In the pursuit of bathing suit beauty, many people are interested in non-surgical ways to put the finishing touches on their appearance. There are many modern treatments that require minimal, if any, downtime and are best performed before you gain that summer glow.

Many women and men in Louisiana request:

• Laser hair removal removes hair on the bikini line, underarms, and legs. Men especially appreciate having a smooth back and shoulders. These mild treatments are most effective on dark hair and light skin.
• Laser vein removal is another treatment that works best on pale skin. It’s virtually painless to get rid of spider veins for more beautiful legs. You can also get rid of rosacea, age spots, and enlarged blood vessels.
• Laser tattoo removal can give you the confidence to show off your body without that tattoo that has been holding you back. Most tattoos require a series of treatments.

If you’re not interested in cosmetic surgery, there are still many effective, non-surgical treatments that can help you achieve a body you’ll want to show off all summer long.

If you’re planning for your wedding – possibly the single most memorable day of your life – it makes sense that you want everything to be perfect, including your appearance. That’s why many brides and grooms begin well in advance to improve diet and exercise, set dates for manicures and pedicures, or make teeth-whitening and skin-tanning appointments. In my practice, we’ve also seen a rise in the number of patients requesting pre-wedding cosmetic treatments and surgical procedures. Here are just a few.

Microdermabrasion: 3 days prior to wedding

After just one treatment, microdermabrasion helps your skin glow by gently exfoliating the outermost dead layer of skin.

Designer facials: 3 days prior to wedding

We uniquely tailor your facial based on an analysis of your skin’s tone and texture.

Dermal fillers: 3 weeks prior to wedding

Facial fillers can enhance and plump lips or cheeks, smooth marionette lines and deep furrows, and fill in scar depressions, including acne scars.

BOTOX® Cosmetic Treatment: 3 weeks prior to wedding

BOTOX can help you achieve smooth, wrinkle-free skin on your forehead, and it can minimize crow’s feet or frown lines.

Laser skin resurfacing: 3 to 4 months prior to wedding

FotoFacial® RF Laser Skin Rejuvenation reduces age spots, red spots, rosacea, and spider veins from the face, hands, and chest with Elos® technology, a combination of light and radiofrequency energies. A total of 5 treatments (1 every 3 weeks) is recommended.

Liposuction: 3 to 6 months prior to wedding

Using advanced liposuction techniques at my Long Island practice, I can sculpt specific problem areas of your body to achieve a smooth, contoured shape.

Breast augmentation: 6 months prior to wedding

Breast augmentation can give you the beautiful breasts you have always wanted.

Laser hair removal: 6 months prior to wedding

Laser hair removal permanently reduces treated hair in just 6 to 8 treatments, each spaced about 4 weeks apart.

For many women and men, pre-wedding cosmetic treatments or surgical procedures give them added confidence that they will look their very best on their big day.

Here’s something that might surprise you: even though Fox Valley Plastic Surgery has a full-service medical spa, we don’t offer “laser” hair removal for our Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Green Bay patients. Why not? Well, instead, we offer something that can achieve even better results: IPL (Intense Pulsed Light). IPL and laser hair removal are actually quite similar, but IPL offers some definite benefits.

How IPL Works

Hair removal with IPL uses high energy pulses of light that pass through the skin to the hair follicle. The light energy is absorbed by the follicle, which is heated and destroyed. The effects of IPL are focused on the hair follicle, leaving your skin unharmed.

Why It’s Better

Because IPL treats a larger area than laser hair removal, the target area can be covered more quickly and treatments do not take as long.

Is It Right for Me?

The best way to determine which method of hair removal is best for you is to meet with a qualified treatment professional. I highly recommend choosing a spa practice that is supervised by a medical doctor and that has a reputation for high standards in your community.

Price-based shopping is generally a bad idea for cosmetic surgery procedures, and I think laser hair removal is just one example of why you can’t “get away with” cheap treatments. There are two main reasons why this is the case:

• Cheaper often means older – A lot of the cost of a laser hair removal treatment goes into maintenance and upgrades for the laser system itself, and some centers are able to charge less because they don’t upgrade as often. Compromising on price can often mean compromising on quality of results at the same time.
• Cheaper can mean less customized – Along with outdated treatment systems, many low-cost laser centers will also offer fixed treatment plans that don’t take into account the differences between patients. Newer, more versatile systems tend to minimize discomfort better, and they also tend to work well for a broader range of people. This means that patients can still get very nice results even if their skin type and hair color make hair removal more difficult. Cheaper systems and centers with less-experienced staff can’t necessarily offer that, so there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself spending extra on more lower-quality treatments than you would have at a higher-quality center.

Bottom line: Laser hair removal in San Diego doesn’t have to be expensive, but it shouldn’t be “cheap,” and quality has to come first. Since the goal is permanent hair reduction, it’s worth getting things right the first time just to avoid a re-do.