Laser & Light Therapy (IPL, CO2, Ultherapy)

Pacific Plastic Surgery Group in San Francisco offers a physician-supervised laser and light therapy suite using IPL for skin tone and texture, fractionated CO2 laser (Nordlys system) for acne scars and wrinkles, Nd:YAG laser for facial veins and pigmented lesions, and Ultherapy for FDA-cleared non-invasive lifting of the neck, chin, and brow. Treatments are performed in a board-certified plastic surgeon's office, ensuring clinical oversight and safety.

The laser and energy-based treatment division at Pacific Plastic Surgery Group provides non-surgical skin improvement options managed in a plastic surgery clinical environment by Dr. Edward P. Miranda's team — an important distinction that ensures anatomical expertise, appropriate candidacy screening, and access to surgical options if laser treatment is part of a broader aesthetic plan. Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) uses broad-spectrum filtered light to target chromophores in the skin — primarily melanin (for pigmentation, sun spots, freckles) and oxyhaemoglobin (for visible redness, rosacea, broken capillaries) — creating controlled thermal energy that destroys targeted pigment or vascular structures while leaving surrounding tissue intact. A series of three to five sessions spaced four to six weeks apart produces progressive improvement in skin tone uniformity and texture. The Nordlys system hosts fractionated laser treatments including the FRAX 1550 (a 1550 nm non-ablative fractionated erbium fiber laser) and FRAX 1940 (a 1940 nm non-ablative fractional laser for superficial resurfacing), both of which create microscopic treatment zones within the skin to stimulate collagen remodeling — effective for acne scars, fine lines, pore refinement, and general skin texture improvement with manageable downtime of three to five days. Fractionated CO2 laser (also in the Nordlys suite) provides more aggressive ablative resurfacing for deeper wrinkles, significant photoageing, and acne scarring where non-ablative approaches are insufficient. The Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) selectively targets deeper pigment and vascular structures with minimal surface interaction — used for facial telangiectasias (spider veins), port wine stains, deeper pigmented lesions, and laser hair reduction on darker skin tones. Ultherapy uses focused ultrasound energy delivered at precise tissue depths — specifically the SMAS layer and deep dermis — to generate controlled thermal injury points that trigger a collagen and elastin remodeling response over two to three months. It is the only FDA-cleared non-invasive device for lifting and tightening the neck, chin, and brow.