CO2 Laser Treatment FAQ

Usually 3-7 days. This is an aggressive treatment and most patients will experience redness, oozing and mild swelling following the procedure. Following this there may be pink discoloration in the treated areas for a few weeks.

To markedly reduce wrinkles while improving sun damage as a side benefit.

Generally none.

Surface skin changes occur rapidly. Skin will be tighter, smoother and firmer within a month. Sun damaged areas will have more even color quickly. However, tightening will continue to improve over a period of about 9 months as new collagen forms.

Most experts feel the tightening is permanent due to the collagen remodeling that occurs.

This is different for each client. A typical result is an 8-10 year reduction in age appearance when laser treatment on the face is done on a highly effective setting so that a 55 year old may look 46 after treatment and healing is complete. Milder treatments can be done, but are not as effective. Healing is fastest, however, with milder treatments. Nonsmokers get slightly better results with this than smokers, which is also true of other laser therapies.

No. We should treat areas without recent sun exposure only.

Maybe. For skin of a typical Latino patient we’ll do a test spot. The major concern with darker skin is that the laser can produce dark spots after healing. We must confirm this is not occurring before treatment is offered. East Indians and African-Americans are often better served by other laser or other procedures, like our Matrix-RF skin tightening.

Absolutely, but first we should calm down your active, reddened pimples. Once this is done your scars can be markedly reduced by this laser.

This is quite similar. Fraxel is a brand name, like Chevrolet. Fraxel technology is fractionated laser beams with treatment areas and skip areas. True Fraxel brand name lasers come in various wavelengths. They have 3 types of lasers. Most Fraxel machines require multiple treatments. They do have a CO2 laser as well which is similar to the SmartSkin.

Yes, the Cynosure company changed the model name to SmartSkin.

Yes, dramatically. It will often be all one needs on the first two areas. The abdomen sometimes needs surgical help as well, but this depends on the client’s particular situation.

Yes

The first is to look and feel better. Women seem more interested in looking good than me, but men are increasingly wanting to look better. The second reason is to increase income. We know from studies that if you look better you will in general make more money. Many jobs, including public service jobs like waitressing, are preferentially offered to those who look healthier, younger and/or more attractive. We also know that those who are considered more attractive are more likely to get promoted. In sales professions, such as real estate, physical attractiveness boosts sales. The bottom line is that even if you just want to look better sometimes these procedures pay for themselves with increased income. Many baby boomers are single or divorced and looking for quality partners. Being more attractive gives one a larger pool of potential partners to choose from. Finding a good partner is not as easy as when you were 21!

To help explain the differnce between a surgical facelift and a Laser Facelift, I have created a comparative table on the next page. In this table you will note many differences. For wrinkles alone facelifts are slightly more effective. However, many skin benefits of this laser therapy (such as sun damage removal or scar reduction) are not helped at all by a by a facelift.