are so many different things that can potentially happen. But I think if you have a good provider, I know it's really hard to find a good provider, but if you want to be extra safe, go to a derm office. If you want to really go where you get your injectables, ask them how long they've been doing it. Ask for a senior laser tech, ask for the doctor, ask for someone, because a lot of these can come with burns. And you just really, really need to be your own advocate and make sure that you're in the right hands. Because it's so hard nowadays figuring out number one who's your provider? Are they a doctor? Are they a nurse practitioner who's a doctorate? Are they, is there a medical director at this med spa? It's just so difficult to know who, who is doing your stuff. And people get shy and they don't ask. And it's really important to ask and know who your provider is, especially with a lot of these invasive procedures. Sometimes what I do with patients that I feel like are really sensitive or maybe they're a little darker complected is I will do like a little patch test maybe around their neck or on the side of their face, especially with something like ipl, just so I can see how they react to it. So we'll do like a little test spot. And although we can't do this with a lot of the lasers, because whoever is deciding these lasers for you should really kind of assess to see if you're a good candidate. And really it comes down to the pre and the post instructions. I wouldn't say that that's like the most common thing, but with things that are targeting pigment or if you're worried about like tattoo or something like that, especially for ipl, I would say that's really important. And you can always ask your provider to do that too. Okay, so now that we talked about radio frequency, which is another energy based device, there's one more energy based device that's called like ultrasound technology. And some examples include softwave or ultherapy. And these are with no needles and they're usually done kind of on the lower face area to help tighten and stimulate collagen. And this is another just technology that can go in and stimulate collagen. And it uses a different technology that kind of goes deep, but it's with no needles and it has, I mean, pretty much zero downtime. So if you want to do something that doesn't include needles or if you're afraid of needles, I wouldn't say that these procedures are like a walk in the park. No discomfort at all. But as far as downtime, they don't have downtime. You'll just be a little pink. And so some people really like that. So that's that. And then there's something else which is technically not a laser, it's not an energy based device, but it's just a device that I offer at my office. And this is just really interesting. So I feel like it should be in this episode at all if you're interested about it, so you can research more about it. And it's called Ellacor, where it's the only device that actually removes and treats sagging skin. So and this is more of like a surgical type procedure where my patients are sterile, we're not cutting, it's no
- [60:41]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
knives, but it's basically a device that
- [60:44]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
I apply to my patients. It's kind of a mid cheek to neck treatment. And it takes out half millimeter micro cores of skin and sucks them out. And we do, I do thousands of them on the face. So by removing half millimeter microcores of skin, it removes about 8% of the skin. So for anyone who doesn't want to do a facelift, they've already done tissue contraction with something like energy based devices, and they've already addressed the texture of their skin and did some type of resurfacing device. This is kind of like the next step that I offer my patients. I mean, sometimes they come in and we just start with this because that's all they want to do. But this is an interesting procedure where if someone has these smile lines like on their cheeks or they have jowls, it's not surgery results. I will say that, however, it is a great option for those that don't want to do the surgery route. Already did a facelift way in the past and don't want to do one again. They're, they're not a good candidate or just don't want to facelift. And it's a really good option. The downtime is a little bit longer. I say two weeks. And you really have to be careful. It's. The downtime is not bad as the bleed of CO2s like I was talking about feel like a while ago. But it does require you to really, really be okay with seeing some oozing, taking care of wounds. And you're pretty good for if you have bruising that stays like a week. I had a patient that I've done that I did on a Monday and I had an event in my office on Friday and she showed up just covered up with makeup. But the first few days you don't want to put makeup on. You definitely want to keep things really clean. But once those micro channels close, those little micro channels, then you can actually just put makeup on. And they close after 24 to 72 hours. Technically 24, but I think after 72 you really feel like they're closed up. So that's another, another. So that's another great option that you can do at an office. Usually plastics and derms are the ones that offer this. And really I've been doing it all over. So if there's lax skin on, you know above the elbows or on the stomach where we've done something like radio frequency microline to tighten or we are helping some of the stretch marks. We can do a little bit of ella core to actually remove some of that skin. The patient doesn't want a tummy tuck. Again, it is not tummy tuck results or it's not facelift results but it
- [63:10]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
is a good alternative that is non
- [63:13]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
surgical and for that it's usually one treatment, although some people require several and it's a few thousand per treatment so it is a bit of an investment as well. Some people are like well I might as well just save up for a facelift and that's totally fair. So yeah, that is the world of lasers and energy based devices that are in a doctor's office or provider's office cosmetic office. I didn't really get into some of the devices that some estheticians use and I didn't get into at home devices but I am going to be talking about those in future episodes. One with an esthetician who you guys may know and then the other device. The other at home devices I'll be talking about in another episode as well. So if there's any questions at all, hopefully you guys learned something. If you guys have any follow up questions, I know we went through a lot. If any follow up questions that you want me to talk about in a future episode or any just follow ups, you can DM me or message me on Dermaproof podcast or Dr. Sheila Derm. These are Instagram pages and of course we would love love your support and of course I would love love your support if you could rate review. So hopefully we get a Season two. So thank you again for tuning in and I'll see you guys next week. Thank you for tuning in and taking time to invest in yourself. Be sure to catch new episodes of
- [64:41]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Derma Proved every Thursday and I'd love
- [64:43]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
to hear from you.
- [64:44]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Drop any questions or comments on social
- [64:46]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
media at Dr. Sheila Derm and Dermatologist Approved Podcasts.
- [64:50]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
Don't forget to follow and leave a rating and review.
- [64:52]
Co-host or Guest Dermatologist
See you next week.
- [64:54]
Dr. Sheila Farhang
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. The discussion and opinion shared by the hosts and guests are not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a specific medical concern, please consult your licensed dermatologist or healthcare professional who can provide personalized advice and treatment tailored to your situation.
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Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.