Is Active FX a good treatment for smoker's lines?

How well does Active FX treat deep smoker's lines around the mouth?

2 answers to “Is Active FX a good treatment for...”

A: Combine Deep FX with Active FX

Corey S. Maas, MD

Deep perioral or smoker's lines can be treated with fractionated CO2 laser resurfacing. We find the best results when we combine Deep FX with Active FX. The Deep FX penetrates deeper and stimulates the collagen remodeling necessary to tighten the skin while the more superficial Active FX will improve overall... more

A: Total FX is a good treatment for smoker's lines

Gregory A. Buford, MD

I have used the Lumenis Encore with FX technology for the last few years and am very impressed with its ability to soften lines of facial wrinkling and do so with much less downtime than with previous technologies. In the past, smoker's lines have been addressed in many ways--most of which provided little to... more

Comments

szakany
5 posts
2 Sep 2008

Bridge Therapy is a fractional CO2 laser procedure that basically uses 2 computer pulse generators (CPG) to make holes in the skin. The Active FX CPG makes bigger holes that go into the upper dermis & gives a "deep peel" for improvement in texture & tone. It also does a good job of stimulating collagen for the next 4-6 months. The Deep FX CPG makes holes 1/10th the diameter as Active FX, but goes 2-4x deeper to stimulate collagen & break up any scar tissue better than Active FX, but less improvement in texture & tone. In Bridge Therapy, a single CPG can be used for either an Active FX or Deep FX procedure, or they can be used in combination called Total FX. In my experience, from a single treatment with "aggressive energy settings", I generally see about a 30% improvement with Active FX & 50% improvement with Total FX when treating "deep" smoker's lines around the mouth. For my patients with deep wrinkles around the mouth that want them "gone", I usually recommend a far more aggressive procedure called Max FX with Laserbrasion. This is performed by doing an Active FX using a higher than normal density of holes followed by wiping off the destroyed layer of skin with gauze. This is repeated a second time & then a third time, but this time, instead of wiping it off with gauze, a fine grade sandpaper is used to lightly abrade the skin in the mid dermis. With this procedure, I usually see an 85-90% improvement in deep wrinkles around the mouth.

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