Equipment

Over the past two decades, body art has become mainstream, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. As people of all ages seek to express themselves and commemorate special people and moments in their lives through permanent tattoos, the demand for tattoo removal also rises. Traditionally, treatment options were less than optimal, requiring up to a dozen sessions with poor clearance of multi-colored tattoos.

Sun-mottled, wrinkled, veiny hands shout one’s true age despite how young the face might look. Surgical hand-lifts are not an option, but aesthetic practitioners can subtly hide telltale signs of hand aging with a range of products and procedures.

Bruises are a common side effect of injectable treatments, such as botulinum toxin and dermal fillers. In most cases, bruises are a natural part of the healing process, but they are troubling to patients eager to see immediate improvement in their appearances. That’s why experienced injectors are taking steps to identify those at the greatest risk for bruising and integrating new tools as well as pre- and post-care protocols to reduce the degree and longevity of postprocedure bruising.

A picosecond‐domain laser with a 785nm wavelength has a special infinity for purple, blue and green tattoo inks, according to a recent study published in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine (September 2018). Authors Eric Bernstein, MD, et al, treated 22 tattoos from 15 subjects (skin types II-IV). They administered a total of four treatments using only the 785nm picosecond wavelength (2mm to 4mm beam diameter and fluences ranging from 1.1 to 3.1 J/cm²).

When medical aesthetic practices first began to use the term “Liquid Facelift” to describe the use of fillers and botulinum toxins for facial rejuvenation, there was some discomfort in the industry. Many practitioners were wary of suggesting that patients could achieve results comparable to a facelift nonsurgically, and the outcomes were not always ideal. But with experience, new indications and improved techniques, outcomes have improved significantly.

Patients with facial telangiectasia who receive topical brimonidine following IPL treatment experience less postprocedure erythema with no reduction in efficacy. Anne‐Cathrine E. Vissing, Christine Dierickx, Katrine E. Karmisholt and Merete Haedersdal of Denmark, performed a randomized, two-center, single-blinded, split-face trial on 19 patients with facial telangiectasia. The patients were treated with adjuvant brimonidine and air‐cooling on one side of the face and air‐cooling alone (control) on the other.

It has been more than 15 years since Thermage, the first radiofrequency (RF)-based noninvasive skin-tightening device, entered the United States market. In the years since, demand for noninvasive skin tightening and lifting procedures has skyrocketed, bringing dozens of competitors to the market. New iterations include RF devices that deliver treatment with less pain, ultrasound-based treatments, and minimally invasive systems that deliver energy to the skin’s lower layers through microneedles or wands.

Surgical lasers have improved efficiency and allow for more targeted, less traumatic treatments. But they have also introduced a new danger to providers and patients: laser plumes. Tissue-vaporizing devices emit plume: smoke, vapor and debris that contain harmful compounds, including aerosolized biological materials.

The desire to remove excess hair has been part of the human condition as far back as 30,000 B.C. First, sharpened flints and clamshells were used to scrape off unwanted body hair then the Ancient Egyptians discovered sugaring, which gave way to waxing. Today, laser hair removal is the No. 1 laser treatment offered in the United States, and it consistently ranks in the top three most-requested nonsurgical cosmetic procedures.

The addition of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to fat grafts appears to increase longevity of the transplanted materials, but inconsistent preparation protocols make meaningful evaluation of outcomes difficult, according to a retrospective study published online in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery—Global Open (December 6, 2017).