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Tina S. Alster, MD, FAAD, is an American dermatologist, educator, researcher, and author. Alster specializes in dermatologic laser surgery and cosmetic dermatology. She is the founding director of her skin care clinic, the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery,^[1] and is a Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.^[2]

Education

Alster attended Montgomery Blair High School (1974-77) in Silver Spring, MD, where she was valedictorian of her class.^{[citation needed]} She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duke University with a B.S. Nursing (1977-81)^{[citation needed]}, and was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau nursing honor society.^[3] She obtained her MD degree with Honors and Distinction in research from Duke University School of Medicine (1982-1986).^{[citation needed]} She completed her dermatology residency at Yale New Haven Hospital at Yale University (1987-89) and a Dermatologic Laser Surgery Fellowship at Boston University Hospital (1989-90), where she began her research on scars.^[3]

Career

Early career

During her post-doctoral training at Yale University, Alster met a young woman seeking to reduce the appearance of her facial port-wine stain. Alster came across the 1989 paper Treatment of Children with Port-Wine Stains Using the Flashlamp-Pulsed Tunable Dye Laser,^[4] by Oon Tian Tan, MD, which described the use of a vascular laser to successfully treat port-wine stain birthmarks. The article motivated Alster to pursue a specialized fellowship under Tan. Alster's eventual successful treatment of her port-wine stain patient, and concomitant groundbreaking work on laser scar revision,^[5] launched her career in laser surgery and led to her moniker "Laser Queen."^[6]

Alster also removed many tattoos. She said that "of all the tattoos I remove, cosmetic tattoos [permanent makeup] are the hardest" due to unpredictable laser reactions from color ingredients.^[7] In 1996, Alster published study results in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery showing that then-new CO2 lasers could nearly eliminate scarring risks.^[8] In 1997, she published The Essential Guide To Cosmetic Laser Surgery, with Lydia Preston.^[9]

Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery

Alster is the Medical Director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery (WIDLS),^[10]^[11] a private laser center she founded in 1990. She specializes in dermatologic laser surgery and cosmetic dermatology, performing a wide-range of procedures, including laser scar revision, laser treatment of vascular and pigmented birthmarks, laser-assisted hair removal, neuromodulators and dermal filler injections, noninvasive skin tightening, cellulite and cutaneous fat reduction, fractional skin resurfacing, and microneedling.^[12]

Research and work

Alster conducted numerous institutional review board (IRB)-approved clinical trials using specialized lasers, devices, and other cosmetic treatments that have led to FDA approval of technologies and products in common use today, including Botox, Xeomin, Coolsculpting, Fraxel, Thermage, and Ulthera.^{[citation needed]} She served as a consulting dermatologist for Lancôme La Mer/Estée Lauder for nearly a decade before establishing her own skin care line, the A Method, in 2018.^[13]

Patients with challenging traumatic scars are referred to Alster from around the world.^{[citation needed]} One of these was Ayad al-Sirowiy, a 13-year-old boy injured by a landmine in Iraq that embedded hundreds of shrapnel fragments into his face, leaving him with significant scarring and blindness. In 2005, the boy was transported from Iraq to Washington, D.C., where Alster removed the shrapnel and treated his scars pro bono with a laser.^[14]

Alster's work with burn scars led more recently to the referral of a domestic abuse and burn victim survivor, Yvette Cade, who underwent 50 surgeries before receiving laser treatment by Alster.^[15]

Since 1991, Alster has been a clinical professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine.^[10]^[11] She is also an associate physician at Duke University School of Medicine. She has taught hundreds of post-doctoral dermatology and plastic surgery residents at these institutions as well as through preceptorship programs sponsored by the AAD, ASDS, ASLMS, and WDS.^[10]^[11]

References

^ "Home | Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery". WIDLS. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
^ "Faculty | Top Dermatology Residency Programs | MedStar Health". www.medstarhealth.org. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
^ ^a ^b "Sigma Theta Tau inducts 36". The Durham Sun. March 24, 1980. p. 6-A.
^ Oon Tian Tan, M.D., Karen Sherwood, M.D., and Barbara A. Gilchrest (February 16, 1989). "Treatment of Children with Port-Wine Stains Using the Flashlamp-Pulsed Tunable Dye Laser". New England Journal of Medicine.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ T.S. Alster, MD, and C.M. Williams, MD (May 13, 1995). "Treatment of keloid sternotomy scars with 585 nm flashlamp-pumped pulsed-dye laser". The Lancet. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(95)91989-9.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Maureen Dowd (March 22, 1997). "The Latest Wrinkle". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 28, 2017.
^ Elaine Miller. "Skin-Deep Beauty". Los Angeles Times. p. E2-E3.
^ "Lasers are working wonders making patients look younger". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. November 30, 1996. p. 7.
^ Lisa Faye Kaplan (July 15, 1997). "Laser resurfacing removes wrinkles". The Idaho Statesman. p. 1D, 6D.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Cold Comfort". The Toronto Star. January 10, 2013. p. 'The Kit', 6.
^ ^a ^b ^c Paula Wolfson (July 31, 2014). "The truth about anti-aging 'cosmeceuticals'" – via wtop.com.
^ "Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery". Retrieved October 15, 2023.
^ "Pro skin care: Doctor-endorsed products". The Wilmington News Journal. February 27, 2022. p. F5 – via USA Today.
^ "Doctor eases scars of war". September 1, 2005 – via theaestheticguide.com.
^ Samara Martin-Ewing, Becca Knier, Allison Seymour (May 11, 2022). "'I'm not going to let him steal my joy'; Yvette Cade survives estranged husband setting her on fire". WUSA 9.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)