Laser Skin Treatments: Benefits, Side Effects, & Cost

May 1, 2023

We all desire glass skin with a dewy airbrushed glow like the Korean actors in your favorite K-dramas. This explains why you try to exfoliate the dead cells with scrubs and masks. Try peel-off masks and charcoal face packs to make your skin look radiant. However, laser skin treatments are a perfect choice when looking for a supercharged solution. Laser skin treatments can do wonders for your skin, whether it is acne scars, tattoos, sagging skin, unwanted hair, wrinkles, or brown spots.

How Does Laser Skin Treatment Work?

Laser refers to Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation possessing high energy light with a single wavelength source. This laser light can be transmitted to focus on a specific region with high precision to get the desired effect on the skin. When applied to the skin, the light energy of the laser gets converted as heat energy for targeting any chromophore like hemoglobin, melanin, or tattoo pigment without damaging the tissues near it (1).

So, laser treatments help target dark spots, blemishes, scars, birthmarks, wrinkles, fine lines, unwanted hair, and tattoos. However, make sure you consult your dermatologist to discuss the laser treatment options and clear the concerns, if any, before proceeding with it (2).

Benefits of Laser Skin Treatments

Laser skin treatments are highly beneficial for addressing several hair and skin concerns, which is why your dermatologist recommends it as a part of your skincare treatment (3). With laser treatment for skin, you will be able to experience the following benefits.

1. Get Rid of Unwanted Hair

With laser hair removal treatment, you can remove excess body hair that can prevent you from flaunting your skin in a stylish short dress. With these laser sessions, you can get rid of unwanted body hair by targeting the stem cells under the hair follicles. The laser also combats the cells that trigger unwanted body hair growth to decrease the amount of hair growth in the preferred area of your body.

2. Get Relief from Skin Pigmentation

Laser skin treatment is an apt choice to deal with dark pigments, as it can be adjusted to any preferable wavelengths to penetrate the skin surface and reach the deep skin layers. With this laser treatment, you can get a skin-lightening effect, as its heat can damage the affected cells in the problem area. This treatment can also be beneficial for creating a photoacoustic effect for inducing a vibrational effect for breaking down the pigmentation that caused the discoloration in the skin. You can also get laser treatment for removing melasma, birthmarks, spider veins, age spots, acne or pimple marks, and vascular lesions (4), and uneven skin color.

3. Improves Deep Acne Scars

With this skin treatment, lasers will destroy the scarred tissue on your skin’s surface to improve the production of collagen in the site. During the healing process, the scars will lighten and gradually fade away. Apart from treating acne scars, laser treatment enhances the skin rejuvenation process and helps it get its radiant glow (5).

4. Erases Skin Flaws

Laser treatment for skin is highly beneficial for tightening sagging or loose skin caused by aging or after surgery or drastic weight loss. This treatment can quickly alleviate such skin flaws by kindling collagen production. With their ability to alleviate the damaged tissue in a specific region, lasers can heal your skin while the improved collagen levels support ample elasticity. This skin treatment using laser can alleviate pucker marks, uneven skin color, fine lines, frown lines, and wrinkles caused by aging.

Types of Laser Skin Treatments

An array of laser skin treatments is available to help you have clear skin, as one type of laser will not alleviate all kinds of skin problems. Listed below are some popular types of laser treatments for skin conditions.

Ablative Laser Treatment

During this skin treatment, the laser applies controlled heat on the external skin layer of the damaged area to break down the obsolete collagen. It paves the way for new collagen production to have youthful skin. This treatment alleviates skin issues by heating the dermis layer gently, making it an apt choice for facial skin conditions. This treatment helps achieve smooth, firm, and supple skin free from scars. This laser therapy requires enough downtime and requires you to follow the post-care instructions to avoid pigmentation and infections (6). Types of ablative laser treatments are:

CO2 or Carbon Dioxide Laser Treatment: CO2 laser treatment generating infrared light is ideal for removing warts, scars, wrinkles, etc. It is used for skin resurfacing or rejuvenation to treat various skin problems (7).
Erbium Laser Treatment: This laser treatment for skin with an infrared beam for treating fine lines, age spots, crow’s feet, and fine lines with very less tissue damage in and around the targeted skin. It enhances collagen remodeling for improving skin elasticity (8).

Non-ablative Laser Treatments

It is a less invasive procedure that doesn’t leave any open wounds, as they treat the dermis layer gently. It utilizes controlled heat that induces collagen production in the affected area. It is helpful in lowering scars, birthmarks, skin rejuvenation, or tightening. It is a painless procedure with minimal downtime and perfectly safe for dark skin tones. This skin treatment is ideal for treating scars with moderate to mild intensity and alleviating post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation to get skin free from blemishes. Types of non-ablative laser treatments are:

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Laser Treatment: It is popularly known as Broad-band light treatment. This treatment is useful for alleviating skin discoloration by eliminating reddishness and hyperpigmentation to restore youthful skin with a glow. It has minimal downtime, as the treatment uses brief bursts of light.
Nd: YAG Laser Treatment: During this procedure, the laser beam is absorbed by the melanin pigment of your hair to work on its follicles without causing harm to the surrounding areas (9). It is ideal for reducing unwanted hair growth and helps in hair reduction.
Alexandrite Laser Treatment: This treatment is performed through light and heat conversion to target the affected tissues with precision to avoid undesirable damage to other areas. It is an ideal choice to remove unwanted body hair and tattoos.

Pixel fractional Resurfacing Treatment

This treatment is a perfect choice to effectively treat scars, blemishes, enlarged pores, and aging signs. The high-precision laser gets divided into small beams for treating the skin through microscopic perforations to keep the healthy skin untouched. It facilitates quick skin healing and has low downtime.

Cost of Laser Skin Treatments

If you plan to opt for laser skin treatments in India, then the cost per session will be between Rs. 2000 – Rs. 40,000. You can also avail of laser treatment packages, which include several sessions for a specific issue at affordable rates.

Generally, the cost of your laser skin treatment relies upon the factors like:

Type of laser used for the treatment
The severity of your skin condition
Expertise level of your dermatologist
Clinical procedure prescribed
Quality standards followed by the skin clinic

Visit the article laser hair removal cost in India for detailed pricing.

Side Effects of Laser Skin Treatments

The laser treatments for skin have very few minor side effects given below, which can be alleviated by following aftercare instructions.

Slight scarring
Minor skin infections
Minimal bleeding
Temporary pain
Crust formations on the skin

Aftercare for Laser Skin Treatments

Use the repair and soothing creams prescribed by your dermatologist for quicker skin generation
Avoid using skin irritants like retinoids or glycolic at least a week after laser treatment
Use moisturizers and lightening lotions to keep your skin hydrated and avoid pigmentation changes
Clean the laser-treated area gently twice a day
Use facial cleansers with neutral pH
Avoid face cleanups, facials, and hair treatments in between and after your laser sessions
Avoid tanning the treatment areas

These days, you will find several beauty and wellness clinics offering several laser treatments for skin, which is why it is necessary to choose the services of a renowned skin clinic, as they follow advanced laser procedures while maintaining high-quality standards.