Fractional laser skin resurfacing aficionados will be hearing more and more about the Starlux 1540, Starlux 2940, Fraxel Repair, ActiveFX, DeepFX, and Fractional Skin Rejuvenation in the future.

To grasp the significance of these new laser skin resurfacing devices some minor understanding of the technologies of cosmetic laser skin rejuvenation treatments as well as older cosmetic laser skin treatments is a good start.

Cosmetic Fractional Laser Skin Resurfacing’s History

Fraxel was the first non ablative fractional laser for the cosmetic medical market. From the beginning it’s been upgraded and has been improved on by a number of other competing fractional laser skin resurfacing technologies including the DeepFX and ActiveFX from Lumenis, the Starlux 1540, and Starlux 2940 from Palomar Medical.

Fractional laser skin resurfacing is new area of medicine that intersects cosmetic dermatology and traditional plastic surgery. Rapid advancements and new breakthroughs in these types of cosmetic medical technologies are occurring frequently and are fueled by an aging population of patients. The benefit for these patients is a rapid increase in the effectiveness of fractional laser treatments and less down time and potential side effects.

Fractional laser technologies new applications are expanding into associated cosmetic areas like skin tightening where fractional treatments compete with radio frequency treatments like Thermage, and eventually into fat and cellulite treatments and removal.

What was a revolutionary advance in 1995, full face CO2 Laser Resurfacing for wrinkle removal using the Ultra pulse CO2 laser, fairs poorly when compared to new fractional laser treatments and although the wrinkle removal results were fantastic, the CO2 laser resurfacing created a very real “burn wound” that took many months of recovery and the need for general anesthesia. After a year, the skin would turn white or show hypo pigmentation. Because of the side effects, few patients today choose to have this very effective wrinkle removing procedure.

The Newest Fractional Skin Resurfacing & Rejuvenation Technologies

Now, cosmetic Fractional Skin Rejuvenation or Fractional Laser Skin Resurfacing has evolved and eliminated many of the previous technologies shortcomings. The new erbium lasers are ‘fractionated’ into tiny micro-lasers, treating only a small portion of the skin (think tiny pin pricks) and leaving surrounding skin completely intact, greatly improving healing times.

The ‘fractionated’ treatment areas called micro-treatment zones, cause enough injury to the skin to trigger new collagen production and is used to replace collagen damaged by aging and sun exposure. The new collagen that is produced ‘fills in’ or ‘plumps up’ the underlying tissue and smoothes out skin wrinkles. The untreated skin between the micro treatment zones speeds the healing process to a mere 3-4 days and leaves most of the pigment cells intact, preventing hypo pigmentation.

Starlux 1540: Palomars New Fractional Non-Ablative Laser Resurfacing Technology

The Fraxel and Starlux1540 are non ablative lasers (ablate means to “surgically remove) which means that the skin is not removed by the laser, rather the laser beam instantly heats the skin, causing inflammation and new collagen growth.

With these new treatments, skin laxity and wrinkle smoothing results are less dramatic than with ablative lasers, but the benefit of reduced recovery time and reduced side effects mean that non ablative laser treatments are often the first choice.

Starlux Fractional Ablative Laser Resurfacing In The Near Future

New fractional ablative lasers have recently been developed that provide the benefits of fractional treatments (less down time and reduced complications) as well as the benefits of ablative skin resurfacing (better wrinkle removal and facial rejuvenation).

These Starlux 2940 fractional ablative lasers remove tissue in the micro treatment zone instead of just heating the dermis like the old Fraxel or Starlux 1540.

The benefit of Starlux 2940 fractional ablative laser treatments is that a greater amount of wrinkled and sun damaged skin can be removed than with the older laser technologies, and with a better medical result. There is some minor increase in recovery time with redness for around 5-6 days. Still, the Starlux 2940 fractional ablative lasers require much less recovery time than the old non fractional erbium and CO2 ablative lasers.

Competing Fractional Laser Technologies

Reliant: CO2 fractional laser called Repair

Lumenis: CO2 fractional ablative lasers called ActiveFX & DeepFx

Palomar now has the Starlux 2940 Erbium fractional ablative skin resurfacing laser.

Medical Spa MD is a community of Plastic Surgeons, Cosmetic Dermatologists, and Aesthetic Physicians with more than 3,500 members. Medical Spa MD offers Medical Esthetician Training and provides information on non-surgical cosmetic medical technologies and treatments.

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Is click fraud costing your laser clinic? If you’re one of the tens of thousands of cosmetic medical practices, medical spas and laser clinics advertising online with Google Adwords, it’s likely that at least some of the money you’re paying every month is sucked out of your marketing fund by click fraud.

The practice of “click fraud” began in the early days of the Internet with software programs that automatically surfed Web sites to increase traffic. This led companies to develop policing technologies touted as antidotes to the problem. (Some marketing executives estimate that up to 20%t of fees in certain advertising categories continue to be based on nonexistent consumers.)

Don’t think it’s already happening to your skin clinic, med spa or laser clinic? It is. Here’s a quote from Michael Caruso, CEO of click fraud services vendor ClickFacts in an interview:

“In particularly fraud prone verticals such as finance, class action lawsuits and medical, we see click fraud rates in the 30 to 45 perecent range. These are all categories that see high keyword pricing in the auction model. That makes them particularly tasty for click fraud artists. If you can make more money from the dark side than the light side of search, there are plenty of people who will take advantage. Plus, it’s not even technically illegal yet.”

There are two ways that your medical spas and laser clinics marketing budget is losing to click fraud:

First, your skin clinics and medical spas competitors who see your ad are simply clicking on it, draining your marketing budget and costing you advertising dollars. Second, fraudsters set up ‘affiliate sites’ that run skin clinics ads where they are clicked on by bots or employees. (These sites are the most damaging since you’re paying for every click without any return at all. Click fraud around skin clinics, med spas or laser clinics can be very lucrative since dermatology or plastic surgery clinics are becoming such a competitive market and the payment per click can be as high as $4-6.)

Unfortunately, to keep your budget safe you have very few tools. Google just gave advertisers $90 million to compensate for click fraud as the result of a class action suit but you can bet they’re not that Google’s not interested in your individual account. Especially since they’re making money from click fraud when your ads are clicked on.

Start by limiting your laser clinics exposure. If your dermatology or plastic surgery clinic is still running an Adwords or Yahoo campaign, they allow you to limit the maximum amount you spend in a day. Take advantage of this feature by limiting your maximum cost to what you can afford to spend. You can also look for the tracks of click fraud by examining the reports you might have available to you. Multiple clicks coming from the same IP address are a sure sign of fraud.

(Malaysia has become such a haven for click fraud around medspas and IPL laser treatments.)

If you’re going to run search ads, try to protect your skin clinic, med spa or laser clinic. You can be sure that you’re the only one trying to.

Medical Spa MD is a physician community of Plastic Surgeons, Cosmetic Dermatologists, and Physicians with more than 4,000 physician members. Visit MedicalSpaMD.com for plastic surgeon and cosmetic dermatologist forums and provides patient and physician information on non-surgical cosmetic medical technologies and treatments.

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