After eighteen at-home laser treatments with the PaloVia Skin Renewing hand-held laser, a little over halfway through the 30 days of treatment, I still don’t see much change, but something is happening. Click here to see how I started out on my journey.
As I wrote in my second blog on the PaloVia laser, the texture of the skin where my “crow’s feet” wrinkles gather into creases is changing a bit. It’s a little more rough than at day 5, but not unsightly by any means; it still has the look of being gently sanded (but not polished). The deepest wrinkle on each side doesn’t seem much affected, and I wonder if that’s because it’s harder for the hand-held laser screen to lay flat in the crease area between my browbone and cheekbone. We shall see.
What I really want to do is use the laser on my forehead wrinkles, which are much deeper and more noticeable than the fine lines around my eyes. I asked one of the PaloVia experts why the laser is not FDA-approved for other areas of the face.
The reply: PaloVia chose to address eye-area wrinkles because they are one of the first tell-tale signs of aging and are a common concern for many women; this was confirmed by a commissioned survey of 542 women over 40. In fact, the PaloVia laser was safety-tested with hundreds of clinical study participants, who were given more than 7,500 eye-area treatments.
More clinical studies would have to be completed and submitted for FDA approval before the at-home hand-held PaloVia laser can be used on other areas of the face. Perhaps deeper wrinkles require a more intense laser beam or more frequent applications. I don’t know.
It is reassuring that my PaloVia laser uses the same, patented non-ablative fractional lasertechnology that doctors use on their patients, although adapted and FDA-cleared for at-home use. “Nonablative” means the outer layer of skin stays in place. “Fractional” means only a small portion of the skin is treated with each application of light or laser “stamp.”
What the laser light is doing is generating short pulses of micro-fine laser light that penetrate into the skin's sub-layers, treating the skin¹s aging support structure. The body's natural healing process sweeps away older, damaged tissue and rebuilds the skin¹s support structure with fresh, new collagen and elastin - the crucial building blocks of smooth, youthful skin. For a more visual explanation, visit Palovia and check out the videos link on their homepage.
A similar fractional treatment in a doctor’s office might cost around $1,200 per visit, by the way, with multiple visits required. At $499, the PaloVia laser is less than half the cost of just one professional treatment.
I’m curious to see what the ultimate results are.
Judy Kirkwood has written about beauty and spas fo ThirdAge and Healing Lifestyles.
