The most common brown spots are lentigines, also known as age spots or sun spots; and freckles. These lesions are due to excessive sunlight exposure, and rarely congenital factors. F lat seborrheic keratosis or age spots may occur on the face and hands.
Melasma is a condition where pigmentation is in patches and is often caused by birth control or pregnancy.
The Q-switched laser is safe and ideal for lentigines because of its unique ability to selectively treat the pigmented lesion without adversely affecting the surrounding tissue, with liquid nitrogen.
Dr. Touma has experience in treating thousands of patients with pigmentation problems and tattoos.
Treatment varies from patient to patient depending on the type of lesion, Individual dark spots lentigines, Or flat seborrheic keratosis (age related), and are best treated with Q switched 532 lasers (Spectra or Curas), and less commonly with Er:YAG Full Ablative.
In Dr. Touma’s current practice, Melasma is best treated with sessions of combination ER:Glass 1550nm And Thulium 1940nm (Fraxpro Laser), with minimal downtime of browning of the skin. Alternatively, a single session of Triple lasers ( Fractional and fully ablative Er:YAG plus Q Switched 532nm and 1064nm lasers (Curas and Spectra) which cause downtime for 5-6 days and possible temporary hyperpigmentation, before major improvement of melasma is here. Laser treatments are always combined with a course of topical steroids, bleaching creams and strict sun and heat avoidance. In some cases oral tranexamic acid is also prescribed to enhance results.
