Laser treatment for children is safe when administered by trained and certified professionals. A topical numbing cream will be applied prior to their laser session and they’ll wear protective eye goggles during treatment.
Your child will experience short stings as the laser treats lesions or scars on his/her skin, with treatments lasting only several minutes in most cases.
Safety
Laser treatments can be utilized in various medical procedures. Children can generally tolerate them safely when performed by a trained and certified dentist. Many states mandate that doctors obtain special certification to use certain laser types; this ensures they fully understand any safety risks involved with using them as well as proper techniques for administering treatments safely.
Laser treatments must be conducted carefully to prevent damaging surrounding tissues, particularly skin or eyes. Children may experience some discomfort; however, any side effects will likely only last for a short while. Possible consequences could include bruises and swelling that last no more than several days.
Laser treatment technology has significantly decreased the risks of side effects in children, including serious ones. You can reduce further the likelihood of side effects by making sure your child feels relaxed during treatment – there are various sedation options available to ensure maximum relaxation throughout.
Laser dentistry may help children overcome their fears about visiting the dentist and experience more positive interactions when visiting. By relieving their anxiety, this may improve long-term oral health outcomes.
While traditional drilling may cause noise and vibration, laser dentistry is far gentler on teeth and gums. The laser does not produce any sort of vibrational sensation and has more of an acoustic “popping” sound compared to its grating sounds – an approach much less intimidating for children who may fear visiting the dentist.
Laser ablation surgery carries its own set of risks, yet can still be performed on children as young as 14 years old. To be most effective, however, waiting until puberty and, for female patients, menstruation have started is best; additionally, teens must also be mature enough to withstand any discomfort during the procedure and remain still throughout.
Pain
Laser treatments use beams of light to diminish birthmarks by using non-ionizing radiation and non-invasive treatment techniques, including cafe au lait spots. They are especially helpful in lightening red birthmarks such as strawberry hemangiomas and port wine stains; brown ones such as cafe au lait spots; and blue ones like facial dermal melanocytosis. Laser therapy may also treat lymphatic malformations (spongy growths) and spider angiomas (anabnormal collections of blood vessels), treating other conditions like lymphatic malformations (spongy growths) or spider angiomas (an abnormal collections of blood vessels). Laser therapy offers more advantages over traditional surgery due to producing non-ionizing radiation which doesn’t present health risks such as long term exposure to X-rays does.
Treatment itself is quick and painless for children. A physician will clean and numb the area being treated, wearing protective goggles to shield eyes from laser beams, before using an electronic device called an electronic pulser to “pulse” or “zap” the targeted area; pulses may feel similar to pinpricks or rubber band snapping against skin surface depending on size of area being treated – small areas might receive up to 1000 pulses, while larger ones will get fewer.
Once treatment is over, the dermatologist will evaluate how the area has healed. Bruising is common after laser therapy and should diminish over time. Your child may need to apply an antibiotic ointment and cover their wound until healing occurs, which should take seven-10 days.
Your child should avoid direct sunlight after their laser area has healed, since sun exposure may cause birthmarks to darken or change appearance. Your doctor may advise using broad spectrum sunscreen when going outdoors – both while their laser area is healing as well as on an ongoing basis.
Undergoing laser birthmark treatments is an excellent choice for most adolescents, however it’s essential that they are mature enough to understand that multiple sessions will likely be required and might cause slight discomfort. Therefore, it is wise to wait until your teen has finished puberty and established regular menstruation cycle before beginning treatment.
Anesthesia
Children pose unique considerations when using lasers, unlike adults. Fear, sensitivity to pain and the need for reassurance are some of the issues that make treatment seem complex for young patients.
Laser treatment uses a concentrated beam of light to abrade or destroy tissue at its target location, according to Cleveland Clinic. Water molecules absorb the light so there is no harmful radiation produced like with an X-ray machine; being able to precisely target an area without harming adjacent tissue reduces risks such as bleeding and scarring for children undergoing this procedure.
Dental lasers cauterize as they cut, which reduces pain experienced after an appointment for your youngster and also cuts down on swelling, reduces chances of infection, and may eliminate the need for sutures altogether.
As opposed to scalpels, which require surgeons to move back and forth to cut tissue, lasers allow doctors to treat large areas at once with its concentrated beam of light – speeding healing while decreasing discomfort experienced during recovery for children.
Before beginning laser treatment, your physician will explain all of the potential benefits and risks for both of you. He/she will then ask for you to sign a consent form prior to beginning; you can choose to stay with your child during this entire procedure if desired.
Once administered, your child will lie on a table while members of the anesthesia staff take his/her medical history and vital signs (if needed). A nurse will give your child medication to help him sleep before covering his mouth with a mask.
Some birthmarks require only burning to go away while others must be scraped off or surgically removed, including fibromas and port-wine stains. Hemangiomas and nevi, which can be treated using lasers, may help improve their appearance by decreasing in size while eliminating discoloration or scarring that they cause and eventually helping to go away over time.
Downtime
Your child’s downtime after laser treatment depends on the procedure you undergo; some require no downtime at all while others will have some. Some children require overnight care after laser resurfacing while others may return directly to school or daycare immediately following. If they stay home after their procedure, antibiotic cream will likely need to be applied over the treated area to avoid infections that often arise post-treatment; risk increases further if your child suffers from herpes simplex which could flare up after receiving laser therapy.
Wart removal treatments, for instance, typically don’t cause any downtime and take less than 15 minutes per session to achieve results. Other laser procedures aimed at eliminating vascular lesions may require multiple sessions before seeing results; laser therapy for rosacea can reduce the appearance of dilated blood vessels (telangiectasias) and spider veins as well as treat hemangiomas and port wine stains.
The FDA regulates radiation-emitting electronic products like lasers and establishes radiation safety standards for toys containing lasers. Although these toys are designed to emit low levels of electromagnetic radiation, children who misuse them improperly may still experience harm from them; for instance, laser beams pointed directly into an eye can cause serious eye injuries that often don’t cause pain, going undetected for days until something happens that requires medical intervention.
Lasers used for industrial and medical purposes emitting high levels of radiation can also pose risks to children when misused as toys. Laser pointers have grown exponentially over the past decade and children often purchase them to use as toys – according to FDA warnings, however, misuse may prove dangerous to their wellbeing.
Teens undergoing laser hair removal treatments must prepare themselves by avoiding tanning beds, which can make laser treatments harder to work and increase risks of side effects. Teens should shave the areas being targeted two or three days prior to their laser treatments in order to ensure all hair has been eliminated and no new, regrowing hairs interfere with its effectiveness. They should also refrain from waxing, tweezing or plucking these areas as this can adversely impact results of laser treatments.
