Best Laser Treatment for Broken Capillaries and Brown Spots?

I think that the best choices for your problem are either IPL (with post-procedure redness for about 1-4 days) or Pearl Laser (with post-procedure redness, scaling and mild swelling for 3-8 days). Both treatments will take care of your brown spots and skin discolorations. The Pearl Laser may add some improvement in fine lines and possibly some very mild skin tightening.

Fractional laser is an amazing and highly effective treatment in our office. We use the laser treatment to help with acne scars, large pores, fine wrinkles, tissue collagen loss, scars, sebaceous hyperplasia, active acne, and for brightening dark pigmentation. Although there are very strong fractional lasers such as CO2 laser, we use lighter treatments for corrective skincare and maintenance of results. Our Thulium fractional laser, clear and brilliant laser, and Ultra Thulium laser are excellent options in our clinic. We also perform CO2 fractional and erbium depending on skin tone and tolerance for downtime. Patients do have to use a Melarase cream before and after treatment to help further reduce pigmentation after laser. Dark spots can improve with these treatments. I recommend fractional laser for incisional scars as well, especially after plastic surgery.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

In general, IPL works well for redness and for brown spots. Many IPL machines are capable of tailoring the treatment toward different desired effects. In my practice, our IPL uses various filters to target redness reduction, acne reduction, skin rejuvenation (brown spots), etc. That being said, for scattered and small broken capillaries, I find that a 1064nm vascular reduction laser works best. This can be combined with IPL treatments targeting background redness and brown spots to achieve very nice improvements. Fractional CO2 laser treatments can work relatively well for pigment issues like brown spots, but I do not find them to be very effective for vascular issues like background redness or broken capillaries.Be sure to see a physician specializing in facial aesthetics for any facial laser or IPL treatments.Best,

Several different lasers are great for angiomas - " red dots", telangiectasias, "broken capillaries" and brown age spots including KTP, pulse dye and others.I prefer the Diolite KTP and Sciton lasers to take care of these problems. Pre and post treatment of the skin with prescription creams is required to prevent the recurrence of the brown spots (post inflammatory hyperpigmentation).

If the veins and brown spots are on your face and you are fair-skinned(Fitzpatrick scale 1-3),  IPL/ Photofacials are an excellent procedure to target both of your areas of concern in a single treatment. You can expect some redness and possibly some swelling depending upon the aggressiveness of the treatment.  Typically, the brown spots will get noticeably darker and then flake off within 10-14 days. Be sure to be diligent with your sunscreen and avoid the sun. Also, incorporate a powerful antioxidant into your home care regimen to protect against further damage. 

For diffuse problems intense pulsed light which is not really a laser but filtered light works very well and has minimal downtime with very few complications.  Individual vessels can be best treated with a yag laser.  There are many ways to address these problems but none should involve ablative or aggressive procedures.

The best laser for brown spots and broken capillaries, in my opinion, is not an actual laser. I prefer broadband light (BBL) or intense pulsed light (IPL). My go-to device is Lumecca, an Inmode device which gives a great result for both pigment (slightly lower power) and for red spots and broken capillaries (a bit higher power). The difference with this device--I have several-- is excellent cooling, providing more patient comfort. Many IPL treatments are quite painful; this one is not. There are different filters for lighter and darker skin. While more than one treatment is needed for optimal correction, a significant and visible improvement can be seen with a single treatment. Down time is minimal; the spots intensify for a few days, then flake off. There is no scabbing at all.     There is also mild to moderate improvement in skin wrinkling. This is probably one of the most cost effective treatments we offer. 

There are different modalities that can provide correction. I prefer the BBL form of intense pulse light. Consult in person with an experienced and expert treating physician to understand your options.

I routinely treat both red vessels and brown spots at one session with a green light Laser ( Versapulse) with contact skin cooling (for safety and comfort), and a Q-switched Laser (Trivantage Alexandrite).      I find that most people get optimal results in just one or two sessions with the combination Laser technique as opposed to up to 3 sessions with an Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)source.There is a bit more swelling and some light crusting for a few more days with the Laser modalities,but the increased efficacy ,fewer treatments, and decreased costs are usually worth it.

In general, lasers that are used for redness are not ideal for brown spots. A non-laser light source such as an intense pulsed light source (IPL) can be used to treat both of those problems. Using an intense pulsed light source generally requires multiple treatments but there is no downtime associated with it. The Fraxel laser is a wonderful laser to improve the quality of skin and fine lines, but it does not necessarily work well on brown spots and it is generally not effective in treating blood vessels.