Acne
Laser Treatment: Fact or Fad?
Recently
there’s been a lot of buzz about acne
laser treatment. This isn’t something new in the acne
world but I thought it might be an interesting discussion. If
you’ve ever watched reality makeover shows like Extreme
Makeover or The Swan, it’s obvious they promote laser treatment
as the quick and most effective fix to make skin more beautiful,
implying it is the best option for treating acne.
With
the constant publicity laser treatment gets on television, I am
sure many would start researching and see if the hype is true.
Most of us would want to fix it and forget it. So, I was curious
about what I would find on the Internet too. I typed “acne
laser treatment” in the three major search engines and found
867,921 hits from MSN, 2,650,000 hits from Yahoo, and coming out
on top, a whopping 2,660,000 hits from Google!
If
you were to research these links you’d probably find that
most companies will wholeheartedly declare that laser treatment
reduces “most inflammatory acne in a few visits,”
or guarantees at least “90% [of people that use the treatment]
experience a reduction in acne lesions” in bold letters.
Initially that might send a major warning sign. SCAM! But the
fact is, laser treatment really can help.
People with severe acne and who are at risk of scarring may want
to consider the option more than most. Let’s face it; if
anyone with substantial acne has not gotten adequate results from
effective over the counter treatments like AcneRecovery or from
prescription acne medications, they should definitely consider
acne laser treatment. The personal cost of ignoring acne is too
high.
On
the other hand, and this is probably the biggest deterrent, it’s
pretty expensive. Though cost varies around the country, it’s
going to run in the range of $2,300 to $3,200 for a series of
laser treatments. That’s substantial. Fortunately, though
it doesn’t work for everyone, the odds are pretty good.
To
explore real cases of people who’ve used laser treatment
I went to acne.org and read how people rated certain laser treatments
(mainly CO2) and whether they would recommend it to others. There
were twenty-five entries total, all had used some form of acne
laser treatment and rated it on a scale of one to five. Not surprisingly,
only two of the twenty-five people highly recommended (4 on a
scale of 5) the procedure, whereas eighteen saw it as a very poor
option (2 on a scale of 5).
So
why all the negative responses if it really is a worthwhile option?
A major factor relates to the KIND of laser being used. In a study
published in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of the American
Academy of Dermatology, investigators reported excellent long-term
success in treating acne with laser. Their excellent results were
obtained with the 1450-nm diode laser. There was a 75% reduction
in acne lesions and the improvement was maintained over the 12
months of the study. That’s pretty good!
Choosing
to get laser treatment rather than using over the counter medication,
or even prescription medication, isn’t a simple matter.
It's not like changing brands of your deodorant. A lot more thought
and careful research should be done before considering it.
