There are many known benefits to treating scars with Laser Genesis (Cutera 1064 Nd: YAG laser) as the treatment helps to restructure collagen which is generally “disorganized” in scar tissue. Recently, I combined Laser Genesis with the Cutera Limelight IPL Photofacial for a patient’s surgical scar (post skin cancer reconstruction), and observed a remarkable result. Normally, Limelight is used to treat “reds” and “browns” in the skin, and because the patient’s scar still had redness that was making it more noticeable, we decided to use Limelight immediately following treatment with Laser Genesis in order to help lessen the redness. The combination of the two treatments is “two dimensional” in nature as it utilizes both Laser Genesis and Limelight to address different aspects of a scar, such as textural irregularities and color differences. Ultimately, the combined treatments produced collagen “remodeling” and redness reduction, which greatly improved the appearance of the patient’s scar.
The patient was extremely pleased with the result of the treatment. Before undergoing the two dimensional laser treatment, the patient had previously tried many other treatments aimed to improve the appearance of the scar, including several sessions of Laser Genesis (without Limelight), one dermabrasion treatment, one fractionated CO2 laser treatment, and a number of scattered PDT (photodynamic therapy) treatments for pre-existing actinic keratoses (“pre-cancers”). The patient stated that they observed the best result to date in terms of the diminished appearance of the scar with the two dimensional laser treatment. As well, the patient stated that others agreed that they observed the most improvement in the patient’s scar following the two dimensional laser treatment. It is possible that there was a cumulative effect of the various, previous treatments which together contributed to the patient’s observed improvement, but the patient also stated that they had never observed so much improvement immediately following any of the previous, alternative treatments as they had with the two dimensional laser treatment.
Providers and patients generally observe better results from Laser Genesis combined with Limelight than from the lasers individually as together they can target more skin conditions which makes the overall result much greater. The fact that the aforementioned patient observed a greater result with the two dimensional laser treatment than with several Laser Genesis treatments alone further illustrates this point. Limelight may also produce a small amount of collagen stimulation which would add to the collagen stimulating effects of Laser Genesis. As stated before, Limelight is generally only used when discoloration or redness is present, as its ability to reduce color irregularities is much greater than its ability to stimulate collagen. Therefore, if a patient does not have erythema (redness) around a scar, it may not be in the patient’s best interest to use the IPL in addition to Laser Genesis, as Limelight is not normally indicated for other purposes beyond treating pigmentation irregularities. As has been shown above, the two dimensional laser treatment can be a great option for helping with the overall appearance of scars when they have textural irregularities and redness. Treating scars is often difficult, and finding a new, effective modality is a discovery patients and providers alike can be excited about.
