ABSTRACT
Photorejuvenation is the process whereby light or other energy sources are utilized to reverse the process of photo- or sun-induced aging or environmental damage to the skin. Nonablative photorejuvenation accomplishes this without disturbance of the overlying epidermis. Dermal remodeling without epidermal injury evolved further from initial observations with the use of the pulsed dye laser for treatment of surface telangiectasia, but with a secondary effect of skin textural smoothing. A histologic study was reported on the preauricular cheek of 10 patients who were biopsied following one to three laser passes of dynamically cooled millisecond domain Nd:YAG 1320 nm laser. Primary effects of radio frequency energy on living tissue are considered to be thermal. Paradoxically, hair growth was observed in patients with dark skin and black hair following alexandrite laser therapy. Laser therapy may result in a synchronization of hair cycles and hair in the anagen phase change to telogen phase.
