Laser-Assisted Hair Removal for Patients of Color: Opportunities and Insight

Growing demand for cosmetic services among patients of color provides an opportunity to grow your practice and hone your skills.

By Eliot F. Battle, Jr., MD

Choosing to provide cosmetic services to patients of color represents a significant learning opportunity for cosmetic dermatologists. Is it fair to consider yourself a laser specialist if your area of expertise is limited to just 60 percent of the population? Not quite. Dermatologists who learn how to safely and effectively use lasers in darker skin types will broaden their professional skill and enhance the quality of service they provide all of their patients. The following is a review of the current state of the science regarding laser-assisted hair removal in darker skin types. In addition to reviewing this popular and high-demand cosmetic service, I’ll provide some important practical considerations for the dermatologist interested in providing laser-assisted hair removal to patients of color.
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Medical Spa Profit Busters

By Francis X. Acunzo

In recent years there has been a proliferation of Medical Spas opening their doors nationwide.  Everyone from entrepreneurs to physicians are seeking to take advantage of this new segment of the spa and retail healthcare industries.  The advantage is 100% of the revenues is self-pay the negative is that with such a new business model there are very few comparable locations with enough history to benchmark.

I call the pit-falls of the medical spa “profit busters”.  There is a short list of Profit Busters that keep a medical spa from bottom line success as long as it is in the right location with strong visibility and accessibility.  Let’s take a look at each Profit Buster along with an action plan for each to place your business back on the path of profitability.
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Smart Lipo

By Bruce Katz, MD

Smart Lipo is a new minimally evasive technique that can remove excess fat from the body through the use of a laser. The new laser system, an Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm wavelength, can be used to sculpt body contours and tighten the skin.

Smart Lipo is performed under local anesthesia, has a faster recovery (2 to 3 days) - and it is the safest form of liposuction. Similar to power liposuction, a very small cannula, 1.0 mm in diameter which holds the laser fiber, is introduced through a tiny skin incision.As the cannula is moved back and forth, laser energy is delivered through layers of fat--superficial, medium and deep and into the tissue in the deep layer of the skin.

The overall process, known as laser lipolysis, works when the light energy from the laser strikes a fat cell, rupturing it and allowing fat to be drained away.An added bonus is that the interaction between the laser and the dermis (which lies beneath the skin's outer layer, or epidermis), results in
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