I am going to have CO2 laser treatment on my whole face but mostly for lip lines.

If you are only concerned about your lips, then just do your lips. The injections are not very painful.

Fractional CO2 laser is an excellent tool for skin rejuvenation in our center in Santa Monica. We use the fractional multi-depth ablative approach to help resurface the skin, recontour acne scars, improve incisional plastic surgery scars, and reduce surface irregularities from skin tone to dark pigmentation. Our approach utilizes a multi-depth approach that targets melanocytes in the epidermis and collagen fibroblasts in the dermis. This approach can be combined with a TCA Peel in a process known as a sapphire peel. Fractional laser is excellent for acne scars and contour scars in the skin. Patients are advised to undergo skin protocols with Melarase creams before and after treatment to help reduce pigmentation. Melarase AM, Melarase PM, and Melapads can seriously improve surface sun damage and UV related pigmentation. After the laser, we expect redness for a few weeks as the skin improves. PRP and Hydrafacial enzyme facials can further improve skin quality after fractional co2.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

CO2 resurfacing can be a great option for treating lip lines. It is possible to do a CO2 treatment just for lip lines (peri-oral rhytids). If we are treating only this area, we will "feather" onto the cheeks and chin so that there is not a noticeable difference between the treated area and the untreated area. When I do an consult for CO2 resurfacing around the mouth, I do look at the entire face. We then decide, with the patient's input, whether we will do just around the mouth, or whether a full face treatment would be the best option. Remember, lip lines need a multi-treatment approach. This includes possible resurfacing (CO2), Botox injections to decrease the muscle contractions that cause the lines (puckering/turning the lips inward), filler to fill in the lines, and life style changes to decrease the actions that cause the lip lines.  

That is a great question! Sometimes although the patient may have 1 main area of concern such as lip lines, the cosmetic physician can see other problems on the face so we may recommend treating the entire face to take care of all the problems. You may not notice the other problems until after the lip lines have improved and no one wants to be disappointed to see that after getting through 1 laser recovery, they are going to have to do another treatment to get the other problems treated. Some physicians may recommend treating the entire face if there is concern that the skin of the treated area may not look the same in color or texture as the remaining face. If just the lip lines area is treated, it is important for your physician to blend or transition areas from treated to not treated so it does not look obvious that only part of the face was treated. I would discuss you concerns with your treating physician so he or she can help you to decide what will give you the best result. Best wishes, Mary Beth Mudd