Halo™ Fractional Laser

HALO^® Fractional Laser

Get Significant Skin-Improving Results Without the Associated Down Time in Chicago and Winnetka

Many non-surgical skin treatments are about making a trade-off: You can have minimal recovery and down time, but see only subtle results from a relatively gentle treatment. Or you can enjoy a more dramatic effect, but “pay for it” with significant healing after the session. HALO^® hybrid fractional laser at Chicago and Winnetka’s Whole Beauty^® Institute does away with this either-or situation by generating a more dramatic rejuvenation with less recovery compared to other laser treatment options.

HALO^® fractional laser can provide these benefits because it combines two different treatment strategies: ablative and non-ablative. Ablative treatments with the 2940 erbium laser remove tissue, while non-ablative treatments with a 1470 laser typically pass through the surface without destroying any skin. While these opposing approaches may seem like an “all-or-nothing” proposition, they can actually be used in tandem to tailor treatment sessions for a patient’s specific cosmetic goals and desired recovery window.

Who Can Benefit from HALO^®?

Because HALO^® is a versatile treatment, it can address a wide range of cosmetic skin issues. That makes it ideal for women and men who want to improve the look and feel of their skin, whether they have laxity or other signs of aging due to collagen and elastin loss and sun damage.

The treatment is appropriate for patients with a wide range of skin types and can be used on the face, neck, chest, and hands. Specifically, it can treat wrinkles and fine lines, texture irregularities, scars, uneven pigment, and enlarged pores. It can also be used in some patients to address actinic keratosis, which are non-malignant lesions considered to be “pre-cancer.”

How Does HALO^® Work?

To understand how HALO^® fractional laser works, it is necessary to look at the two treatment modalities: ablative and non-ablative.

Ablative treatments involve focused light vaporizing surface tissue, which not only removes dead and damaged cells to reveal younger skin cells below, but also encourages the production of new collagen and elastin molecules in deeper levels. When an ablative laser is used on the entire skin surface (fully ablative resurfacing), patients must take an appropriate—often considerable—amount of time to heal. With HALO^®, the ablative laser energy is fractionated, which means that it is delivered in a series of channels, with space between them. This makes the healing much quicker.

Non-ablative treatments send energy through the epidermis into the layers below, where the heat generated by the laser kicks off the desired collagen and elastin production. This results in improvement that is gradually visible, requiring minimal recovery time due to the lack of “wounds.”

HALO^® laser uses a combination of ablative and non-ablative wavelengths in a fractionated delivery system, so that there are tiny channels passed through the skin, but normal skin between the channels. This triggers an ablative-style removal of microscopic circles of skin and a non-ablative reaction as well, while giving the healing process a head start thanks to the healthy tissue still in place.

What HALO^® accomplishes is the delivery of the ablative and non-ablative energy at the same time through the same channel. This is a complex feat of engineering that is not present in any other laser system. The two types of laser energy combine to produce a powerful result with a relatively short recovery time for the patient.

You can think of the HALO^® fractional laser’s effects as a very advanced version of microneedling, which makes tiny channels in the skin with fine needles. Each channel is a wound the skin works to heal, which consequently improves the health of the intact skin as well. The addition of two types of laser energy makes HALO^® many times more powerful than mechanical microneedling.

HALO^® fractional laser treatments can also be “fine-tuned” to give patients custom results, from minor improvements and minimal recovery to the other end of the spectrum. This is because the clinician can vary the number of channels and the depth of penetration of each of the two lasers in the system.

What Happens During a HALO^® Fractional Laser Session?

At the Whole Beauty^® Institute, we focus on beautiful results that can be achieved safely and as comfortably as possible. HALO^® fractional laser treatments generate hit, but patients are first given a topical anesthetic to reduce sensation in the face. Once this anesthetic takes effect, the laser device is moved directly over the skin to be treated. Patients tend to feel and tolerate bursts of heat, which are quickly cooled. A session can last from 15 minutes to an hour, with the specific duration dependent on the unique details of the treatment.

What Happens After a HALO^® Fractional Laser Session?

Healing time is based on the intensity of their HALO^® fractional laser treatment, but a typical recovery period lasts one to three days. Expect redness and swelling in the days after. Two to three days after treatment, the skin begins to peel, revealing the youthful, glowing skin below. Most patients can apply makeup after two or three days.

Just one session is enough to generate visible results, but many patients return for a second treatment in order to achieve their ideal look. The skin will continue to improve over the following weeks, appearing smoother and clearer as collagen and elastin levels rise.

Other Laser and Light Options at Whole Beauty^® Institute

In addition to HALO^® fractional laser treatments, we offer erbium laser skin resurfacing for ablative results. We also provide intense pulsed light (IPL) and broadband light (BBL) to reduce redness and rejuvenate the skin.