The vascular laser treatment is done to treat conditions that arise from abnormal blood vessels under the skin. Most common types of these problems include spider veins, port-wine stain birthmarks, strawberry hemangiomas, warts, red scars, and inflammatory lesions like psoriasis etc. These problems differ in their degrees of seriousness, thus, the number of pulses of laser and time taken to cure the problem fully depend upon area affected and to what extent is it damaged.
Safe And Effective Procedure
The vascular laser treatment is considered fully safe as well as totally effective. So much so, that, in some cases it is done on infants that are just a few weeks old. The spider veins usually involve a single vessel, which is broken, so it is practically harmless. However, port-wine stain birthmarks grow with the patients, mostly found in infants, they darken in color and never go away. Hemangiomas spreads rapidly, sometimes it goes away on its own, sometimes it advances to a stage where it may impair vision or breathing. It should be treated before it gets to that stage.
The laser has this unique ability select the particular blood vessel which needs to be treated, without damaging any surrounding tissue. Small lesions will need just one sitting for the treatment, while bigger ones like port-wine stains will require many more sittings of the vascular laser treatment.
Precautions And After–Effects
After the treatment, you may find some temporary discoloration of skin around the treated area and also some redness in it. To soothe the skin, it is recommended to use ice packs or ice water application. Your doctor may give you a topical skin cream or anti-biotic ointment. You must avoid scrubbing and abrasive cleaning of the area for a few days. The discoloration will go away on its own in 7-14 days time, maybe even less. But take care not to expose the treated area to the sunlight. The ultra-violet rays will harm your skin.
For optimal results of the vascular laser treatment, see to it that you are not tanned when you go in for the treatment. For this, apply a generous coat of a sunscreen cream as told by your doctor and wear clothing that covers most of the skin. Pigment is closer to the skin than the vessels, if there is extra pigmentation like in the case of tanning… then the laser rays are obstructed by them and hence are less effective in treating the vessels.
Follow instructions given by your doctor for post and pre-procedure precautions. You should put your regular skin care regime on hold for some time and do whatever is recommended by your practitioner. One wise way to suffer the least discomfort and achieve greater results is to select an experienced plastic surgeon and a reputable clinic that has the latest laser equipment. Your skin and hair color must be taken into account while deciding on which kind of laser beams are to be used. You will be given a consultation before each session and a discussion about what to do and what to avoid after the vascular laser treatment session.