How Successful Are ProFractional Lasers for Diminishing Wrinkles?

Profractional laser has been I great tool to use here in the office for multiple skin irregularities. Whether it is to treat hyperpigmentation issues, acne scars or fine lines and wrinkles.  It all depends on what the patient is trying to enhance. For any deep wrinkles or even some fine lines, it is probably best to do a laser resurfacing procedure.  This procedure is best under general anesthesia.  The patient can expect less wrinkles, improvement in deep wrinkles and overall skins health and tone can improve. 

ProFractional Laser can be helpful for acne scarring and wrinkles but may require multiple treatments. Gold standard for the past couple decades has been ablative CO2 laser resurfacing. Greater the wavelength of a laser provides greater depth of skin penetration and the associated energy released underneath the skin. Most skin laser experts agree that CO2 wavelength based lasers provide greater efficacy but also greater downtime compared with Erbium wavelength based laser. You may find Fractional CO2 10600nm Laser (Total Fx, Mixto, Fraxel Repair, etc) to be more efficacious with one or two treatment sessions with 5-7 days of downtime vs. 4-5 treatments of old Fraxel Restore 1550nm laser or Sciton ProFractional 2940nm laser based with 3-4 days of downtime.

Thank you for your question. The efficacy of a Profractional laser treatment is dependent on the depth of treatment. With superfical use, a series of treatements is often necessary to help with superficial wrinkles. Alternatively, a deep profractional treatment will be required to help with the deepest wrinkles. I find a combination of chemical peeling, dermabrasion, laser resurfacing, and Profractional Laser the best for patients with the most problematic skin. I hope this helps. Take care. 

The Profractional laser is the most powerful erbium yag on the market. It can go very deep if desired or stay very superficial. The key with any of the fractionated lasers is to balance the downtime with the results.  It is not uncommon to need 2-3 treatments to really appreciate the results. I have some patients who do one treatment at an aggressive setting and they do amazing.  It will really depend on the severity of your wrinkles and the downtime you can allow . Just find the combination that works best for you for your goals and schedule and budget

We've experienced excellent results with Profractional laser on wrinkles around the mouth and around the eyes.  It usually takes more than one treatment but makes such a significant difference on the overall appearance of the face.  Using fillers to the area in addition to Profractional laser also helps regain a more natural youthful appearance.

OK, here is the real deal- results are proportional to downtime. Longer downtime means less treatments, but better results. Years ago I only did full ablation, followed by ProFractional with maximal depth and 'coag' or heating. This heating causes more collagen stimulation and remodelling, and hence better results for diminishing wrinkles, improving skin texture and skin tone (tightness). I still think that erbium yag is the treatment of choice for darker skin patients. In the past 3 years, I ve replaced this technique and use erbium as full resurfacing, followed by CO2 CORE- this has a downtime of 8-11 days, but only one treatment is needed. Results from CO2 Fractional are better than Erbium Profractional - this is fact and reflected in the literature. Regardless, Profractional treatments are effective in reducing wrinkles, however CO2 is better. You have to weight up the downtime, vs results. Cheers, Dr Davin LimDermatologistBrisbane, Australia

The fractional CO2 Lasers (Fraxel re:Pair, ProFractional, Fractional FX, Deep FX, etc) are all quite effective for treating wrinkles, acne scars, enlarged pores, etc. In a recent article in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal entitled "Fractional Photothermolysis for Skin Rejuvenation" (Cohen, Henssler, Johnson) - the Conclusion was : "Fractional photothermolysis represents a breakthrough in laser treatment for a wide array of skin problems." The study did compare non-ablative and ablative (fractional lasers) . It also concluded that "The Re:pair delivers the deepest injury of any of the nonablative and ablative fractional lasers." and "The delivery system is thought to be faster than any other device on the market and ... it provides a very versatile range of fractionally ablative treatments." "The handpiece...provides optimal, uniform delivery of energy for greater safety, speed, and efficacy. Early clinical results have been impressive." This basically means the laser treatment can be tailored to your particular problems and severity of skin damage. So be sure to ask your physician, whether a board certified plastic surgeon, facial plastic surgeon or dermatologist, what their experience is with the various lasers, why they prefer what they use, what are their results, how many treatments does it take, can you see photos or even talk with patients that have had this procedure. All of this will help to build a level of confidence in your physician.