Laser skin resurfacing has been very effective at tightening skin and reversing sun damage. The gold standard is traditional resurfacing with a CO2 (carbon dioxide laser by Coherent , now Lumenis). The downtime can be 7-10 days on average. Most patients have rosiness to their skin for another 8-12 weeks. The results are beautiful causing a major improvement in sun damage and diminishment in wrinkles. (Answer to question # 2)
Since many people do not want to have so much downtime, physicians have been searching for an alternative that can give CO2 results with minimal time off. Other modalities have come about like erbium and fraxel but I have found the best results to occur with CO2. Last year I imported from Italy the Mixto laser. It is fractional, meaning a fraction of the energy is placed upon the skin. This allows the skin to heal much faster and with greater patient comfort. The beauty of it ( as well as some other lasers on the market) is that it can be tuned to your skin. I am able to perform a very light fast healing treatment or a more intense treatment which will have even greater benefit. If someone wants very little downtime they can have a series of treatments which can be additive. (Answer to question #1)
You can find out more about the Mixto and laser resurfacing at my website or on Youtube. Other lasers include:Fraxel Re:pair; Affirm, Dot, Active Fx.
