Lasers are a truly remarkable invention, and one that has changed our lives in more ways than you can even begin to imagine. Healthcare is one of the fields that has benefitted the most from lasers, and they are now used in a huge range of surgeries and other medical treatments and procedures. With this in mind, here are four ways that lasers are now used to improve a person’s appearance and make them feel better about themselves.

Laser Skin Tightening

Laser skin tightening offers a possible solution to those who feel self-conscious about their wrinkles or loose skin. This FDA-approved procedure uses an infrared laser that gently heats up the collagen under the surface of your skin, which almost causes the skin the contract and tighten. Although the results are not quite as dramatic as those seen with a facelift, the results are immediately visible with no swelling, scarring or downtime.

For best results, most doctors recommend undergoing anywhere from two to four laser sessions over a period of a month or so. Your skin should continue to gradually tighten for up to a few months after the procedure, and the results usually last for a few years.

Laser Skin Resurfacing

If you feel embarrassed by wrinkles, scars, blotches, lines or other blemishes on your skin due to acne, aging or simply spending too much time in the sun, laser skin resurfacing may hold the key to younger, healthier-looking skin. Although it can help to tighten skin, laser skin resurfacing isn’t the same as laser skin tightening. Instead of heating up the collagen under the skin, this procedure uses a laser to remove the top layers of skin.

Removing the top layers promotes new, healthier skin growth and helps to minimize the appearance of wrinkles, scars and other visible blemishes. As the process actually removes some skin, it is slightly more painful that skin tightening. Furthermore, it does come with some risk of scarring or possibly pigment discoloration. Therefore, it is important to discuss the pros and cons with a qualified dermatologist before deciding to undergo this treatment.

Laser Hair Removal

Lasers truly are remarkable for the astonishing number of things they can do for us. For people who are sick of constantly shaving, plucking or waxing, laser hair removal offers you the option of semi-permanently eliminating your problem. One of the most popular cosmetic procedures in the United States and around the globe, laser hair removal uses a highly concentrated beam of light that penetrates deep into hair follicles. The follicles absorb this light, which destroys the hair and keeps it from growing back for months.

Laser hair removal comes with little to no risk of scarring, although your skin will look and feel like its sunburned for a few days after the treatment. Furthermore, it is important to note that it can take up to a month after the initial treatment for all of the damaged hairs to fall out. In some cases, it will take several treatments to fully eliminate the appearance of the hairs. After this, any continued regrowth can usually be managed quite easily by undergoing a touch-up treatment once or twice a year.

Laser Tattoo Removal

Tattoos are a great way to express your personality or adorn your body with something that carries special meaning. Of course, getting inked also means making a decision that will stick with you for the rest of your life. Statistics show that anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of people with tattoos regret their decision. Luckily, you can always choose to undergo laser tattoo removal if you truly regret your choice and no longer want to be burdened by your bad tattoo.

The process works by using an extremely hot and extremely fast ultra-short pulse laser, which instantly heats up the ink particles in the skin and causes them to break apart into small pieces. From the moment you get a tattoo, your body identifies the ink as a foreign substance and sends white blood cells to attack it. These ink particles are normally too big to be affected. However, the laser breaks them into small enough pieces that white blood cells can then attach on to them and take them to the liver where they can be processed and eliminated from the body. Unfortunately, the process can be extremely painful and it often takes numerous treatments to fully get rid of the tattoo. Still, the skyrocketing numbers of people undergoing laser tattoo removal shows that it is more than worth it to some.

As you can see, lasers have a wide variety of useful applications. In fact, this list is really only the tip of the iceberg. Lasers have truly proven to be a life changing and lifesaving technology, and scientists are continuing to come up with new uses for them all the time. Therefore, who knows how many more important benefits lasers may bring to our lives.