Treatment For Skin Of Color
Shine MD is dedicated to creating a space for skin of color in the world of aesthetics and ensuring that patients with pigment in their skin can receive high-quality treatment that is safe and effective for their skin. As a South Asian female with a history of acne and acne scarring, Dr. Mona Khurana has experienced her own challenges finding care that is sensitive to colored skin. She has made it a personal goal to seek out treatments that are able to deliver results, while minimizing the complications that can occur when performing treatments on skin of color.
Skin of color is classified as anyone who has a background of pigmented skin. This includes essentially every racial or ethnic background, including mixed racial ethnicity.
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Why Is This Important?
Skin treatments, scar treatments, and lasers can be performed at aggressive settings in lighter skin types with low or minimal risks of causing further scarring and hyperpigmentation. However, in darker skin types (examples being people of Middle Eastern, South Asian, Asian, African, South American, Hispanic or First Nations heritage) laser treatment settings need to be carefully selected to maximize results and minimize complications, such as post inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
Pre and post care treatment plans and quality skin care are essential to improving patient outcomes. When performing aggressive scar or resurfacing treatments on skin of color, there is a balance between reaching treatment goals and stimulating pigment formation with the lasers. At Shine MD, our years of practice and extensive experience have helped us become leaders in understanding this balance and keeping your skin safe during your treatment journey.
Shine MD was founded on the basis of inclusivity. Dr. Khurana has been committed to seeking out treatments and developing protocols that optimize treatment plans in patients with skin of color.
Laser Treatments for Skin of Color
Laser treatments are designed to create controlled and strategic injury to the skin. In doing so, light skin types often recover without consequence and follow a fairly routine post-treatment course.
For skin of color, treatment settings and protocols are modified so the laser treatments can have positive outcomes while minimizing stimulation of pigment in the skin. At Shine MD, we offer laser treatments that our experienced providers can use to dramatically improve the vibrance, texture, and appearance of colored skin.
For our patients with acne scarring and skin of color, laser treatments that are intended to improve texture can cause pigment formation in the upper layer of the skin. This pigment formation is called Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation (PIH). PIH is treatable and reversible.
PIH can be minimized with the use of pre-treatment and post-treatment lightening creams and the judicious use of sunscreen and sun avoidance. After a series of texture improving treatments is complete, PIH can be successfully treated with the Aerolase and PicoSure Pro laser. These lasers are research-proven to improve pigment, with results showing improvement over multiple sessions.
Melasma is another condition that is common in skin of color patients. The Melasma Clinic at Shine MD is dedicated to help improve patient outcomes and quality of life with respect to melasma and other pigmentary conditions. While laser treatments are often effective at reducing melasma, in some cases, they can lead to increased pigmentation. The combination use of skin care, chemical peels and lasers is frequently used in combination with medical management and judicious use of sunscreen and sun avoidance. All treatment plans are customized with thoughtful consideration of patient goals and expectations. Visit our Melasma Clinic page to learn more about the treatment of melasma and mixed hyperpigmentation at Shine MD.
Our skilled treatment providers can also modify the protocols of our BroadBand Light treatments, including Forever Young BBL™ and Forever Clear BBL®, so they can be performed on all but the darkest skin types. Our clinicians are focused on advancing the safety of treatments for dark skin, and ensuring our patients achieve the results they desire.
Please note our extensive list of treatments that are considered safe for patients with skin of color. As expected, treatment protocols are adjusted according to your skin type and some treatments are better than others for reaching specific goals.
Skin Care Treatments for Skin of Color
We understand that aesthetics is a form of self-care, and we want to ensure that our patients with skin of color feel supported in their journey towards inner confidence. Through training and practice, the team at Shine MD has developed a strong understanding and knowledge about treating skin of color. This allows our treatment providers to modify pre and post care protocols to minimize pigmentation and improve suitability for pigmented skin.
We offer a variety of aesthetic skin care treatment options that are beneficial for skin concerns that affect richly pigmented skin. Platelet-rich plasma is successfully used in combination with microneedling treatments or injected gently into the under-eye area to improve the appearance of dark under-eye circles. Other skin treatments such as the Bela MD Medical Grade Facial, Aerolase laser facial and chemical peels are ideal even for the darkest of skin types.
Other aesthetic treatment options are considered extremely safe for skin of color patients.
They are as follows:
- Bela MD Medical Grade Facials will improve luminosity and improve overall skin health, target acne and pigment.
- Microneedling with PRP is safe all year round on all skin types and can target mild forms of pigmentation, skin texture and improve skin glow.
- Platelet Rich Plasma is effective for improving the appearance of dark under eye circles and can also be used as an adjunct for subcision and microneedling.
- Chemical peels are carefully selected to be safe and effective for all skin types. These help turnover the outermost layer of the skin and improve the penetration of skin care that helps to even out pigmentary concerns in the skin.
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Before & After Gallery
Want to see real patient results from our innovative skin treatments? View our impressive before and after images in our photo gallery.
*Individual results may vary.