Dubious Advertising of Cosmetic Procedures

Patients occasionally draw my attention to apparently wonderful outcomes in advertisements for cosmetic surgery procedures (often accompanied by an orgy of self congratulation by the treating practitioner). Patient photos are generally displayed without reference to any time frame between the before and after photos. This can prove very deceptive to unsuspecting patients. For instance a tremendously impressive wrinkle free outcome from laser or fractionated laser can simply be a reflection of  swelling and inflammation in the weeks that follow such a procedure. I have now seen so many patients who have spent thousands of dollars on fractionated laser (and endured a period of intense pain and discomfort) only to see wrinkles returning after several months when the inflammation (reactive swelling) has finally settled down. While it is fair to state that fine wrinkles and blemishes can improve with lasers, similar outcomes can often be gained with either chemical peels in salon or topical applications +/- fine needle skin rolling at home at a tiny fraction of the cost!

Before forking out time, pain and money on some laser procedures take the test:
See if you can find any long term (12 month post treatment) outcomes posted on Google images for fractionated laser treatments:
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=fraxel&hl=en&biw=1920&bih=911&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=Vp54TpP7AuqfmQXUyc26DQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CGYQ_AUoAQ

This answer is likely to be no!

Try chemical peels images next:
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&biw=1920&bih=911&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=chemical+skin+peels&btnG=Search&oq=chemical+skin+peels&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=25l3438l0l5437l17l16l0l7l7l1l370l1663l1.1.3.2l7l0

Then try needle rolling next:
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&biw=1920&bih=911&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=dr+des+fernandes+skin+rolling+images&oq=dr+des+fernandes+skin+rolling+images&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=26317l28027l0l28268l7l7l0l6l0l0l326l326l3-1l1l0

Very little difference in outcomes can be seen between these techniques. The only difference is the high price one is likely to pay for the laser option!

Finally it is worth inspecting this forum for some interesting patient experiences with fractionated lasers.
http://www.realself.com/fraxel-laser/forum