Selecting Laser Genesis OR DOT Therapy Lasers and what they can do for your skin concerns

During a skin consultation, your Injecting Clinician or Dermal Clinician can help you select the right treatment to best address your particular skin concerns. They can help you choose between some of the best non-surgical facial treatments. They’ll be able to help you consider which combinations of at-home and in-clinic skincare treatments will best treat your main skincare concern, e.g. dryness, lines or wrinkles, ageing, sunspots (aged spots or brown spots), Rosacea (redness), visible capillaries, freckles or uneven pigmentation, skin tags, facial scars or even acne. Two effective treatments for many skin conditions are LASER GENESIS and DOT Therapy. There’s also Fraxel and Healite II, popular treatments to help rejuvenate the skin, improve skin collagen and texture. So how will you know which one(s) to choose?

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Fortunately, the Dermal Clinicians at Coco Ruby are highly skilled in assessing skin conditions and which treatments will get you an optimal result.

Your Clinician will review your skin concerns, your medical history and your at-home care regimes to get a thorough picture of what might be aggravating your condition as well as what might help remedy your main concerns.

They achieve this by making several investigations into the condition of your skin at the start of any treatments, including:

assessing sun damage or pigmentation at the deeper layers of your skin using the REVEAL imaging system and/or a Woods’ lamp
asking about your medical and skincare history, including the effect of current medications and the impact these might be having on your skin
your overall skin laxity versus resiliency

Then, they will give you a few options for treatment approaches – allowing you to choose which ones you want to embark upon and which at-home treatment regimes you’re ready to begin for healthier-looking skin.

Fine lines and wrinkles? Our Clinicians can help with volume, lines, wrinkles and skin texture.

If you’re wanting to reduce fine lines or eye area wrinkles (crows feet), refine the texture of your skin after having experienced excessive sun exposure, or otherwise want to return your facial, neck, hands or decolletage skin to look a bit fuller, plumper or younger again, there are many options you can try from our Coco Ruby skin team.

But ideally, you’ll want to choose the one that is most suited for your primary skin concern, whether that’s reducing an aged spot, “filling in” and relaxing wrinkles or lines, or treating recurring acne breakouts.

Non-invasive skin treatments are all the rage at the moment.

Non-surgical approaches are favourites as they typically can be done with minimal downtime (depending on what you have done) and less risk to your skin and health than some other options, such as more complex facial rejuvenation procedures that involve fat transfer (fat grafting) or surgical intervention.

Opting for the right treatment for you can make all the difference – literally melting the years away in some cases. But in other cases, an incorrectly chosen treatment may not live up to your expectations and may make little to no obvious difference at all.

The key question about a skin treatment or laser treatment approach is: what do you want to achieve through Laser Genesis or DOT Therapy?

Some options include:

Reducing fine lines and wrinkles
Gaining smoother, tighter or firmer/plumper skin (a rejuvenating effect)
Softer looking, moist-looking skin that doesn’t look like crepe paper
Gaining a more taut appearance especially in the lower face or around the cheeks, jawline and eyes
Removal of scars or treatment for excess skin redness

Both Laser Genesis and DOT Therapy are effective and both are best for certain types of conditions and therapy.

Read on to discover which is best for your needs!

Laser Genesis

The Laser Genesis series of skin treatments focus on collagen stimulation and anti-ageing properties. This method utilises a non-ablative 1064 laser.

What is Laser Genesis treatment best for?

Laser Genesis is best for:

Treatment of fine lines
Helping lessen the appearance of facial wrinkles
Giving anti-ageing properties to the skin
Healing rosacea and other forms of facial redness
Sun damage (collagen strengthening and renewal of healthier-looking skin)
Minimizing enlarged pores (texture improvements)
Face, neck and décolletage rejuvenation or evening-out of pigmentation

How does Laser Genesis work?

Collagen stimulation is at the basis of how Laser Genesis operates for skin refinement. The treatment itself uses lasers (advanced, targeted light-based therapies) to delicately heat the upper dermis of the skin, activating its collagen-producing abilities.

The result of Laser Genesis treatments will often be a markedly improved skin appearance including a noticeable reduction of your fine lines and facial wrinkles.

Conditions such as rosacea and redness can also be managed through the lasers working on overly-dilated capillaries; thus causing tell-tale redness to be significantly reduced.

How many treatments of Laser Genesis will I need?

Optimal treatment lengths for Laser Genesis is typically between four to six sessions, usually over a duration of eight to twelve weeks. This treatment time frame allows your skin to renew itself in between sessions, giving you excellent results that are noticeable by the first or second treatment, and even more so by the third through fifth or sixth treatment. The benefits of Laser Genesis also continue for several months afterwards, when you’ll notice your skin looks better and better – so long as you take care of it properly at home and avoid additional sun damage.

What can I expect to feel during Laser Genesis treatments?

Laser Genesis is widely described as being a relaxing therapeutic experience, despite what the name suggests! Instead, the area being treated does feel like it is being gently warmed by a special laser handpiece used to administer the treatment. After the treatment, you can continue with your day as normal. You will need to take care to protect your skin from the sun and use sunscreen when outside, and refrain from wearing makeup. You may notice a very subtle redness after your treatment, but this will dissipate within a few hours.

DOT Therapy for Skin Rejuvenation, Wrinkle Reduction and Pore Refinement

DOT Therapy, on the other hand, is a system that uses an ablative fractional CO2 laser (remember that Laser Genesis is non-ablative, and the same is true of Fraxel, but that doesn’t mean they’re not effective). Laser Genesis has little to any downtime but Fraxel does have downtime – and so does DOT therapy. You might even have a week to 2 weeks or longer, where your face will look a bit red or swollen before settling down into fresher-looking skin.

What is DOT Therapy treatment best indicated to treat?

DOT Therapy is an alternative to Laser Genesis for some treatments, and also good for:

Generally improving skin texture
Removing wrinkles
Brown spots and hyperpigmentation
Severe acne-scarred skin

How does DOT Therapy work?

DOT therapy uses a fractional CO2 – a laser that remodels collagen by targeting minute microscopic areas of the skin. In essence, the laser light creates very tiny pinpoints in the skin. This ‘controlled skin stimulation’ helps encourage new collagen production and the reformation of the skin’s internal layers, thus giving a more dramatic improvement – but one seen over weeks and months rather than right away. For best results, you’ll need at least 2 and ideally 3 or more treatments, of differing intensities, and there WILL be downtime.

So you might choose DOT Therapy if you don’t mind a bit of downtime (swelling and redness and a requirement to avoid the sun like the plague).

The laser dots of this treatment penetrate and target the skin at levels that help to boost your collagen production, plus resurface the skin – for ultimate rejuvenation.

How many DOT treatments will I need?

Usually, 3 treatments of DOT Therapy is optimal, delivered at intervals of about 4 weeks to up to 6 weeks; plus occasional maintenance treatments (‘top-up’ treatments) from every 1 year to every 2 years, depending on your age, your skin health and how your skin responds to this treatment.

If you don’t mind the downtime of DOT Therapy (swelling, redness and peeling), and if you realise that prescription numbing agents can help make the treatment itself a bit less uncomfortable – you will LOVE the results.

DOT Therapy: What can I expect during the treatment itself?

Your clinician will apply micro-pulses of laser energy to your skin through a special handpiece. If you numb your face first, by coming in about 1 hour earlier than your appointment time and applying a prescription-strength topical anaesthetic cream (ask your Clinician about your pre-treatment options in advance), it’s typically not really uncomfortable. Without numbing cream it can be a bit painful, feeling like a temporary curling iron burn – but with numbing cream, the pain goes down to a 2 to 3 on a 10 point scale for most patients. Every patient IS different, however, so it might be different for you but most patients find it tolerable.

Acne scar treatments require quite a high setting, however, and these can sometimes be quite uncomfortable but the treatment is usually over quickly.

The recovery time from DOT Therapy is slightly longer than with Laser Genesis. You’ll typically want to apply cool packs for the first 24 hours or so after your treatment, and that night you may be uncomfortable. You’ll feel that your skin is warm, and you’ll need to take special care of your skin after the DOT therapy, by applying the required moisturisers on approximately an hourly basis. These are estimates, and your Clinician will give you more detailed instructions.

The swelling usually comes into a very noticeable state within a few hours and may not resolve until a week to 14 days, sometimes even longer. So you’ll need to be prepared for looking very swollen and red, and not wearing makeup for the requisite recovery period.

However, DOT Therapy recovery is still typically a much faster-recovery option than many chemical peels and other forms of skin resurfacing that use lasers.

The recovery time you allow yourself should be up to 7 days to 14 days post-therapy (typically 8 to 10 days should suffice). During this time you will see red or pink signs of treatment. Take care to avoid the sun and makeup, as with Laser Genesis, and use cool packs for the first few days to keep your skin comfortable and healing well.

For all treatments

Your cosmetic clinician or dermal consultant from our clinic will give you a full aftercare treatment plan, as well as pre-care preparations you need to take before each treatment.

Contact us to learn more about the procedures and treatments that are performed in our clinics by our leading team of dermal clinicians. Call us on (03) 8849 1400 or send an enquiry form in today!

Laser Genesis or DOT Therapy: Selecting the Right Treatment for your Needs