Profactional Vs CO2 Fractional Laser Resurfacing?

Fractional laser is an amazing and highly effective treatment in our office. We use the laser treatment to help with acne scars, large pores, fine wrinkles, tissue collagen loss, scars, sebaceous hyperplasia, active acne, and for brightening dark pigmentation. Although there are very strong fractional lasers such as CO2 laser, we use lighter treatments for corrective skincare and maintenance of results. Our Thulium fractional laser, clear and brilliant laser, and Ultra Thulium laser are excellent options in our clinic. We also perform CO2 fractional and erbium depending on skin tone and tolerance for downtime. Patients do have to use a Melarase cream before and after treatment to help further reduce pigmentation after laser. Dark spots can improve with these treatments. I recommend fractional laser for incisional scars as well, especially after plastic surgery.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

We have 3 fractional CO2 lasers, one standard CO2 laser and an erbium laser. Theoretical information is great, but look at the before and afters of both the Fraxel repair and profractional and you will see that the Fraxel repair photos are more impressive and require less treatments. In fact, the majority of patients require only one treatment with the Fraxel repair. I have posted photos of patients that I have treated so that you can review for comparison. Whatever you decide, choose a dermatologist or plastic surgeon that performs the treatment and does lots of cases. I have not seen any cases of permanent hypopigmentation with Fraxel repair, unless there was an infection or some other complication. Best, Dr. Groff

Profractional is Sciton's trade name for a fractional laser. There are many types of C02 fractional laser resurfacing. Some are more effective for certain treatments than profractional, but most are less effective. When deciding on a laser treatment, choose an experienced, reputable, and expert practitioner who can tailor laser or provide a combination of lasers to meet your needs/objectives.

After performing more than 4600 CO2 procedures since 1992, I can catagoricaly state that threre is no contest. Microfractional CO2 laser resurfacing is Superior to All of the Erbium lasers. the reason is simple. CO2 lasers are 10,600 nanometers and Erbium-yag laser are at 2640 nanometers. This higher wavelength produces much more heat in the deep dermis that Erbium can and this deep, higher temperature is what is needed to ensure long lasting (10 years or more) tightening.  The Profractional Laser by Sciton Is a fractionated Erbium laser and cannot defy the laws of physics and give more tightening than a Microfractional CO2 laser. The real problem here is  the deliberate confusion by the manufacturers of CO2 and erbium lasers. (Most companies make both). eg. Fraxel Repair is a CO2 laser(10,600nm) Fraxel Restore is an Erbium laser(1550nm) and Fraxel refine is (1440nm) all three made by the same company. In my opinion, the C02 laser> erbium> 1440. The consumer sees "Fraxel" in ads and has no way of determining effectivness. I conclude by mentioning that Sciton does make a double erbium-yag laser the Contour trl which is the only Erbium laser that comes close to Microfractionlal CO2, but still isn"t as good.

 

Both of the laser you mention create small dots or mtzs (Micro Thermal Zones) of tissue injury or heating. The MTZ heal from the surrounding injured tissue so that you get a smoother, tighter more uniform appearance of the skin.
ProFractional lasers utilize an erbium laser that is very specific for water. With this laser you can remove or vaporize a specific amount of tissue giving your skin a beautiful resurfacing. You can also add heat to the columns of tissue or not depending upon what your doctor and you are trying to accomplish. Heat causes the surrounding collagen to contract.
CO2 fractional lasers utilize CO2 which has a higher wavelength of light in the Infra red spectrum. While it also uses water as a chromophore it is not as specific so the thermal relaxation time isn't reached as quickly and the tissue surrounding the MTZ absorb the excess heat. This allows for collagen contraction and again can gives the skin a nice uniform color and texture. The difficulty with the heat for both lasers is that this can cause hyperpigmentation in darker skin types or long term hypopigmentation.
CO2 has been considered the gold standard for facial resurfacing, however the ProFractional with its ability to deliver prescribed depths of tissue ablation and heat may give your provider a little more control.
I hope this helps. Often it is not the tool that matters but the person using it and the material with which they are working with.