LASER SURGEONS' NEWEST TOOL

Dr. Christopher Jung and his assistant, Vallerie Abernathy, demonstrated the new machine that uses a laser to re-contour a patient's skin to remove wrinkles.

Technological progress continues to make its mark within the medical profession. The world of cosmetic plastic surgery is no exception.

While laser surgery has been available in many areas of medicine for some time, advances in the technology now can virtually eliminate some signs of aging.

"We all want to look as good as we can as long as we can," said Dr. Christopher Jung, who has offices in Doctors' Park.

Jung, an otolaryngologist -- ear, nose and throat doctor -- with special training and interest in facial plastic surgery, devotes over one-quarter of his professional time to facial plastic surgery concerns.

New laser-based technology, he explained, adds to the methods -- such as scrubs and chemical peels -- that may be used to address wrinkling. Other laser procedures are used to eliminate age spots, birthmarks and tattoos.

A new laser attachment, introduced in October at the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery, smooths wrinkles and lines by ablating the superficial tissue on the sides of the wrinkle, thereby recontouring the skin, Jung explained. The attachment to the carbon dioxide laser basically vaporizes the water in the tissue without charring the skin.

Exposure is brief, with the patient wearing protective eye wear. A local anesthetic is typically administered.

The laser method is not a substitute for a facelift. Wrinkles and lines, instead of sagging tissue, are the targets of the new laser procedure.

Jung and others involved in plastic surgery stress that patients must have realistic expectations. Physicians, too, he noted, want the best for their patients. Cosmetic surgeons tend to be perfectionists, he observed, with concerns not unfamiliar to those of artists.

But, after all, Jung observed, "Medicine is an art as well as a science."