"I feel young, you know, now I want to look younger," said Rowland.
Today, Sandy will have a new laser procedure called dot therapy.
Dr. Roger Bassin says these microscopic puncture wounds -- or dots -- deliver CO2 energy that tightens skin and smooth's wrinkles.
Because the laser beam is split, it leaves areas of healthy skin between the rows of dots. Traditional lasers target all the skin -- often causing severe burning and scabbing.
"We would blast all the skin off at once. It would look like you got dragged on the pavement by your face pretty much. That's how patients would describe it," said Dr. Roger Bassin, plastic surgeon.
This gentle laser can treat wrinkles, crow's feet, sun spots and even pre-cancerous lesions. Sandy says the discomfort is minimal.
Patients get a topical numbing cream instead of anesthesia. The down time is as little as three days. The recovery for traditional laser therapy is up to two months.
After 10 minutes, Sandy was done.
Journalist Denise Enos, 47, had the dot procedure as part of a recent assignment.
"I am always skeptical, as a reporter," said Enos.
Her results weren't drastic, but she says she's happy with them.
"What you have to expect is an improvement that some people might not even notice, but that shouldn't matter if you notice," said Enos.
And like every cosmetic procedure, this one-time treatment comes with a price tag -- $2,000.
DOT therapy stands for Dermal Optical Thermolysis. The results are permanent. Dr. Bassin says the only people who wouldn't be candidates for this procedure are those with serious medical problems or patients on chronic steroids.
Web Extra Information: Dots For Wrinkles
BACKGROUND:
There are many unwanted side effects of aging. Some of these include:
- Fine lines/wrinkles
- Crow's feet/laugh lines
- Poor texture/uneven skin tone
- Age spots or sun spots
- Downward drooping of facial features
Traditionally, people who wanted to rejuvenate their skin would undergo a treatment with a CO2 laser.
This type of laser often delivered exceptional results, but the down time was weeks of recovery. "With the old laser, a patient would come into the operating room, be put to sleep because it's extremely painful," Roger Bassin, M.D., a plastic surgeon in Orlando, Fla., told Ivanhoe. "We would blast all the skin off at once, and it would take a patient up to a week to grow brand new skin. During that time, patients would have oozing, scabbing, crusting, and it would look like you got dragged on the pavement by your face, pretty much. That's how patients would describe it."
CONNECTING THE DOTS:
There's now a new option for patients who want the benefits of a CO2 laser with less down time. The SmartXide DOT system is an advanced CO2 laser that has received clearance from the FDA. The new procedure precisely delivers CO2 laser energy to targeted areas on the face or non-facial areas like the neck. Instead of blasting away entire portions of the skin, the new technology allows the laser to lay down rows of tiny, microscopic laser wounds, evenly spaced across the skin, leaving areas of untreated skin between them.
The surface of treated skin then contains only tiny, pixilated wounds, instead of one large, oozing burn. This procedure can be performed in the doctor's office with topical anesthesia in less than 30 minutes. Patients recover in as little as three days.
WHAT CAN IT TREAT?
DOT therapy causes a rapid tightening of the skin; reduces blemishes and fine lines; and can soften scars. It also stimulates collagen production, giving the skin a younger look and feel. The therapy may also help eradicate pre-cancerous skin cells.
COST:
The cost for the treatment runs about $2,000.
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