Facial rejuvenation is the fastest-growing procedure in the booming anti-aging market, as people seek to restore a youthful appearance through the removal or reduction of wrinkles, spots and other signs of aging skin. However, popular modalities such as microdermabrasion and non-ablative laser therapy simply can’t provide the immediate results that people often desire, while chemical peels are associated with a lack of process control and risk of side effects.
The Era is a new solution to this problem, providing profound results in just one skin resurfacing procedure. This device delivers erbium laser energy – a modality that has become the gold standard in resurfacing – with optimized energy parameters (fluence, pulse width, spot size, and repetition rate). This allows the skin to cool between pulses, yielding efficient, uniform skin ablation while avoiding thermal damage to sur- rounding tissue.
“I have used the Era laser in my clinics for about four years,” said Khalil Khatri, MD, a dermatologist & Cosmetic Laser Surgeon from Chelmsford, MA who was part of the team at Harvard Medical School that first evaluated the use of erbium lasers on human skin tissue. “I find it effective and safe; my patients have been highly satisfied with the results.”
“This gives a physician the capability of a briefcase-sized erbium laser for full-face resurfacing, yet the energy can be turned down to perform the laser peels which are becoming the standard in the industry,” said Michael Gold, MD, Dermatologist and founder of The Gold Skin Care Center in Nashville, TN. “We can simply use topical anesthesia; we don’t need local blocks or sedation. This device should be in every dermatologist’s office.”
Era provides high power output for deep, gentle resurfacing, yet it also provides superficial laser peels with virtually no downtime. This enables the laser practitioner to offer services to either the downtime-sensitive part of the facial rejuvenation market, as well as those seeking ‘instant gratification’ with immediate results.
While the clinical advantages of the laser are well-received, the compact, portable LightPod configuration is of additional interest to many.
“The most unique aspects of this laser are its portability and effectiveness,” said James Newman, MD, a plastic surgeon from San Mateo, CA who is also a clinical instructor at Stanford Medical School. “I find the limited thermal damage to produce less erythema. Patient acceptance has been enthusiastic. And it is easy to move the laser between my two office locations.”
Paul Carniol, MD, is an ENT and facial plastic surgeon in Summit, NJ. He is also the author of numerous articles and editor of two books on cosmetic surgery procedures, lasers, and skin rejuvenation. “The Era laser is compact and easy to use,” he said. “It can be used for either superficial ‘laser peels’ or for deeper resurfacing. Laser peel procedures have a brief recovery period while deeper resurfacing patients usually recover within several days. After these resurfacing procedures, patients are pleased with the visible improvement and quick recovery.”
In addition to removing aging skin tissue and leading to reepithelialization, Era also stimulates long-term collagen remodeling in the deep dermal tissue, which can add a nice skin-tightening effect to the surface improvements.
