Tag Archives: skin care

Save with Dr. Whiteman’s Southern Plastic Surgery Feature Procedure

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Save with Dr. Whiteman’s Southern Plastic Surgery Feature Procedure

Be sure to take advantage of saving opportunities this month at Southern Plastic Surgery. Dr. David Whiteman has extended his feature procedure and will be offering a free site of liposuction with the purchase of a tummy tuck through July 31st, 2012. Additionally, Allergan has also extended their breast implant special, so if you are interested in breast augmentation, now is the perfect time to schedule. By choosing Allergan’s Natrelle® gel breast implants, you can receive up to 20 free units of Botox® or free Latisse®. See the flyer below for more details, and don’t forget about monthly skin care specials from Laser Lights.

Start Caring for Skin Sooner: Skin Care Tips for Teens

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It’s human nature to want to look our best, and you may even remember a time when looking your best didn’t require as much work. Although teenagers and people in their 20s can often get by with a minimalist’s skin care routine, taking care of skin early in life will help keep it looking great longer. While we often share tips for skin rejuvenation and restoring a youthful look, we would like to use this blog to encourage healthy skin care habits beginning at a young age.

Summer is the perfect time for teens and pre-teens to begin practicing a regular skin care routine since it can be difficult to make time for skin care when school’s in session. Although teenagers are often very concerned with acne and their appearance overall, they do not always take steps to control it because many simply do not know where to start. It is important to understand that your skin’s condition is as unique as you, so products that work for one person may not help someone else. No matter what type of skin care products you choose, there are certain steps that should be taken daily for better skin no matter what your age.

It’s important to wash your face at least twice daily. If you have teenagers, start by buying them a generic over-the-counter facial cleanser that is gentle on skin. Do not teach teens to pop pimples or pick at acne as doing so can lead to unsightly scars. Using a toner or astringent after washing the face can further benefit the skin by helping to balance PH levels. Teens usually benefit from products containing salicylic acid and glycolic acid that target acne-causing sebum without irritating the skin.

The most important skin care tip for young people is ALWAYS WEAR SUNSCREEN and AVOID TANNING BEDS! Not only does sun damage cause uneven pigmentation, melasma, and eventually wrinkles, but it can also cause skin cancer. We recommend using SPF 30 sunscreen daily and reapplying often. You can even go a step further in caring for your skin by choosing a mineral makeup with SPF included to wear over sunscreen for added protection.

If you have teenagers, it’s important to teach them how to take care of their skin, but it’s also important to know when it’s time to seek help. If your child’s skin conditions do not respond to over-the-counter treatments, take them to a professional. A dermatologist may prescribe topical or oral medications to treat active condition(s), but certain concerns may also be helped with cosmetic skin treatments. Microdermabrasion and certain chemical peels and facials can improve the appearance of uneven pigmentation, acne, and acne scarring, and patients with severe acne may benefit from acne light therapy.

Acne light therapy uses photodynamic therapy (PDT) to eliminate acne by shrinking over-active oil glands, killing bacteria within pores, and regulating skin cell turnover. Unlike harmful UV rays, PDT uses a blue light source that does not damage the skin. During treatment, a photosynthesizing agent is applied to the treatment area and is activated by the light source. Although patients notice results in one treatment, most patients receive multiple treatments over several weeks for optimal results. In fact, some patients choose to alternate between acne light treatments and chemical peels for even clearer skin.

The providers of Laser Lights know how important it is to teach children healthy skin care habits because the better they take care of their skin during youth, the better it looks down the road. If you’re interested in learning more about what Laser Lights has to offer, visit our website or schedule a pre-treatment consultation or appointment today. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for skin care news and updates.

Just a Feel Good Treatment? Face the Facial

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Laser Lights offers an assortment of facial treatments to improve overall condition of facial skin. Our menu of services for the face includes chemical peels, facials, microdermabrasion, facial rejuvenation, acne light therapy, and even laser treatments for the face. However, we have heard a rumor circulating that facials are just a “feel good” treatment. Offering an assortment of facials for patients of all ages, we thought we should explain some of the different elements that make our facials much more than just a good wash.

Facials at Laser Lights are therapeutic and medicated to treat a variety of skin conditions from acne and rosacea to wrinkles and hyperpigmentation. In fact, we can even customize our facials to treat your specific skin conditions. Before each treatment our esthetician analyzes your skin to determine the best treatment regimen, which isn’t always a facial. However, these “feel good” treatments are much stronger than most people think.

Our younger patients who still suffer acne breakouts can benefit from our acne facial that loosens and removes pore debris and blockages. We can’t lie, Atlanta facial treatments do feel good, starting with an esthetician who gently cleans the face then sprays the treatment area with a warm mist. Once the medicated ointment is applied and removed, the treatment concludes with a clarifying mask, light moisturizer, and protective mineral sunscreen. With a clearer complexion in the weeks following, you will know that there is more to a facial than just relaxation. Patients who are interested in our acne facial may also be interested in the teen facial (which also teaches teens to properly care for their skin) and our back facial (which takes care of acne breakouts on the back often referred to as “backne”).

Laser Lights also offers facials to reduce early signs of aging. Patients starting to notice fine lines and wrinkles around the mouth, nose, and eyes can benefit from our anti-aging facial that uses a combination of alpha and beta hydroxyl (salicylic) acids to induce skin cell rejuvenation. Because of the chemicals used, the anti-aging facial can cause facial skin to appear flushed, so those with sensitive skin might prefer our European facial. This gentle treatment removes dead skin and surface debris and includes the application of a papaya mask to reduce redness and irritation. We also offer a facial specifically designed for men. This all-in-one men’s facial relieves tension and redness, and our estheticians instruct patients on sun damage protection and daily skin care.

Pore extractions are often combined with facials, but other treatments may be recommended as well. For instance, we often suggest that patients suffering acne alternate facial treatments and acne light therapy to get the most out of treatment. Patients who receive facials are often interested in skin care products so that they can keep their skin healthy at home.

Visit our website to learn more about the other skin care services we offer like our laser treatments. Keep reading our blog and stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+  for skin care news and updates.

Take Advantage of Southern Plastic Surgery’s Featured Procedure

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Through the end of February, you can take advantage of Southern Plastic Surgery’s featured procedure. Receive a free mini breast lift when you purchase a breast augmentation  with Dr. David Whiteman. See the details below or contact Southern Plastic Surgery to learn more!

laser lights

Love to Save? Don’t Miss Our February 2012 Specials at Laser Lights

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During the month of February 2012, Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center is offering discounts on a variety of skin care services. Take advantage of specials on laser hair removal, laser spider vein reduction, Viora Reaction™ skin tightening, CO2 fractionated laser treatment, Vi Peel, and massages. See the flyer below for more details, and don’t forget that we have laser service and massage gift certificates available for purchase.  All offers expire February 29, 2012.

Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center Explains the Science behind Tattoo Removal

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Atlanta Laser Tattoo RemovalAccording to a study performed by the National Institutes of Health, around a quarter of all adults in the United States have at least one tattoo.  Many people wonder why tattoo pigments aren’t absorbed by the body like when you get a shot at the doctor.  While the concept is vaguely similar—using a needle to inject a substance into the body—the tattoo machine was actually designed more like a printer that engraves words into hard surfaces.

A modern tattoo machine pushes a solid needle (as opposed to a hypodermic/hollow needle) up and down through the skin between 50 to 3,000 times a minute. Penetrating the skin approximately a millimeter, the insoluble pigment is injected into the dermis, or second layer of the skin. While the outer layers of the epidermis are constantly shedding, the cells in the dermis are more durable which means the pigment remains permanent.

The aforementioned study also found that, of those with tattoos, up to 50% were dissatisfied with their ink and 17% were considering having them removed.  Among other laser skin treatments, Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center offers laser tattoo removal in Duluth, GA (outside of Atlanta).

Using a specialized tattoo removal laser, our certified and licensed medical staff can help you remove any tattoos that you may regret or no longer want.  The treatment works by targeting laser energy to the specific tattoo pigments. Penetrating the layers of skin, the laser breaks up the permanent ink into particles small enough for the body to easily absorb them. From there, the immune system rids the body of the pigments.

While this process seems easy enough, depending on the size and color of the tattoo (as rated by the Kirby-Desai tattoo removal scale) tattoo removal can take multiple treatments. Some pigments are harder to remove so complete removal isn’t guaranteed, though our treatments can significantly diminish the appearance of unwanted tattoos.

For more information on Atlanta laser tattoo removal or other laser skin treatments, contact our office. You can also stay up to date on the latest Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center news by connecting with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Managing Rosacea in the Winter Months

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Rosacea treatment AtlantaRosacea can be a difficult skin condition to live with. Individualized to each person, rosacea can appear in different ways, and flare ups are caused by different triggers for each individual. Most common in fair-skinned individuals ages 30-50, rosacea appears most often in women (though is usually more severe when it does appear in men).

Winter months can be especially trying on those with rosacea. Individuals with trigger factors related to weather or temperature changes can experience flare-ups during the cooler times. Many people (even those who don’t suffer from rosacea) forget to wear a broad spectrum SPF 30 sunscreen during the winter months. Because the lower temperatures aren’t making us sweat, we often forget how long we’ve been outdoors or think we don’t need sunscreen. This is especially important for individuals with rosacea because sun exposure can be a trigger.

Along the same lines, extreme weather conditions can also cause discomfort in rosacea sufferers. Harsh winds and extreme cold can cause flare-ups. Surprisingly, though, so can being indoors for relief from the cold. While sitting by a roaring fire or soaking in a hot bath may sound comforting, exceedingly warm environments can also increase blood flow to the face causing flushing and other uncomfortable symptoms.

While there is no cure for rosacea, there are treatment options to help reduce the symptoms associated with rosacea including visible veins in the face, acne-like breakouts, persistent redness, and inflammation. Laser treatments at Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center include treatments for facial redness and rosacea. Using pulsed dye lasers to target enlarged blood vessels, laser treatment destroys the capillaries allowing the body to absorb them naturally. Laser treatment can resolve issues like the embarrassing flushing and redness associated with rosacea.

For more information on handling rosacea or laser rosacea treatments, contact our office in Duluth, GA (just north of Atlanta).  You can also keep up to date on the latest events and skincare news by connecting with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Southern Plastic Surgery’s Breast Surgery Specials in Best Self

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Dr. David Whiteman was featured in Best Self Atlanta‘s December issue with Southern Plastic Surgery‘s featured special on Mini Breast Lift and Breast Augmentation surgery. Check out the details below and contact Southern Plastic Surgery to take advantage of this great offer.

Atlanta Breast Augmentation and Lift Special

Chemical Peels Can Help Skin Glow All Winter Long

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As the warm weather turns cool, our skin conditions change. You may begin to notice that your “healthy” summer glow is fading to reveal patches of irregular pigmentation. Aside from that, your skin is probably turning dry in the colder weather, but don’t let the weather get you down. Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center offers plenty of solutions for treating various skin conditions all year long.  If you keep up with our blog, you already know that procedures like laser hair removal, laser tattoo removal, and even laser skin resurfacing are great for these colder months, but we’d like to highlight some of our non-laser treatments that will keep your skin looking great this winter.

Chemical peels are perfect for reducing mild imperfections (like sun damage and melasma), minimizing wrinkles, and restoring collagen production. Our licensed estheticians will perform a pre-skin treatment consultation prior to your peel to help determine which of our chemical peels will produce the results you’re after and complement your skin type. Once we’ve determined the type of chemical peel to perform, one of our experienced, licensed estheticians will apply a chemical solution to the outer layer of skin, which will cause the damaged outer layer of skin to be slowly eliminated over the following days (up to a week of peeling). Downtime is minimal, but we do suggest you use SPF 30 sunscreen prior to being in the sun after having a chemical peel to avoid sun damage and hyperpigmentation to newly rejuvenated skin.

We offer a variety of chemical peels that treat various skin types. People who suffer from acne, mild hyperpigmentation, rough skin and a busy lifestyle might choose our Fruit Acid Peel since it requires no downtime, while those looking to correct fine lines, melasma, or acne scarring may choose the Glycolic or Jessner’s Peel. Other types of chemical peels you’ll find on our menu are our Mandelic Peel, Salicylic Peel, and TCA Peel (Trichloroacetic Acid Peel), but we’d like to specially introduce the newest chemical peel we offer: Vi Peel.

Not only does the Vi Peel minimize sun damage, clear most acne, reduce acne scars and pigmentation problems, and smooth fine lines and wrinkles, but it actually stimulates collagen and elastin production to promote tighter, more youthful skin. With minimal downtime, you can expect the outer layer of skin to peel for up to a week to reveal refreshed, younger-looking skin. If you purchase a Vi Peel from Laser Lights before November 30th, 2011, you will receive one Vi Peel for free, so schedule your treatment today.

Laser Lights offers plenty of other treatments to care for your skin and keep you looking your best like our new Viora Reaction™ skin tightening (face & body), microdermabrasion, hand rejuvenation, and more. Be sure to take a look at our website to learn more about the services we offer. Also connect with us on Facebook and Twitter for updates on skincare news and specials.

Save on Your Favorite Cosmetic Treatments with Our December 2011 Specials

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Do you need a little help with your list this year? Whether you’re looking for yourself or to give a gift to someone else, beauty is always on everyone’s list! December is the perfect time to take advantage of specials on our most popular cosmetic services.

With discounts on laser hair removal and laser spider vein elimination, you can have smooth and beautiful skin in plenty of time for warmer weather next year. We’re also offering FREE Reaction™ skin tightening treatments with the purchase of 3- or 6-treatment packages (see below for more details).

If you’re looking for glowing holiday skin, take advantage of our deals on Fotofacial skin rejuvenation and the newest addition to our services menu, the Vi Peel. If the hustle and bustle of family gatherings and get-togethers with friends has you stressed, look into our massage packages.

We also have gift certificates available so you can give the gift of beauty and relaxation this holiday season. Contact our office for more information or to schedule your holiday treatment today! We’re also on Facebook and Twitter with the latest in beauty and cosmetic laser news, so make certain to follow us to stay up to date!  All offers below expire December 31, 2011.

Laser Skin Resurfacing with CO2 Fractional (Fraxel) Laser Technology Erases Imperfections

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If you came to Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center to have a wart removed from your knee, you might find it strange if we treated your entire leg. The original CO2 lasers used for laser skin resurfacing weren’t fractionated, so instead of targeting specific skin imperfections, the lasers treated the entire face equally. That means, even if you had rosacea and melasma only on your cheeks, your whole face would be treated with the exact same frequency. Luckily, today’s fractionated laser technology can specifically treat skin imperfections without the dreaded line of demarcation between treated and untreated skin.

If you keep up with our blog, you know the importance of quality laser equipment. Since Laser Lights is co-owned by Dr. David Whiteman of Southern Plastic Surgery, we are able to house the highest quality, medical grade lasers. Equally important to laser equipment is a highly trained laser technician as risks associated with laser skin treatments decrease significantly when performed by properly trained technicians. Details such as these are of utmost importance in facial laser treatments as well as procedures like laser tattoo removal and laser hair removal.

So you may be thinking, why CO2 Fraxel? What makes this laser treatment so different? You can get Botox® or Dysport® injected into muscles that cause wrinkles to relax and smooth lines away. You can also be treated with cosmetic injectables like Juvèderm®, Restylane®, and Perlane® to plump areas of lost volume and fill in wrinkles. Treatments like microdermabrasion and chemical peels can help correct conditions like sun damage, uneven pigmentation, and other surface imperfections. Although these are all great treatments for isolated cosmetic issues, CO2 Fraxel is most effective for overall facial rejuvenation, or those patients who exhibit multiple signs of aging like sun damage, skin texture irregularities, and blotchiness. This technology penetrates deeply into the layers of the skin that are untreatable with the softer facial rejuvenation procedures mentioned above to improve the overall surface texture of skin and help new, healthy youthful skin cells reproduce. Not only will you feel a difference in the firmness of your skin shortly after treatment, but once your skin heals (typically about one week after the treatment) you will no longer see fine lines, red spots, brown spots, or other blemishes.

Patients who are searching for a lighter facial laser treatment may be interested in our Erbium laser, which does not penetrate as deeply into the layers of skin as our CO2 fractionated laser. While CO2 fractionated laser treatment can improve many skin conditions, the procedure’s appropriateness will depend on the individual cosmetic needs of the patient. Schedule a consultation to determine which cosmetic skin service will best meet your needs. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook and Twitter for updates on our monthly specials.

Kirby-Desai Scale Helps Atlanta Laser Tattoo Removal Patients Predict Treatment Time and Results

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Laser Lights cosmetic laser centerLaser tattoo removal is an intriguing process to most individuals, and like a tattoo each procedure is individualized based on the person and the ink they’d like to remove. Because laser tattoo removal works through light, there are important factors in predicting its effectiveness on any particular person’s tattoos. While most tattoos can be removed successfully, the number of treatments required to eliminate a tattoo completely vary as well as the type of laser used.

The creators of a proposed scale for tattoo removal called the Kirby-Desai Scale hope to help laser technicians and doctors to efficiently determine the most effective way and the number of sessions needed to remove any tattoo—regardless of size, color, or shape.

The Kirby-Desai Scale focuses on 6 major elements to determine the effectiveness of tattoo removal: a person’s Fitzpatrick skin type, the tattoo’s location on the body, the tattoo pigment color, the amount of ink in the tattoo (or size), the amount of scarring or tissue change, and whether the tattoo is layered. Each element is assigned a score from 1 to 5.

For example, we’ll say a man has a full-color, completely filled-in tattoo of a tiger on his chest that covers the pectoral muscle that he’d like to remove. A person with light skin is 2 points on the scale, and a tattoo on the chest is 2 points. A tattoo with multiple colors is 4 points, and if the size/amount of ink is moderate, that’s 3 points. The application of a tattoo that caused no scarring is 0 points, and the tattoo wasn’t layered over another tattoo, which is 0 points.

The points are then added together, in the case of our tiger man 11 points, and that number is used to determine the number of laser tattoo removal sessions required to eliminate that tattoo completely. So, tiger man would need somewhere around 8 sessions to get rid of his inked cat.

This scale can be useful to the tattoo removal specialist for obvious reasons, but can be helpful to the patient as well. Being able to plan out the number of tattoo removal sessions allows patients to schedule the removal sessions within their agenda, budget for the appropriate number of procedures, and prepare themselves adequately for the process because they’ll know what to expect from laser tattoo removal.

The originators of the Kirby-Desai tattoo removal scale hope to bring certainty to patients in an effort to help doctors educate their patients completely before them embark on the tattoo removal process.

Make sure to check out our laser tattoo removal before and after gallery for pictures of results we’ve gotten at Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center in Duluth.

Contact us for more information on tattoo removal and other laser services at Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center. You can also keep up with our news and updates by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

Pick to Treat Yourself for a Change with Laser Lights’ October 2011 Specials!

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Don’t forget to take advantage of our October 2011 specials on laser hair removal, laser vein removal, Latisse® for eyelashes, and more.  All offers below expire October 31, 2011.

Laser Lights Cosmetic Laser Center