Will electronic cigarettes have an adverse effect on laser resurfacing?

Electronic cigarettes may cause a delay in healing.  Nicotine acts as a vasoconstrictor, impeding blood flow to the skin and thereby prolonging the recovery process.  Will this ultimately have an effect on your result?  Not always, but extended recovery never makes a patient happy.

Thank you for your question.I would not suggest any nicotine products while in recovery. Nicotine exposure during recovery will reduce oxygen flow to impacted regions due to the constriction of smaller blood vessels and capillaries. It is unclear at this time how severely this may impact recovery for a given procedure, but if you would like to achieve the best results I would error on the side of caution and avoid it entirely.

Yes, the concerns are the same whether we're talking about electronic or standard cigarettes or patches or nicotin gum, for that matter. The issue is nicotine exposure which causes constriction of small blood vessels. This interferes with wound healing. The delivery mechanism is less important. E-cigarettes will likely deliver fewer other carcinogens but you will still be exposed to nicotine with its usual wound healing consequences.I hope this information is helpful.Stephen Weber MD, FACSDenver Facial Plastic Surgeon

Smoking cigarettes can slow the healing process.  Many of the chemical in cigarettes have a deleterious effect on the human body's ability to circulate oxygen.  One of these chemicals, nicotine causes constriction of blood vessels, preventing oxygen from getting to healing tissue.  As nicotine is found in E-cigarettes, it is reasonable to expect that they would adversely effect healing in the same manner as traditional cigarettes.