Chemical peel or Halo fractional laser treatment or other?

Question

I have deep smokers wrinkles above my upper lip and deep crows feet wrinkles and large pores, would a level 3 eye and lip peel work or would I have to get halo fractional laser treatment ? And what do they cost?

Christopher W. Robb, MD, PhD · Answer

Its a pretty straight forward concept. Peels simply don't go very deep. Maybe 1-10% of the way into the top layer of skin. Your wrinkles exist way down in the second layer. Halo gets down to that layer, and is safe and effective. However, the Gold standard for removing wrinkles around the eyes and mouth is full ablation (Erbium:YAG lasers, CO2 lasers). However, full ablation can have very long down time and hurt a bit more.  For someone wanting 50% improvement of wrinkles around the mouth, doing 3-4 HALO treatments is the perfect solution. I hope this helps. Great question! -cr

Stanley Kovak, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question. Laser treatments are much better in terms of treating wrinkles. Halo may be an option for you, or resurfacing; it is difficult to tell without a physical assessment. On the contrary, fillers may do the trick for you. It depends on the depth of the wrinkles and the results you are looking to achieve. Be sure to consult with a reputable physician to get the best treatment options for you. Best of luck!

Brynn Richardson, MD · Answer

Lasers have really almost entirely done away with chemical peels for the treatment of wrinkles. On the whole, one can achieve far greater results with far better control utilizing a laser.
The real questions most patients need to consider when looking at one treatment over another (say different lasers) is 'What is my desired result?' and 'What is my tolerance for downtime?'. It can be a challenge to balance the two questions and in the end, more downtime usually equates to more result, faster. Certainly, more gentle treatments with lesser amounts of downtime can eventually lead to good results, however, the trade-off is often a series of procedures v one. 
Deep resurfacing with erbium, or CO2, is the gold standard for deep lines. Most patients would consider the downtime involved to be fairly extensive and the redness of the treated areas to be fairly prolonged. The results are beautiful and this is usually a one and done treatment. Not every patient is a candidate for deep resurfacing due to skin type.
Fractional lasers are basically all going to require multiple procedures stacked a couple months apart to get to a nice result. A patient's hide out time is generally much shorter and easier to conceal overall. By the time you consider multiple treatments, the costs of fractional resurfacing vs. deep can be fairly even.
And, sometimes a filler is still needed to augment the result. And, often patients should consider neuromodulators (Botox, Dysport, etc.) to help maintain the result. The answer isn't necessarily quick and easy. 
Best! 
Dr R

Robert G. Aycock, MD, FACS · Answer

Deep laser resurfacing is the go to procedure to treat those deep wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. Halo will improve those areas but it will never be as dramatic of a result than laser resurfacing. There is about a 10 day downtime where you would want to hide out for a couple days.  Chemical peels are nice for maintenance treatments but it will not give you the results you want.

Promila Banerjee, MD · Answer

Hands down Halo not to be sounding biased because we have a Halo, but chemical peels go only so far. Halo is a deep, deep fractional laser with helps stimulate your own collagen. Costs vary depending on how many treatments you sign up for as we have packages with not only with halo but a combo of BBL.

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