Age spots are a result of the body producing excess melanin. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin its color.

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When the skin is exposed to sunlight, the body produces extra melanin to protect the skin from the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays.The more melanin produced, the darker the skin becomes. Age spots appear when excess melanin in the skin becomes clumped together.

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Age spots can be addressed with topical products, red light therapy in combination with GlycoALA or Intense Pulsed Light Therapy (IPL).

IPL systems work on the same principles as lasers in that light energy is absorbed into particular target cells with color (chromophores) in the skin. The light energy is converted to heat energy, which causes damage to the specific target area.

 

IPL systems are different from lasers in that they deliver many wavelengths (or colors) in each pulse of light instead of just one wavelength. Most IPL systems use filters to refine the energy output for the treatment of certain areas. This enhances penetration without using excessive energy levels and enables the targeting of specific chromophores (the skin components that absorb light).

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IPL therapy is considered a non-ablative resurfacing technique, which means that it targets the lower layers of skin (dermis) without affecting the top layers of skin (epidermis). The advantage of IPL therapy is its minimal downtime – a patient can often have the procedure done in their lunch break and return to work immediately afterwards.

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At The Med Spa at Vision Dermatology we utilize Lumecca for IPL. Lumecca is a breakthrough intense pulsed light (IPL) that delivers up to 3X more energy to improve efficacy for both small red vascular and pigmented lesions. We possess two separate delivery devices with different wavelengths that address more skin tones.

 

Lumecca is one of the only IPL machines engineered to address Asian, latino and darker skin. Additionally, Lumecca is optimized to treat a variety of lesions with fewer sessions and it possesses a large sapphire at its tip which results in cooling of the treatment area and minimized discomfort.

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Lumecca can reduce vascular lesions, including port wine stains, facial, truncal and leg telangiectasias, rosacea, erythema of rosacea, angiomas and spider angiomas, poikilodenna of Civatte, superficial leg veins and venous malformations.