Total FX - How Long After Treatment Will Wrinkles and Fine Lines Diminish?

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. Melarase AM, Melarase PM, and Melapads can seriously improve surface sun damage and UV related pigmentation. 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

Hi, I just added a link that might be helpful...The collagen building and remodeling process continues over time after CO2 resurfacing and can lead to continued improvements for several (3-6) months.  This new collagen will lead to long lasting results with good skin care and sun avoidance. The strength and density of your laser treatment factors into how dramatic your results will be.

Initially we were told by the company the builds the TotalFX laser that the improvement from treatments will increase over several months. I have never seen this happen. I love the machine and get great results with it overt the last 3 years, however the results will typically look the best at about 3 weeks with some gradual return of deeper wrinkles over time. Fine wrinkles respond better to the TotalFX treatment. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your
question and hang in there – you will see your wrinkles diminish. Most of the
time, patients will see changes within several weeks after their CO2 fractional
laser treatment and the results will continue to improve over the first six
months after the procedure. Using the proper post-treatment skin care routine
will also be of help here – so make sure that you speak to your provider and
get on skin care to help make things the best they can be.

Generally, the immediate change you see after a Total Fx laser treatment is an overall evening of your skin color .  The improvement in wrinkles is a  gradual improvement that takes 4-6 months to occur that results from collagen remodeling and new collagen formation.  Having said that, the rate of improvement also depends on how aggressive the laser treatment was.  To get rid of wrinkles, your recovery time from the laser treatment should've been around 7-10 days.  Anything less than that and you will probably need more than one treatment and the wrinkle improvement will be less dramatic.  As a rule of thumb, you will not get of wrinkles unless it takes you 7-10 days to recover from the procedure, whether it is laser resurfacing, a chemical peel, or a plasma treatment.

It can take several months (around 6) before you see a difference in the fine lines and wrinkles because you have to wait for the collagen remodeling/regeneration to occur. Be patient, you will be pleased in the long term.

 New collagen forms for at least 6 months, possibly up to one year following any the CO2 lasers on the market, such as the Total FX approach. This has been very well documented with skin biopsies. The early results are due to slight swelling only.

 I treated a patient several years ago with Total FX. Although she was pleased with her results, I was disappointed that the deep vertical lines on her upper lip did not improve more. I told her that I would retreat that area at no charge. I saw her one year later and asked her why she never scheduled the second treatment. She then showed me her lip and the lines had markedly improved.

 I do think it is important to treat aggressively.