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The CoolSculpting procedure is an effective way to target and eliminate fat in various areas of the body, but it’s important to understand that the treatment is not intended to achieve the same results as losing weight from say, diet or exercise.  

The Role of Fat Cells

Fat cells exist to store excess energy in the body, expanding and storing any extra calories in the form of fat, and allowing the same fat to be burned later when the body needs more energy than is being supplied from food. Interestingly the number of fat cells in our bodies remains essentially constant after adolescence; individual fat cells will expand or contract as fat is stored or burned, but the body neither creates nor destroys the fat cells themselves. 

Results of Weight Loss

As the total number of fat cells remains the same, losing weight will shrink the fat cells throughout your body. For overweight people, losing weight is always highly recommended, bringing a multitude of health benefits and reducing your chances of developing many different health problems. 

Unfortunately, you can’t easily control which parts of your body will benefit from this reduction. While some people attempt to use targeted exercises to focus weight-loss on specific areas, you can’t guarantee which areas of your body will lose weight. You may well end up losing weight from parts of your body that you’d rather not, while not losing weight from parts that you’d like to. 

If you have a propensity to accumulate fat in particular areas, you will undoubtedly gain weight in the same areas if you lose weight and then subsequently regain it. Exactly where we accumulate fat depends on several factors – partly on the types of food or drink that we regularly consume, partly due to genetic (inherited) factors, and partly due to the types of exercises we routinely perform.

Results of the CoolSculpting Procedure

The CoolSculpting procedure offers a completely different way to reduce or eliminate fat cells in specific parts of the body. It’s important to note that CoolSculpting is not an effective way to lose weight, but it does give you the ability to target fat cells in specific parts of your body while leaving fat cells in other parts of your body unaffected. 

CoolSculpting achieves this result by using precisely controlled cold temperature pads to freeze fat cells in the targeted area, resulting in the cells being damaged. The body subsequently processes these damaged cells (and the fat they contain) and eliminates them from the body. 

Fat cells removed by CoolSculpting are not replaced by the body, resulting in long-term fat reduction in the treated areas. Any subsequent weight gain will be distributed between the remaining fat cells in the body. 

A single CoolSculpting treatment can remove up to 25% of the fat cells in a specific area, giving visible results in the days and weeks following treatment. Multiple treatments may also be used to achieve still greater reductions.

CoolSculpting in Los Angeles

Performing the CoolSculpting procedure requires a highly skilled practitioner – not only to apply the cooling pads in the safest and most effective manner but also to achieve aesthetically balanced and natural-looking results. As in many other cosmetic procedures, you should pay particular attention to choosing the right person to perform your treatment. 

Your Laser Skin Care can answer your questions and show you how CoolSculpting can help achieve your goals. Call us at (323) 525-1516 to schedule a free consultation, or check out our CoolSculpting consultation checklist. We have extensive experience with CoolSculpting in Los Angeles and many other types of cosmetic procedures.

Unwanted hair is a source of worry and frustration for many of us. Of course, there are many different ways to remove unwanted hair, each of which presents some trade-offs between cost, discomfort, effectiveness, and duration. Depilatory creams and shaving are commonly used but carry the risk of skin irritation or cuts, may even stimulate further hair growth and are, at best, only a relatively short-term solution. 

Using laser hair removal procedures have proven a highly effective way to achieve long-term or permanent freedom from hair regrowth. Laser hair treatment is most typically used to remove unwanted hair found on the face, bikini line, arms, underarms and legs. 

Below are several other less commonly treated areas where laser hair removal can be equally effective.

Chest & Nipples

Although primarily a male characteristic, many women have light hair between their breasts and on their nipples. For those with dark or coarse hair, this can be especially troublesome. Whether hair in this area is dense or sparse, it’s a prime location for laser treatment.

Jawline and Chin

Hormonal changes as women age can result in highly visible coarser hair growth along the jawline, including the chin. Lasers can be used to effectively target this area. Men can also benefit from laser treatments, especially if they have sensitive skin that’s irritated by shaving, or if they’re prone to developing ingrown hairs.

Neck

More so than on the face and jawline, men who need to regularly shave their necks often find it difficult due to especially sensitive skin and the increased chance of ingrown hairs. Laser treatment can effectively treat this area, as well as remove the need to shave regularly.

Back and Lower Back

Although also very much a male trait, menopausal women can also develop back hair. The difficulty in reaching and treating this area oneself is another reason to consider laser treatment in this area.

Abdomen

Hair is common on the front of the abdomen, but hair on the sides of the abdomen may be less agreeable. Women of all ages can also develop hair around the navel.

Knuckles and Toes

Light hair in these areas is generally tolerated, but these hairs can darken and become coarser over time as hormonal levels change. 

Nose and Ears

Primarily a problem for men as they age, increased hair growth in the nose and ears can be annoying and tedious to trim on a regular basis. Laser hair treatment can be used to remove hair in these often neglected areas.

Laser Hair Treatment in Los Angeles

Those who suffer side-effects from alternate methods, as well as those with light complexions and darker hair, are prime candidates for laser hair removal, but it can also be effective on other skin types.

If you have unwanted hair and are interested in seeing how laser hair removal could help you, call us at (323) 525-1516 to schedule a free consultation. At Your Laser Skin Care, we have extensive experience with laser hair treatment and many other cosmetic procedures.

Varicose veins can appear when locally increased blood pressure weakens the walls and valves of your veins, causing the veins primarily in the legs to become enlarged and twisted. There are several causes, including pregnancy, obesity, and standing for extended periods.

Varicose veins can be surgically treated, but there are several other treatment options: laser vein therapy and Sclerotherapy, both of which offer practical ways to reduce or eliminate problematic varicose veins.

Just like other physical problems that can lead to pain, discomfort, or distress, finding ways to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place is always preferable to trying to resolve it afterward.

In the case of varicose veins, there are several ways you can reduce the chance of developing or prevent the possible recurrence of veins after treatment.

Maybe this is obvious, but the best way to avoid blood pressure issues that can lead to varicose veins is to keep your body, most notably your leg muscles toned, and keep your blood pressure and weight within recommended guidelines. Increasing physical activity is a great way to improve general health, and the following exercises can also help target some of the leading causes of varicose veins.

1. Walking and Running

Perhaps the easiest way to start improving your health is to increase the distance you walk on a regular basis. Numerous devices can help you track your activity. Yet, the only thing required is just getting SOME form of exercise in your normal routine, rather than just a special activity that ends up being deferred (or even forgotten) on a regular basis.

If you’re a runner, even for short distances, that’s so much the better. Also, taking the stairs instead of the elevator (even for a floor or two) is a particularly effective way to target your calf and thigh muscles. However, simply walking more will also definitely help.

2. Flexing and Stretching Your Legs

Extended periods of standing or sitting can result in poor blood circulation over time. Even if you have to remain static, try to adjust your position regularly. Stretch your legs and flex your calf muscles to promote blood circulation and reduce any pressure spots.

You can target calf muscles while still remaining seated by placing your feet flat on the floor and alternating between raising your toes and raising your heel; you can achieve a similar result by rocking your feet the same way with one or both legs stretched straight out in front of you.

Merely squeezing your thighs, wiggling your toes, or lifting your legs are also useful ways to stimulate blood circulation in your legs.

3. Yoga

Widely recognized as a great way to improve your general physical and mental well-being, yoga can also be used to strengthen and tone your leg muscles. There are, of course, several different types of yoga, each with its preferred poses and methods. The bottom line is that even though you may not consider yoga as effective as more dynamic forms of exercise, it can nevertheless be a highly effective way to improve your general health. Your instructor can also point you towards poses that will directly benefit the blood circulation in your legs.

Other Ways to Help Prevent Varicose Veins

There are still other ways to reduce the chance of getting varicose veins –

• Avoid tight or restrictive clothing

• Avoid the extended use of high heels

• Avoid prolonged static body positions

Your doctor may also be able to supply additional guidelines and suggestions for minimizing any blood circulation problems.

Your Laser Skin Care can provide you with advice on the best ways to treat varicose or spider veins – we have extensive experience providing both laser vein therapy and Sclerotherapy treatments. Call us at (323) 525-1516 to schedule a free consultation or visit us online for more information.

Losing skin volume and elasticity is part of the normal aging process, but skin laxity (or looseness) can occur from other circumstances, including when people are still relatively young.

Generally, we all gradually lose collagen and elastin in the skin, leading to progressive loss of skin volume, firmness, and resiliency.

What Treatments are Available for Loose Skin?

Some short-term relief may be found by using skin tightening creams. However, now it’s becoming popular to try available non-invasive skin tightening treatments, both as a way of treating existing problems, but also as a way to prevent loose skin from becoming a problem in the future. 

Available techniques include dermal fillers, which can be used to compensate for lost volume and direct skin tightening — achieved by focusing energy, to heat and shrink, the collagen fibers located beneath the skin’s surface. 

There are multiple ways to focus energy into the skin. We’ve found that laser skin tightening provides excellent results by allowing light energy to be precisely focused where needed to provide the maximum benefit.

All these techniques provide relatively quick and effective ways to tighten loose skin without the risk, expense, pain, and inconvenience associated with traditional surgical alternatives.

What Areas of Skin Can Be Treated?

Skin tightening is mainly used on or around the face, neck, and chin. 

Who Gains the Most from Non-Invasive Laser Skin Tightening?

Middle-aged patients with light to moderately lax skin will gain the most benefit from laser skin tightening, but the technique can also provide benefits to those who are younger or older. The treatment is particularly effective when used as soon as signs of aging start to appear.

Those who have started to lose skin elasticity will see benefits extend over the long-term, as laser treatments stimulate continuing collagen production long after each treatment.

Laser skin tightening can be used regardless of your skin type and color because the laser only affects skin layers beneath the surface.

One other significant benefit from laser skin tightening is that side effects and recovery time are minimal, allowing almost immediate return to normal activities. As benefits occur progressively both during and after each treatment, improvements will occur over time, resulting in more natural-looking changes.

And Who Might Not?

Laser skin tightening may not be recommended for those with extreme light sensitivity issues or those who suffer from autoimmune-related collagen health problems or other skin infections. It’s also generally discouraged during pregnancy.

Laser skin tightening will also not provide a complete solution for those with extensive areas of loose skin following significant weight loss, for example.

It’s important to match your expectations to reality. Your provider should provide clear guidance as to what a treatment can offer you, as there will be cases when it may reduce but not eliminate your loose skin.

Skin Tightening in Los Angeles

Your Laser Skin Care in Los Angeles offers a variety of non-invasive cosmetic procedures, many of which can be combined with laser skin tightening to greatly improve your skin’s condition and appearance. 

Call us at (323) 525-1516 to schedule a free consultation or visit us online for more information.

There are more cosmetic treatments to choose from than ever before, especially when considering how best to treat skin surface problems. It can be bewildering trying to decide which treatment to use.

Engineers love to quote an age-old maxim that might be appropriate here: fast, cheap, or good? Pick two.

Chemical peels and laser skin resurfacing are two of the most popular procedures used to address surface skin problems. It’s quite likely that multiple treatments will be necessary regardless of which method you choose.

What Are Chemical Skin Peels?

Chemical skin peels work by carefully applying controlled amounts of acidic chemicals to the skin, resulting in the outer layers of the skin eventually peeling off. 

This dramatically accelerates the natural exfoliation process that normally replaces skin cells to quickly reveals smoother, more youthful, and less wrinkled skin cells underneath. Weaker chemical peels may give more rapid results, but may also need to be repeated more frequently than laser skin resurfacing treatments.

What is Laser Skin Resurfacing?

Laser skin resurfacing uses focused energy from a laser to heat and erode the outer layers of the skin, resulting in a rapid contraction and tightening of the skin’s surface, as well as stimulating collagen production within the skin. This treatment results in longer-term continuing improvement to skin tone and elasticity. Laser procedures typically take more time for their results to become fully apparent but can last for several years.

How to Choose the Right Treatment for Your Skin

There are situations in which one treatment may be more effective, while both are equally effective in other circumstances. Both chemical peels and laser resurfacing may be used at different concentrations or strengths according to the severity of the problem being addressed. 

Below, we’ll compare both treatments for several of the most common skin issues, and point out which treatment may be the most appropriate.

Fine Lines and Rough Skin

Chemical peels are ideally suited to these types of problems, which allow the use of weaker grades of acidic solutions, with shorter resulting recovery times. Laser skin resurfacing can be very effective when treating fine lines and when you have skin pigmentation issues or spots to address.

Deep Wrinkles or Sagging Skin

Chemical peels are less suited for loose or sagging skin concerns. Laser skin resurfacing is usually the preferred treatment option. Using chemical peels for these problem types typically requires the use of stronger acidic chemical solutions, with correspondingly longer recovery times.

Rough Skin Texture

The skin resurfacing laser’s ability to tighten the skin can lead to a more effective treatment when skin needs both smoothing and tightening. A chemical peel may be just as effective when you just want to smooth the top surface of the skin.

Sun Damage

While both laser skin resurfacing and chemical peels are used to treat sun damage – this may be a situation where a mild chemical peel is the easiest way to repair mild damage. Having skin that’s extra sensitive to light may also be an argument for avoiding laser treatments.

Pigmentation Spots

Choosing which treatment will depend on the severity of the problems you’re trying to address, your skin type and complexion, and any sensitivities you may have to either procedure. 

Scarring, Including Acne Scars

Here too, either chemical peels or laser resurfacing may be the appropriate treatment option. We recommend getting professional advice on which to use in your particular case.

Other Considerations When Comparing Chemical Peels and Laser Resurfacing

Cost

Chemical peels procedures are typically lower cost than laser resurfacing, but this may be compensated by the greater number of treatments required and the possibility of increased recovery time after each treatment. 

Treatment Potency

There are several different strengths of chemical peels available to address the severity of the skin issue. Depending on the experience and equipment available to your practitioner, it may be possible to tune the strength of the laser energy to address multiple types of skin problems during a single session.

Skin Sensitivity and Recovery

Some people may be more sensitive to one treatment method versus the other, or to some of the different chemicals used in the various levels of chemical peels. Recovery times also vary widely, depending on the treatment type and the severity of the problems being addressed. 

Schedule a Consultation

We’d strongly suggest getting professional advice from a medically trained practitioner who can advise you on the most appropriate and cost-effective treatment for your particular cosmetic concerns. 

Contact Your Laser Skin Care at (310) 525-1516 to schedule a free consultation. We can answer any questions you have about either of these two procedures and will work with you to achieve the results you want.

Causes of Loose Skin

Our skin is naturally resilient, and healthy skin is not easily damaged by the rough-and-tumble of daily life. Nevertheless, many of us develop areas of loose skin at some stage of our lives. Loose skin is normally an indication of a loss of collagen and elastin in the skin, but may also be caused by the loss of muscle or fat layers beneath the surface. Loose skin can be a result of the normal aging process, lifestyle changes that result in rapid, significant weight loss, as well as excessive cumulative sun exposure.

Ways to Address Loose Skin

Regardless of the cause, there’s a great deal of interest in various ways to combat this problem. There are numerous skin moisturizing and conditioning products that may or may not actually help. In some circumstances, it’s possible to inject fillers beneath the skin to temporarily tighten loose skin. Some people even resort to surgery to tighten loose skin, but this can be an expensive, painful, and complex procedure that too often produces unnatural-looking results.

Fortunately, there is now a far simpler, safe, effective, and non-invasive alternative. Laser skin tightening is rapidly growing in popularity as more people discover how it can provide a long-term solution to loose skin in many places on the body. Laser skin tightening is far less invasive than surgical alternatives, while also allowing for more natural-looking results to be consistently achieved.

How Does Laser Skin Tightening Work?

An infrared laser is used to focus light energy on the collagen cells within the skin. The focused energy from the laser heats the collagen fibers responsible for supporting the skin’s structure, causing them to contract. The result is exactly what is desired – a natural-looking tightening of the skin that effectively rejuvenates it.

The process also stimulates the continued production of new collagen, providing ongoing benefits that continue long after each treatment.

Depending on the degree of tightening desired, it may be necessary to undergo several treatment sessions, typically spaced apart by a month or so. One major advantage of using multiple treatment sessions for skin tightening is that the practitioner can avoid over-tightening the skin in one sitting, creating far more natural-looking, gradual improvements to skin tone and tightness over an extended period.

Precautions Before and After Treatment

Your practitioner will advise you to avoid direct sunlight for several days before and after each treatment, as well as recommend the use of moisturizer and sunscreen products after treatment.

Patients occasionally experience minor swelling or redness after a tightening treatment, but symptoms are short-lasting. Overall the laser skin tightening process is well tolerated with very few side-effects and does not require any down-time after each treatment.

Choosing a Practitioner and Scheduling a Consultation

As with all procedures that rely on the skill of the practitioner to achieve the best results, it pays to choose someone who combines extensive experience with advanced medical training and qualifications.

Contact Your Laser Skin Care at (310) 525-1516 to schedule a free consultation. We can explain how laser skin tightening can help you achieve the results you desire.

Laser and IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) treatments are widely used as effective ways to remove unwanted hair. However, unlike the highly focused energy produced by lasers, IPL uses a broad spectrum of light energy, making it useful for many non-invasive cosmetic purposes.

IPL is an effective way to remove spider veins and is also widely used to rejuvenate the complexion and improve the overall tone and appearance of the skin.

 The degree to which light energy produced by IPL is absorbed by skin cells largely depends on the pigmentation of each cell. Since excess skin pigmentation is pretty much the definition of “freckles,” IPL can be very useful as a way to treat unwanted freckles.

Of course, we’re not saying that freckles are necessarily unwanted – they’re often regarded as highly desirable by many, but not by everyone.

Different Types of Freckles

Freckles are small areas of skin with a distinctly darker color than surrounding skin. They’re more likely to be present, or at least more visible, on the face, arms, and shoulders of people with lighter skin color and light blonde or red hair. Yet, they’re also quite common in people with other skin tones, including those with very dark complexions. They’re more likely to appear when the skin is exposed to the sun and often have a genetic component, particularly amongst those of Celtic origin.

They’re not an indication of any health problems, but merely indicate that the skin’s melatonin, which is responsible for skin color, is not distributed uniformly. Freckles can be varied colors, ranging from yellow, orange, and red, to brown, and even black.

There are actually two main categories of freckles:

Ephelides freckles are flat, lighter-colored spots that appear in the summer months and fade during the winter.

Lentigines are darker spots that remain present regardless of exposure to the sun. Lentigines can develop after sunburn or sun damage.

How Does IPL Remove Freckles?

 IPL is the most effective way to treat freckles. Light energy is more efficiently absorbed by darker areas of pigmentation in the skin and breaks down the excess melanin that forms the basis of each freckle. Adjacent areas of skin that do not contain excess melanin remain unaffected.

The larger the contrast between skin and freckle color, the easier it is to correct pigmentation imbalance using IPL. It’s still effective when used on people with darker complexions, but may be less effective on patients with very dark skin color, or who have deep suntans.

During IPL treatment, a cooling gel or light anesthetic is applied to the skin to reduce discomfort. Each IPL treatment takes around 30 minutes.

You may need three to five IPL treatments before the results are complete. The number of treatments depends on the size of the treatment area, or whether you’re hoping just to fade freckles or want them removed entirely. Multiple treatments are typically spaced out and performed after three to six weeks have passed.

What Happens After an IPL Treatment?

 Individual pigmented spots may appear to darken immediately following an IPL treatment, but they will fade away over time. Your skin may appear red or slightly swollen immediately after treatment, but these symptoms usually disappear the same or next day. You’ll be able to resume normal activities right away.

Other Health Considerations

Although freckles are harmless, there are other types of skin problems that appear similar to freckles. Although typically not causes for alarm, skin pigmentation changes are not necessarily benign – you should immediately consult your doctor or dermatologist if you suspect that skin spots have recently appeared or grown.

In some cases, they might be caused by melanoma or other skin cancers; rapid diagnosis and treatment are very important in these cases.

Remove Freckles With IPL in Los Angeles

As such, for other non-invasive treatments, seeing an experienced and qualified practitioner is essential for freckle removal. Not only to choose the most effective treatment but also to ensure that any other skin problems are correctly diagnosed.

Your Laser Skin Care is delighted to evaluate your freckles and recommend an appropriate course of treatment. To learn more about the IPL Photofacial, contact our office at 323-525-1516 to schedule a free consultation.