Photo Facial – IPL Therapy

Our practice has the leading edge broad spectrum light technology for office treatment of vascular/pigmented lesions, rosacea, aging/wrinkled sun-damaged skin, mild to moderate acne and hyperpigmentation. The ORION HARMONY™ with Advanced Fluorescence Technology (AFT) Laser/Light system is one of the best innovations in skin technology for “no-downtime” cosmetic skin improvement. Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) with generic treatment names like Photo Facial or Photo Rejuvenation has been used on over 10 million people. The HARMONY uses a patented form of intense, broad spectrum light technology called Advanced Fluorescence Technology (AFT). AFT technology represents an advance over Intense Pulsed Light and it can restore a more youthful appearance with no down time, little discomfort and minimal to no risk.

The HARMONY AFT System delivers unique flashes of light to the skin. The clear, rectangular tip of the handpiece creates a warm flash of bright light energy to about two square inches of skin. The flash lasts for less than one-tenth of a second, and successive flashes are delivered every three seconds. This bright light is scientifically tailored to cause the destruction of unsightly spider veins, unwanted infiltrates, like certain bacteria and microorganisms, and damaged cells that signal sun damage. This destruction is relatively easy to accomplish with the right type of light, is extremely safe, and normal skin is not affected.

The light heats the epidermis less than older technologies but enough to activate the skin's fibroblasts to grow extra collagen, the wrinkle-filling material. The light from the HARMONY will reduce unwanted redness, brownness and acne, and bring a younger appearance to the skin…but only partially each time the skin is treated. Most often, 3-5 treatments are needed, with treatments done once every 4-6 weeks. After each session you should experience improvement of skin tone, texture, clarity, uniformity and/or color.

Each treatment takes 1-20 minutes, with each area of skin receiving one or two pulses. The pulses feel like a warm rubber band snapping against your skin. Some patients experience mild discomfort and a topical anesthetic can be used. Following each treatment the skin may appear red and flushed for up to 3 hours, and/or brown spots may turn much darker over the course of one day. However, redness usually disappears within 45 minutes after the treatment, and brown spots fade or disappear over the course of 8-10 days. Mild lower eyelid swelling can occur if the upper nose and cheeks are treated; cool compresses can reduce this condition.
Though five treatments are normally performed, you will experience improvement after each session. Improvements are gradual and accumulate with each successive session.

Also, simple telangiectasia (spider veins or red lines) treatments, as well as treatment of brown spots and leg veins, usually require only two or three office visits. The benefits you can expect from the ORION Harmony (AFT) System include:

  • Reduction of pore size, fine lines, skin pigmentation, redness and acne breakouts
  • Improvement of skin tone, clarity, smoothness and nearly any skin imperfection
  • Erasure of spider veins and vascular lesions
  • Rejuvenation of aging facial and hand skin

Our talented esthetician-cosmetologist, Nancy Logue, has had a great deal of experience with the HARMONY technology, treating several hundred patients and skin types. Many of you have already had facial rejuvenation procedures by her and appreciate her expertise. For men with these types of skin conditions, the ORION HARMONY AFT system is also very effective.

Although we prefer the HARMONY for the above conditions, we continue to use the DIOLITE laser for large vessels of the nose and cheeks. These unsightly vascular lesions can be treated and removed with one or two treatments.