Levulan
Photodynamic Therapy - Acne Skin Care Treatment
Acne Skin Care treatments using Levulan Photodynamic Therapy
(PDT) is the
most recent advance in acne therapy. Photodynamic
acne therapy involves the application of Levulan ( 5-aminolevulinic
acid), a photosensitizing agent, which is then activated with blue-light.
This results in significant improvement in moderate to severe cystic
acne.
Blue Light Levulan acne treatment involves
three mechanisms of action against acne. Levulan treatment inactivates
the bacteria that trigger acne, exfoliates the skin to unclog pores,
and the most exciting mechanism is that levulan treatment shuts down
the sebaceous glands in the skin. This is exciting because sebaceous
glands are the root cause in the formation of acne so it has a long
lasting effect even on severe acne.
Levulan acne therapy can even work in patients who have failed accutane.
Accutane also targets the sebaceous gland but accutane has fairly
toxic side effects. Levulan is a very safe alternative to accutane
treatment.
Levulan
Photodynamic Therapy - Skin Rejuvenatuion
Photorejuvenation
using intense pulsed light (IPL) is now the gold standard of non-ablative
skin treatments. The most recent advance in photorejuvenation is
photodynamic therapy (PDT) combined with IPL, known as photodynamic
skin rejuvenation. Photodynamic skin rejuvenation involves the application
of Levulan, a photosensitizing agent, which is then activated with
IPL and blue-light. This results in significant improvement in precancerous
conditions such as AKs, actinically damaged skin, sun damaged skin,
moderate to severe cystic acne and potentially superficial skin cancers.
Additionally it improves wrinkles, pore size, skin texture, pigmentation,
rosacea, sebaceous hyperplasia, and potentially prevents the development
of skin cancer. Levulan is revolutionizing how we perform skin rejuvenation
and how we treat sun damaged skin.
Levulan Photodynamic
Therapy for:
Procedure:
-
A nurse or aesthetician
will apply the medicine.
-
After 1-2 hours levulan will be activated
with IPL (intense pluse light) and/or blue-light.
-
You may be given an anesthetic
topical cream applied prior to the light exposure.
-
You
will be given special goggles to wear to protect
your eyes during the treatment.
-
During the treatment you may feel
stinging, tingling, prickling, or burning of the lesions, but
this should go away after the treatment.
-
You should stay out
of the sun and bright light as much as possible for the next
48 hours
-
The skin will turn red and swollen in the following 3-7 days
-
Some crusting may be noted
-
There should be some discomfort,
but no significant pain.
-
After 1 week, there might be some residual
redness that will subside
after a few days and can be covered with make up.
|
Extensive actinic keratoses and photodamage treated with 1-hour
application of ALA followed by IPL at conventional photorejuvenation
parameters of 2.4 msec - 4.0 msec double pulse, 10 msec delay, 32
J/cm2. Photos courtesy of Mitchel P. Goldman, M.D. |