There are a whole host of fractional ablative devices presently on the market with more coming soon. They all claim wrinkle improvement, skin tightening and removal of sun damage with a minimal postoperative recovery and low risk. There has been one peer reviewed article published last month (May 2009) in Journal of Drugs in Dermatology that compared 8 of these fractional resurfacing laser. The main points raised in this study include: 1) The CO2 lasers were found to be superior to the Erbium devices for treatment of wrinkles; and 2) CO2 DOT therapy was the overall winner in the independent-investigator evaluation of baseline and 3 month post treatment photos. In regard to down time, both of these machines should have equal down time with more oozing from the Sciton Profractional due to it being an Erbium laser which is less able to stop bleeding as compared to the CO2 Dot therapy device. In terms of risk, since this is fractional ablative technology, they would be similar and include, change in skin pigment, onset of cold sores particular if there is a history of these in the past and you have not received prophylactic medication, and patient dissatisfaction. However, if you chose a physician who has the experience, training and can show their own patent's photos, not the laser company stock photo's your risk is negligible with these devices Good Luck and God Bless!