What is plasma skin regeneration?

Plasma skin regeneration (PSR) is a novel method for resurfacing skin through the use of thermal energy which is dissipated at varying energy levels and depths throughout the epidermis and dermis. The technology is not chromophore dependent, nor is it ablative, fractional or for that matter invasive. The unique properties of this technology affords the clinician to avoid vapourising and charring the epidermis, thereby avoiding the creation of an open wound.

What are the benefits of PSR?

After plasma thermal energy release there is stimulation of regional inflammation which promotes tissue remodelling, wound healing, conferring rapid healing. Repeated treatment over time leads to progressive skin rejuvenation beyond 12 months. The use of higher energy pulses allows for deeper tissue penetration and remodelling of the cytoarchitecture. This is seen clinically as skin tightening.

One can achieve equivalent or even improved results using PSR when compared with ablative procedures on the skin but importantly with only half the downtime. This allows Physicians to customise settings to meet their patient’s attitude to results and downtime, with treatment protocols ranging from a ‘pain-free, no downtime’ treatment to the equivalent of a full ablative treatment. Precision treatment of multiple indications is able to be encompassed in a short therapeutic window using PSR.

The safety profile of plasma skin regeneration is excellent with no reports of demarcation lines in treatment areas which is often the case with the most powerful form of resurfacing technology, namely CO₂ laser resurfacing. Added to this, PSR can be used not only on traditional global zones of the face but in more delicate areas such as the perioral (Figure 1), periorbital areas (Figures 2A and 2B), together with the neck, jawline, décolletage, dorsum of the hands, abdomen, and knee area.

Attempts to apply ablative lasers on non-facial skin (e.g., neck, chest, dorsum of the hands) have been limited by significant delays in re-epithelialisation and greater risk of morbidity due to the limited number of pilosebaceous glands in these areas. In contrast, non-ablative laser treatments utilising far-infrared wavelengths (e.g., 1,320-Nd:YAG, 1,450-nm diode) are capable of creating controlled dermal wounds without epidermal disruption. Although minimal morbidity is encountered, non-ablative laser skin treatment often results in reduced clinical efficacy with minimal observable improvement of atrophic scars and rhytides (Tanzi et al. 2003; Tanzi et al. 2004).

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