Laser Resurfacing Recovery - when Can I Go Back to Work?

We suggest 7-10 days of downtime for Laser Skin Resurfacing with Active, Deep or Total Fx, keeping the skin with an even coat of Aquaphor. During this time you will experience the swelling and peeling which most people will want to stay home for. After that time, you can begin a lighter moisturizer and always mindful of sun exposure.

Basically, there are 2 groups of lasers for facial skin resurfacing : The traditional: CO2 or Erbium or Fractionated CO2 or Erbium). The best results are obtained with the traditional laser resurfacing, but the downtime is 7-9 days. During the first 4-5 days of recovery, the skin is quite raw. Rarely, infections, hyper or hypopigmentation can occur. But most patients are quite happy with the results. With the Fractionated CO2 Laser, the downtime can be v... more

Laser resurfacing can be done with many different types of lasers and at varying levels of aggressiveness. Different lasers are efficacious for different problems and have varying degrees of downtime depening on the aggressiveness. Therefore, if you choose to have a less aggressive treatment (non-ablative), there will be less downtime than if you choose to have a more aggressive treatment (ablative). However, usually more aggressive treatments with greater downtime produce more... more

Not all laser resurfacing are created equal in terms of efficacy and time to achieve recovery. While traditional ablative CO2 laser had been the gold standard, it can take up to 2 months for the healing process to complete. Fractional CO2 laser has the best combination of efficacy and relatively short time to recovery, about 6-7 days. Fraxel laser can be helpful for pigmentation, but may require numerous treatments for improvement of facial texture to be appreciated. Frequent face wash and... more

The wonderful thing about today's resurfacing is that you can tell us how much downtime you can afford for your resurfacing. You can ask me to be aggressive, and I have to be aggressive if you have deep wrinkles or deep acne scars, but if you are looking only for a "freshener" to remove fine lines and pigmentation and improve pore appearance, we have that too. Our fractional CO2 laser can be dialed down to low energies, involve almost no pain, and with a special breathable makeup... more

The recovery for laser resurfacing depends on the type of laser used and the extent of the treatment (depth of resurfacing). CO2 laser resurfacing - 2-4 weeks. Erbium or Fractional laser resurfacing - 1 week. Non - Ablative resurfacing (many types) - back to work same day or next day.

After real resurfacing with erbium laser, you can expect about 7-10 days using Aquaphor ointment and that is how long you will want to stay home. After that you will be using lighter lotion ideally with growth factors (Skin Medica TNS Recovery Complex or Neocutis cream) to speed up recovery. Redness may last several weeks depending on the depth of your laser resurfacing procedure. For female patients that is not a problem since there are great mineral make-up products that will... more