Fraxel Laser Vs Affirm CO2 Laser Rejuvenation?

There are so many lasers and other treatments to consider when evaluating brown spots and fine lines. The newest Fraxel Dual laser allows the physician to use two different wavelengths providing the benefit of the Fraxel Restore for fine lines and texture and sunspots, but the 1927nm. wavelength component can neatly take off a majority of the sunspots in one treatment. The face peels for about one week and looks very obvious during this time that you had some treatment, but the results have been outstanding for some of our patients.

Hi Sutherlando,
The recently released Fraxel restore Dual laser is the best treatment for you. It will remove your minor sun spots, freckles, and it will tighten fine to moderate wrinkles.
Good luck and be well.
Dr. P

At your relatively young age, I would recommend non-ablative therapy. I expect it will restore your skin without changing the color and texture as ablative therapy can. Fraxel non-ablative laser treatments have minimal down time and really are effective.

There is no simple answer to this question. Let's first address the age spots. There are many different treatments for age spots including:  bleaching creams +/-Retin-A (or similar), 20% TCA Peel, IPL (photofacial), Laser peel (erbium or co2). Of these options, the laser peel is a bit of an overkill for age spots alone, but effective and becoming more commonly used. A light TCA peel can have good results and costs $200 or less. Usually only one treatment is needed. It will have minimal effect on wrinkles.  Photofacial is great, especially if one has redness (telangiectasia) as it can treat both. Topical creams help reduce the appearance of age spots and is great for those with light ones and as a maintenance routine. For wrinkles there are many different options as well. For fine lines, one can consider: multiple glycolic peels, 35% TCA peel, laser resurfacing, and topical creams (Retin-A, etc). The TCA peel is extremely effective, has 5-7 days downtime, if not more, and is generally less expensive than the laser peel. I prefer the carbon dioxide laser over the erbium as more heat is generated and therefore more skin tightening. This is especially the case for moderate lines, where skin tightening is needed.