Episode 16: Plasma Energy with AgeJet

Welcome to another episode of Just Laser It where we discuss cutting-edge technologies and advancements in Cosmetic Dermatologic procedures.

Today we discuss the AgeJet Plasma Energy Rejuvenation Device.

Dr. Saluja and Kane will cover: 

1. Understanding Plasma Energy
Plasma is the 4th state of matter and we discuss what this means and how it interacts with the skin to create a rejuvenative effect.
2. What is involved in a typical treatment including numbing
3.  Post procedure healing
4.  What exactly is treated with plasma energy

If you have further questions regarding this episode or the AgeJet, give us a call Monday through Thursday between 9 to 4:30 pm at (704) 584-4071 

Thank you for your listenership!

Transcript

SOUND_PAD 0:00

Thanks for watching, have a nice week

Dr. Minni Saluja 0:09

Hi, everyone. I hope you're well. Welcome back to just laser and all things We're finally back after a long hiatus with these episodes, and it's time to start talking about energy based devices again. Cane. Are you ready?

Kane Rogers 0:24

Yeah, I think I'm ready. I'm probably going to ask a lot of dumb questions, but let's see where it

Dr. Minni Saluja 0:29

all questions are good questions. That's what they say. Well, today the topic Kane is plasma and I know this is a far reaching topic and so we're going to kind of go through what plasma is and why we're utilizing it in the practice and we're kind of on plasma 3. 0 now and we'll talk about that as well. So let's go ahead and talk about this.

Kane Rogers 0:52

Okay. Where do you want to start

Dr. Minni Saluja 0:54

Well, let's first talk about what plasma is, and I think that's important because you hear about plasma in so many different things. And even when you're talking about the universe, there's so much plasma in the universe. So let's, let's start there.

Kane Rogers 1:07

So yeah, that is a really broad topic,

Dr. Minni Saluja 1:09

it is a product. When you think about plasma energy, it's, it's energy that is occurring and it's the fourth state of matter. So, you know, solid, liquid, gas, and then plasma energy. In plasma, when we talk about the universe plasma is created from high thermal energy and it basically strips off electrons from a molecule and it ionizes this energy. It makes this energy very electrically conductive. So, for example,, when we talk about the auroras, This is plasma energy that's created by the sun that's then interacting with the atmosphere and you create these wonderful auroras, these lights, because what's happening is as the Electrons sputter down to the ground state. They release photons, which is light. And so we see this with lightning. We see this in plasma televisions and actually in the future there's gonna be plasma energy that's fusion energy. So it's gonna be clean energy that's abundant. So plasmas is kind of a buzz right now. There's a lot, a lot of talk about plasma.

Kane Rogers 2:13

Time wrapping my brain around plasma to be quite frank, you know, I get gas solid liquid, but then plasma I just visually I can't quite picture it, but I know you've been talking about it for jeez I can remember you talking about plasma a decade ago as as an energy based device. So I'm excited to see what it can do

Dr. Minni Saluja 2:32

Well, correct. So in relation to aesthetics, two decades ago there was even the right tech technology with portrait laser and it was a nitrogen based plasma energy source with a lot of good results. And then it kind of morphed into neogen and implied duo. Well now we're into plasma 3. 0, which is the age jet. And it's utilizing nitrogen energy. And so what's occurring is you get radio frequency that's pumped into this nitrogen gas gain, and it's stripping off these electrons. It's basically breaking down the molecule and making it a very highly conductive energy source that when it's delivered to the skin, it creates photons of light. Yes, we see this kind of. Kind of this discharge, a coronal discharge that's coming from the tip, but it creates heat in a very controlled manner that's directed to the surface of the skin. So Cain, you've heard us talk about ablative energy and non ablative energy,

Kane Rogers 3:27

Yeah, we have talked about it. And for those that aren't familiar, there's a podcast episode on it.

Dr. Minni Saluja 3:32

Yeah, there's a couple of podcast episodes. And so ablative, as you know, vaporizes off the top layer of the skin, the epidermis down to the dermis. Plasma energy is non ablative. It interacts with the epidermal layer, creates heat at that epidermis in a controlled manner. And then the heat goes down into the dermis. So you're basically healing from the inside out. So it's a very controlled method of delivering energy. And I tell you, some of the results can be equivalent to ablative type of energies without having all that downtime.

Kane Rogers 4:06

Okay, so before we talk about some of the results, talk a little bit more, you just mentioned a key buzzword, I think is downtime. So when you talk about it, it's similar to a blade of results, right? Is that what you

Dr. Minni Saluja 4:20

to correct. It can be similar to

Kane Rogers 4:22

the downtime? okay. You're right

Dr. Minni Saluja 4:24

so plasma energy, let's, let's even go back one step. It can be delivered at high levels, like the 3. 5 to four jewel or at lower levels. And we found through the years and the literature has also shown that. The one to 1. 5 joule level, kind of the lower level can really give some impressive results with about a two to three day downtime. I actually did mine yesterday. So Cain, you're right across from me. You can see it turns a little bit red. In the first day, yep, and then it turns a little bit darker in coloration, like a little brownish in coloration. This is day number one, very easy to cover over actually and then it, it just kind of sloughs off. So that darker discoloration is more of the desiccation, the dryness of the top layer of the skin. And then what you'll notice is the skin will get A little bit dry, so especially around the eye area can get almost leathery is not a good word because that's too strong of a word, but it gets a little dry and kind of contracts and then at about three, four, five days, you'll start to see that loosen up. And then finally, At 30 days, 90 days, you really get some nice results with plasma energy

Kane Rogers 5:33

4, 5 days, you know, I'm looking at you right now, and you're, you're day into it, right? day into it. And it, yeah, it doesn't look bad. I mean, when I look at it, it's just, eh, mildly blotchy, is what it

Dr. Minni Saluja 5:43

That's a good way of saying it, Molly.

Kane Rogers 5:44

Right. Nothing, nothing big. And

Dr. Minni Saluja 5:47

favorite places for plasma energy and patients notice in the practice is the periocular area. I love it for the eye area. Folks always come in with creepiness under their eyes or even some hooding of their eyes. And this is a nice way to contract that tissue and really get some nice, results in that

Kane Rogers 6:04

Yeah, let's talk a little bit more about that because we've used the word results about 10 times already, but results of what? What would this be used for? So

Dr. Minni Saluja 6:13

A multitude of things. So primarily for the texture of the skin. So skin wrinkling hooded eyes, but it's also used for acne and acne scarring. And what's so interesting about plasma. So I've, I've talked to you a little bit about what it can do in regard to creating some thermal heat to the skin to create elastin and collagen. But what's also fascinating about plasma is that it can interact and turn on chemical mediators in the skin to help down to the cellular level of the skin. So for example, it can create reactive oxygen species, some nitrous oxide, and it can help to minimize the bacterial load of the skin. So that's why plasma energy is a sterile type of energy. It can sterilize the skin. So it's wonderful for not only treating acne scarring, but also treating. The bacteria associated with acne, the P acnes and whatnot on the skin surface to help minimize acne outbreaks. So wrinkling acne it can help with different areas, not just on the face, but even off the face applications, skin on the upper part of the knees. You know, we're always talking about that abdominal skin, arm skin as well. So Any, really any place, Cain, I can utilize this, whereas ablative, I really kind of stick more to the face when I do ablative procedures.

Kane Rogers 7:30

there's a plethora of things that you would treat with this plasma device.

Dr. Minni Saluja 7:38

Correct. And there's also the patient population. So, for example, I can't do ablative lasers on my skin because of my skin coloration, I'm worried that I would hyperpigment with plasma. I don't worry about this. Now, granted, you have to modulate your settings, but remember our sweet spot for plasma is that one to 1. 5 joule energy setting. And so that is perfect for pretty much all skin types. I do watch fives and six, but I can utilize it with different,

Kane Rogers 8:05

I do watch fives and six, modulate

Dr. Minni Saluja 8:06

Fitzpatrick skin types, five and six, like a really darker, coloration, but I can modulate that. There's different tips you can utilize different spacing tips that you can utilize to modulate that as well.

Kane Rogers 8:16

You can utilize modulate that as well. Alright, talk a little bit more about, you had mentioned hooded eyelids. I think that'd probably be a, a big topic for a lot of our listeners, including me. I mean, I'm, I'm kind of interested in, as, as well. How does it help with hooded eyes?

Dr. Minni Saluja 8:27

By creating collagen in that area and contracting that skin. And you can really get it just lifts that skin so you get contracture, which helps with that hooding component of the eyes and just the wrinkling as well around the eyes. Now, you know, I'm always kind of teasing you and saying, Oh, I want to do this on you. Cane, this is something that I would want to do this on you. And I think you would, I think you would tolerate it nicely. I mean. Cain does not like to have anything done, you know, on weekends. He goes out to Lincoln County to feed the dogs. He doesn't want to have any exposed areas as far as healing, but this is something that you can really maybe be a tiny bit red on Monday. If

Kane Rogers 9:03

Well, I'm a big baby. I mean, let's just be candid. I, I'm, I'm not that tough when it comes to these things, but how, how is it from a serious question? How is it on a pain scale?

Dr. Minni Saluja 9:14

so it's, it's wonderful, but we do,

Kane Rogers 9:16

It's a wonderful

Dr. Minni Saluja 9:17

it's a wonderful, no, it's, it's not bad at all. That's what I mean by wonderful, but we do numb for it in that one to 1. 5 energy setting. And I'll tell you this newer plasma device, this age jet, I think it's a little more comfortable, but packs a little more punch to the skin as well. So I just. Numb myself up for 45 minutes, we recommend an hour in our office and took the numbing off and began the procedure. Now what's important to realize too is when you take the numbing off, this is more for practitioners, remember to not use alcohol with any plasma device because that's flammable. Use hydrogen peroxide and Hibiclens to take the numbing off and then begin to do the plasma. We use these little silicone paddles to cover over the, Eyebrows and the eyelashes to get in close so I can get all the way up to the lash line when I'm treating

Kane Rogers 10:05

Okay, so you've, there's a number of areas on the face, on the body, you've listed a bunch of them and help tighten the skin, all sorts of different things. Again, I want to kind of focus around. So, if you were to treat around the eyes, how long of a treatment would that take?

Dr. Minni Saluja 10:21

Oh,

Kane Rogers 10:22

five minutes, Oh, that's

Dr. Minni Saluja 10:23

five, 10 minutes, not long at

Kane Rogers 10:24

all. So, it's a relatively quick treatment and mild downtime, really. It's just, as I've said, it's kind of blotchy. That's, that's what I'm

Dr. Minni Saluja 10:32

Little, maybe it might be a little puffy around the eyes. I do double pass around the eyes. Otherwise I single pass every other place. But what's interesting is you don't need ocular shields. This is plasma energy. This is not. laser energy. So that's the other thing that's nice. Again, I just do a silicone paddle around the eyes. And so sometimes patients are claustrophobic when I put those ocular shields, those corneal protectors in, and you do not need that with, with this type of energy setting.

Kane Rogers 10:58

Okay, and then how many treatments for the best results that you can get? Is it a one and done? Is it a series of three? What would you, what

Dr. Minni Saluja 11:05

Okay. So that's a great question. I'm actually going to expand on that a little bit too. So I kind of recommend a two treatment process. But remember, that's for my average patient. If someone presents to me with mild wrinkling on their skin, if someone presents to me with some mild laxity in the, on the lids, I'll probably do a two treatment, treatment process. But that's not how everyone presents. If someone presents with more issues on their skin or, or considerable laxity, heck, you might be a three treatment It might be a three treatment protocol. If someone has minor amounts, they might be only a one treatment protocol. But what's so important is oftentimes I get patients that come in and they'll say, Hey, Dr. Sluja, how long does this last? And you know what my real question is? What are you doing to make it last? So I think that's really important. What is your self care that you're doing prior to things and what is the care that you're doing post? Because I'll tell you one thing, I don't like to do energy based devices on smokers because it really, you can't stimulate collagen from that and your results will be poor. But equally there, if someone's eating a lot of sugar. Let's say sugar creates these advanced glycosylation and products. And you can, these age components, which can really break down the skin more or what is their diet like, you know, are they getting enough, are they getting enough vitamin C in their diet? Those things are important for how they heal and certainly how long they. They continue to have good results post treatment.

Kane Rogers 12:31

glycosylation Everything is custom to the individual patient. There is no one size fits all in terms of how many treatments are needed, but also in terms of how long the results will last. It's really determined by a number of factors.

Dr. Minni Saluja 12:45

is, but you can, you can think about collagen being produced for about six to nine months. And so what's interesting with plasma is you do see results that last a little bit longer, about a year or so once they've gone through a series of it because you, your, your results at 90 days. are better than 30 days. Your results at six months are better than, than at three months. So you do improve. And then certainly there's a stabilization. And then finally there's going to be degradation of the college and later on as well. So there's a plateauing effect that occurs. And then that's when you hit yourself again with an energy based device.

Kane Rogers 13:20

Okay, and I know we've, we've plasma has been on out in the market for a while now and it seems like the evolution of the technology continues to get better and better. You started this off saying this is plasma 3. 0. Why is it 3. 0 and how has it evolved over? Prior devices.

Dr. Minni Saluja 13:40

So the previous devices, there were some things that we wanted to have that were lacking. And one of the things is certainly even just the, the efficacy of how much energy is getting into the skin. That's important, which correlates to results. You can feel a greater impact with the energy pulses that are laid down. But two is also the repetition rate. How fast can you lay it down? Some of my other devices, I would have to lay pulses down and there was a little bit of a duty cycle, which within. take lay eight pulses down and wait and eight pulses down and wait. This one, I can go all across the skin and that's why fairly quickly. And that's why I was saying that the eyes are five to 10 minutes at most to treat it. And the other thing is you want to get enough pulses into the skin. And this one also has a high level of pulses that are on each tip double the amount of pulses that are, that are in the other devices. So that's wonderful as

Kane Rogers 14:30

So not only is it very effective, but important for both the, the practitioner and the patient is very efficient. So you're not going to lay in that chair getting for a long time getting pulsed.

Dr. Minni Saluja 14:41

Correct. Correct. So it just

Kane Rogers 14:43

Which for a wimp like me matters, I'd like

Dr. Minni Saluja 14:46

Well, it matters for all of us, right? I mean, even the fatigue of, of practitioners, I mean, it matters for everyone. So I just, I'm really enjoying this device. I am really, so you'll, you'll get to see more and more results. We'll post them up on our Instagram. And certainly if there's questions you let us know,

Kane Rogers 15:04

Age. A G E.

Dr. Minni Saluja 15:05

This is the age jet that we're talking about for the plasma. And so, yeah, we're really excited about it.

Kane Rogers 15:11

All right, cool. So just to summarize is it can be used for a number of different things. It is very efficient. It has mild downtime. And

Dr. Minni Saluja 15:21

Pretty much any skin type.

Kane Rogers 15:22

pretty much any skin type. Sounds pretty good. I'm actually

Dr. Minni Saluja 15:26

Okay. Let's do, let's for sure do this. And I will post you on there. I know I've been saying, let's do this. Let's do this on you. Let's do the age jet on you. Let's, I think you'll really enjoy the results around the periocular area. Cane. Maybe I'll start there on you.

Kane Rogers 15:40

Yeah, please. Let's just start there.

Dr. Minni Saluja 15:42

Okay. Sounds like a plan. Well, thank you all so much and have a wonderful, wonderful summer. There's going to be some exciting new technology this year. So we'll certainly discuss it

Kane Rogers 15:51

with you. And again, thank you for listening. Please rate and review us and we'll talk soon.

Dr. Minni Saluja 15:56

Bye.

Kane Rogers 15:56

All right. Bye.