After a CO2 Laser, how long do I need to wait to start using Retinol and Acné treatments again?

After CO2 treatments, the skin is very sensitive and face products, even shampoos  will often irritate the skin.  My recommendation is to continue using a heavy moisturizer as well as a gentle cleanser and follow up with the provider who did your treatment initially because depending on how well the skin is healing, you can start using stronger products as early as 4 weeks after treatments.  They would be able to give you the proper instruction on whether your skin is ready to handle the products.All the best,Carlos Mata, MD, MBA, FACSBoard-Certified Plastic Surgeon

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

The main consideration after CO2 treatment on the face is sun protection, use of moisturizers, frequently the use of antivirals if your doctor so prescribed and holding any skin treatments that can irritate such as retinoic acid. I typically advise my patients to re-start their usual regime around 2 to 3 weeks after their treatments. Hope this helps.

I recommend following up with a cosmetic dermatologist for after care and skin care recommendations. I recommend skin care with vitamin c, b5 hydrator, silicone based scar gels with growth factors and enzymatic washes with papaya enzyme. Sun protection is essential. Lasers like Co2 work best in combination with other treatments in order to improve the skin's texture and collagen. After Co2, I recommend adding fraxel lasers, microneedling/prp and radiofrequency treatments. Best, Dr. Emer

Thank you for your question randomlion. Fractional CO2 laser resurfacing is an
outstanding treatment that can address multiple aspects of aging in a single
treatment. Retinoids may irritate the skin if used after a laser resurfacing treatment. Depeding on how aggressive the treatment is I recommend that my patients wait 1-2 weeks or more after such a treatment before restarting retinoids. Please consult with a doctor for specific recommendations. Good luck!

Hello,
We typically recommend returning to skincare about 1 week post fractional CO2. laser.  For the first 4-5 days, we use a cream called Cicalfate which helps to re-epithelialize the skin without the acne eruptions that we were seeing with aquaphor/Vaseline etc.  Once patients have peeled, they may return to their Vitamin C serum/growth factors/tretinoin and of course a great coverage of sunscreen!  While clinical studies have looked at Vitamin C immediately post CO2 to help augment the building of collagen, often times, patients find that it burns too much in the first several days post CO2 and wait until the 1 week time frame.
Happy Healing!