Plasma Pen

We don’t think so and especially not with our #1 device. For many, Plasma Pen is virtually a pain-free treatment and is often described as merely tingly. We see many clients fall asleep during their procedure. However, the treatment may be moderately uncomfortable depending on you and where you are being treated. Eyelid procedures (where the skin is at its thinnest) can be more painful for some people but our device, plasma delivery and super-fine probes allow our technicians to work very quickly and efficiently and this minimises potential discomfort for you by design.

Your technician will numb the area before treatment and sometimes during too depending on the products they use and the regulations in this area. For treatments on large areas, technicians will typically “numb as they go” so that the numbing effects don’t wear off while they are still working. It’s all relative too – think how painful something like cosmetic surgery can be after a procedure when your anaesthetic wears off.

Plasma Pen delivers exceptionally long lasting results. From all observations, clinical trials and real world experience, about three years is normal. Once the skin is tightened then it is actually permanent. However, your skin will still continue to age and this will happen at different rates based on genetics, lifestyle choices and free radicals so although we suggest treatment results will lasts for around 3 years, some clients will experience longer lasting results than others. Remember too that in addition to rejuvenation, we are actually helping repair the scaffolding of the skin with our fibroblasting to mitigate the ageing process.

If, for example, we treat your smokers’ lines and you then continue to smoke then results may possibly not be as long lasting compared to if you had stopped. If we make your eyelid hoods or bags disappear then that is also a permanent effect although, of course, they could potentially grow back in years to come.

In nature there are four states of matter – solids, liquids, gases and plasma. Matter only becomes plasma when enough energy is delivered to split the atoms into electrons and the output of this is a ‘plasma cloud’ of charged particles which consist of free radicals, positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons and molecules.

Our device creates an electrical discharge between two electrodes which are separated by an ‘insulating dielectric barrier’.  As the charge collects on the surface of our dielectric barrier, it discharges as a flash of plasma within millionths of a second. An intelligent combination of the design of our device and its continuous direct energy source ionises the nitrogen and oxygen in the air to create a plasma gas which is then both sustained and continuous in line with the unique fingertip control and on-demand nature of our Plasma Pen device. Although we are creating collisions between molecules and causing the emission of energetic photons, the energy required to do this is actually minimal so our device is (and only needs to be) low-voltage. The plasma we create with our device transfers to the skin with absolute precision and does not harm any of the surrounding tissue.

The first and most immediate effect is delivered to the outer layer of the epidermis where we create external micro-trauma which helps immediately contract and tighten the skin. The next major effect is that the plasma simultaneously penetrates down into the fibroblasts which are contained deeper within the dermis below and, in doing so, we stimulate accelerated fibroblast division and migration, as well as encouraging neovascularisation – the natural formation of new blood vessels and the release of growth factors. These growth factors include fibroblast growth factors, platelet-derived endothelial growth factors and cytokines. Cytokines are small proteins that are very important in cell signalling and which affect the behaviour of cells around them. They help modulate our immune response, they regulate cell maturation (aging) and quarterback the growth of new cells. They are particularly important in directing our bodies response to the inflammation trauma that we cause because they stimulate both cell repair and new cell reproduction.

The inflammatory response which occurs during the healing process that we promote also activates what are known as “M2 Macrophages”.  Macrophages are white blood cells which engulf and digest cellular debris, foreign substances, microbes, cancer cells, and indeed anything else without proteins that are good for healthy cells. M2 macrophages decrease the inflammation we cause and encourage tissue regeneration and repair. We also stimulate the migration of basal keratinocytes up to the surface of the skin. Wounds to the skin are repaired, in part, by the migration of keratinocytes from the basal layer of the skin which then fill-in the gaps created by the micro-wounds we create. Within the healed epidermis they are, in turn, replaced by keratinocytes that originate from the epidermis.

To look younger without surgery, you need to look after your skin. Follow these steps for healthier looking skin:

• Avoid sun damage as this speeds up ageing
• Get a good night’s sleep – sleep deprivation is bad for your skin
• Avoid stress wherever possible
• Avoid excessive air pollution, smoking and alcohol
• Ensure you have a good diet – bad nutrition will show in your skin
• A good skincare regime each day is important

Although not always easy to avoid, the above are the main extrinsic factors behind skin ageing. There are intrinsic factors too which include the natural ageing process and our genetic disposition.

All of these effects can be combated not just with a better lifestyle and skin care programme but with next-generation treatments like Plasma Pen that are able to repair and roll back many of the negative signs of ageing and even prevent (or at least slow down) many of the future negative effects we are likely to experience – especially the premature degeneration of dermal elastic tissue (elastotic change).

Plasma Pen is able to lift, tighten, regenerate and repair practically any area of the skin and it spectacularly improves and brightens skin tone, laxity and texture and dramatically reduces and plumps out lines and wrinkles.

Plasma Pen fibroblasting and soft surgery sublimation is able to address damaged or unhealthy skin, treat an extensive range of skin conditions and deliver a brighter, more contoured and youthful appearance with virtually immediate and incredibly long lasting results – all without the need for fillers, suturing, scalpels, injectable anaesthetics or costly and invasive surgery.

Plasma Pen has an unrivalled level of precision and success in treating and preventing crow’s feet wrinkles and offers short downtimes and optimal results. Plasma Pen soft-surgery sublimation immediately contracts, tightens and resurfaces the epidermal tissue around the crow’s feet wrinkles by delivering controlled, precision trauma to the skin using a gaseous arc of ionized plasma gas – all created by the Plasma Pen device.

This helps deliver immediate lift and skin tightening, significantly combats photo-ageing and eliminates most if not all of the superficial wrinkles (rhytids). Since it also heats and disrupts the deeper dermal structure via thermal conduction (thus creating a dual zone of micro-trauma comprising of superficial micro-damage to the epidermis and inner thermal modification within the dermis) it stimulates extensive dermal remodelling over the next 3 months which includes new collagen synthesis, the production of elastin and increased cross-linking between the collagen and elastin.

This process strengthens, plumps, inflates and lifts the skin’s structure. It also encourages the binding of hyaluronic acid with water which fills, inflates and plumps crow’s feet wrinkles. The dermis becomes stronger and more flexible and this all underpins the partial-to-complete elimination of medium-depth wrinkles and delivers a marked improvement and softening of deep wrinkles in the area. This is a very important outcome with crow’s feet, since they are often deeper looking and more prominent than other wrinkles, because the skin is very thin and less oily in that area.

Plasma Pen also helps activate and release important proteins in the dermis that regulate cell maturation and encourage extensive tissue re-generation and repair. All these positive changes underpin future tissue stability and actually help to prevent and slow down many of the negative ageing effects which contribute towards crow’s feet, which include the loss of collagen and elasticity we experience as we grow older.

On the Fitzpatrick Skin Type Scale (The Fitzpatrick Skin Type is a skin classification system developed in 1975 by Thomas Fitzpatrick, MD, of Harvard Medical School), only skin types I, II and III can safely be treated with Plasma Pen. Anything higher and you are risking hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation.

Some providers claim to be able to treat any skin type. This is generally untrue or at the very least misleading and is usually only because they are perhaps selling medical grade devices to cosmetic surgeons (who are then able to self-prescribe and fix any damage that they do) and/or because the treatments they are performing are merely “spray” rejuvenation only (i.e. they are not targeting the dermis and are only working on the epidermis).

The fact is that people with darker skins have melanocytes capable of making large amounts of melanin. When dark/black skin is injured (i.e. through the micro-trauma we create with Plasma Pen), these melanocytes can hyperpigment or hypopigment. This is because a combination of the inflammatory response and ultraviolet causes the inflammation to disrupt the basal cell layer. Melanin pigment is then released but subsequently it can become trapped by macrophages in the papillary layer. Once the wound healing has completed and the junction repaired then the melanin pigment granules can be caught within the dermal layer with no way of escape and this can cause pigmentation issues.

We will come onto how to determine skin types below but if someone is a borderline III/IV skin type then there are possibly some things you can do (such as the client using tyrosinase inhibitors in advance – you can see a good article on those here). A client who has perhaps spent time in the sun recently may perhaps present as darker than their true skin type really is so, in these instances, you should at least delay their procedure and encourage them to stay out of the sun in the meantime so that their skin returns to a treatable type in the area you are performing treatment. However, like any important contraindication, if there is any doubt about a treatment then you should not treat and if there is clear Indian or African ancestry then the chances are probably high that you will not be able to treat safely.

In terms of how to determine skin types then, firstly, you should buy an electronic skin type sensor from us. These are available for just £35+VAT and you can message us here to buy one. These should be used on the area being treated (after any make-up has been removed). This should give you an immediate and strong guide to their Skin Type.

We strongly recommend that all Plasma Pen Elite Technicians complete the following questionnaire with their clients in conjunction with their electronic skin sensor so as to accurately determine their skin tone. We use an enhanced questionnaire format that also accounts for recent sun exposure so our quiz measures three key components (i) their genetic disposition, (ii) their reaction to sun exposure and also (iii) their recent tanning habits.

Skin Types range from the very fair (Type I) to the very dark (Type VI).

So grab a piece of paper, keep score as you go along and get your client to answer all of the following questions honestly (you should keep this as a record and this questionnaire is available from us a free branded document from us for all our technicians):

PART ONE: GENETIC DISPOSITION

(1) What is your eye color?

Light blue, light gray or light green = 0
Blue, gray or green = 1
Hazel or light brown = 2
Dark brown = 3
Brownish black = 4

(2) What is your natural hair colour?

Red or light blonde = 0
Blonde = 1
Dark blonde or light brown = 2
Dark brown = 3
Black = 4

(3) What is your natural skin colour (i.e. before sun exposure)?

Ivory white = 0
Fair or pale = 1
Fair to beige, with golden undertone = 2
Olive or light brown = 3
Dark brown or black = 4

(4) How many freckles do you have on unexposed areas of your skin?

Many = 0
Several = 1
A few = 2
Very few = 3
None = 4

Total score for genetic disposition: _______

PART TWO: SUN EXPOSURE

(1) How does your skin/face respond to the sun?

Always burns, blisters and peels = 0
Often burns, blisters and peels = 1
Burns moderately = 2
Burns rarely, if at all = 3
Never burns = 4

(2) Does your skin tan?

Never – I always burn = 0
Seldom = 1
Sometimes = 2
Often = 3
Always = 4

(3) How deeply do you tan?

Not at all or very little = 0
Lightly = 1
Moderately = 2
Deeply = 3
My skin is naturally dark = 4

(4) How sensitive is your face to the sun?

Very sensitive = 0
Sensitive = 1
Normal = 2
Resistant = 3
Very resistant/Never had a problem = 4

Total score for reaction to sun exposure: _______

PART THREE: TANNING HABITS

(1) When did you last expose your body to sun / tanning cream / tanning injections / sunbeds?

More than 3 months ago = 0
2-3 months ago = 1
1-2 months ago = 2
Less than a month ago = 3
Less than 2 weeks ago = 4

(2) Did you expose the area you wish to be treated by Plasma Pen with to the sun?

No/Never = 0
Hardly = 1
Sometimes = 2
Often = 3
Always = 4

Total score for Tanning Habits: _______

TOTAL SCORE FOR PART ONE, PART TWO AND PART THREE:  _________

Now correlate the above score to the following to determine their skin type:

Type I: 0 to 6 points (light, pale white)
Always burns easily, never tans.

Type II: 7 to 12 points (white, fair)
Always burns easily, tans minimally.

Type III: 13 to 18 points (medium white to olive)
Burns moderately, tans gradually.

Type IV: 19 to 24 points (olive, moderate brown)
Burns minimally, tans well.

Type V: 25 to 30 points (brown, dark brown)
Burns rarely, tans profusely.

Type VI: 31+ points (very dark brown to black, black)
Never burns, deep pigmentation.

Remember, you may only treat skin types I, II and III with Plasma Pen.