Laser Resurfacing Results Vs. Downtime

Usually “low” downtime results in poor long term results (downtime less than 3 days).  Longer downtime results in a more profound improvement.  The goals and the problem to address must be discussed first.  You may not need to have an aggressive treatment.  If you have lines present without moving your face, then an aggressive treatment is needed.  If your skin is dark, then an aggressive treatment may have a higher risk of pigmentation and scarring.  Lasers have options in settings which can be very mild to very aggressive.  The lasers to use are usually CO2, Erbium, or YSGG-Erbium glass, in the right hands. The involvement of a Board Certified Dermatologist or Plastic Surgeon experienced in lasers is a vital.*

An easy way to consider my response to these questions is that, generally speaking, the degree of effectiveness is proportional to the amount of down time. The more aggressive lasers, when more aggressive results are desired, generally have greater down time associated with them. I think of down time, as it relates to effectiveness, along a continuum. On that continuum, the least aggressive treatment with the least down time would be a series of light chemical peels designed to address minor skin blemishes, improve pore size, skin tone and texture using a “medium strength” peel – such as a trichloroacetic acid (TCA) peel.

Then, moving into lasers with even greater effectiveness and proportional down time, “fractionated” resurfacing techniques generally are at the lower end of the scale for lasers with regard to associated effectiveness and down time. These treatments are fairly aggressive but with less down time than the truly ablative resurfacing laser procedures such as CO2 laser resurfacing or Erbium: YAG laser resurfacing. The treatment you choose has to be very specifically designed to address your unique concerns while allowing your recovery to stay within your available timeframe for down time.