- Title: USA: LASER PIGMENTATION TREATMENT
- Date: 25th June 2001
- Summary: VARIOUS PHOTOGRAPHS OF PATIENT BEFORE LASER PIGMENTATION TREATMENT
- Embargoed: 10th July 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health,Science
- Reuters ID: LVABMFTGD4BVLRS0WARIEZLYAPIU
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- Story Text: People conscious of white scars on their face or body now have the option of a new treatment to turn their skin back to their original colour. Laser pigmentation is a painless, quick and easy procedure which after a few treatments can make a scar almost invisible. It's the first time an effective treatment has been found for this condition.
A leading American laser surgeon, Dr. Roy Geronemus, has just found a safe and effective procedure to make white scars on their face or body almost invisible. The treatment is said to work to significant degrees in most patients and his results are published in the June edition of "Dermatology".
The laser works by stimulating the body's own pigment cells. Treatment is continued until the pigment is bought back to the same colour as the rest of the skin. It can be used on variety of conditions, including white scars from surgery, burns, whitening of the skin after cosmetic surgery, called leukoderma and on the disease vitiligo. Vitiligo is a condition which causes patches of the skin to turn white.
"It just feels a tiny bit warm and that's all and it's very very quick,"
said Isabel Carden, a patient at the laser and skin surgery centre of New York.
Dr. Roy Geronemus said that his study concluded that all patients skin darkened by 75 percent after laser pigmentation.
"This laser works by stimulating ones own pigment cells to create more pigment. So where one has lost colour the colour can return to a much more natural colour," he said.
Laser pigmentation also works on all skin colours, although black skin may need a few more treatments. It's a new procedure and so it is not yet known how long the pigmentation effects last. So far, patients who received laser treatment six months ago have not needed any top up therapies, but doctors say it is too early to predict whether effects of laser pigmentation will last a life time.
Each session costs around $300, and anything between 4 and 12 sessions are needed depending on the individual patient. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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