A Laser resurfacing is a treatment that has gotten a lot of attention recently with celebrity doctors blowing up their social media accounts posting video after video of diminishing things, like large pores, acne scaring, stretch marks and much more. It is hard to determine the best treatment for you and your lifestyle by just watching these inspiring, insta-beauty blurbs, so here is some 411.
Most laser treatments fall in to two main categories, ablative- meaning more invasive and longer down time treatments and non-ablative- a more “on the surface” type of treatment. Both types yield great results and will improve the health of your skin.
The skin condition you want to address will determine which treatment is best for you. Ablative lasers, such as CO2 and Erbium, vaporize the outer layers of the skin, while the skin heals it produces collagen at a much higher rate than it would naturally. This is a great treatment to combat deep acne scarring and mature signs of aging. The downtime for ablative lasers is at least 1-2 weeks and can be quite painful. But like they say, beauty is pain, right?
Non-ablative lasers work by heating up the underlying tissue with little to no epidermal downtime. The heat created by the laser helps promote collagen growth and treats unfavorable early signs of aging and pigmentation issues. The downtime for these treatments is 1-7 days depending on the strength but the results, although still great, will be on a smaller scale than ablative lasers, meaning you may need more than one treatment to achieve the desired result. For someone that cannot take time off work or is new to the skincare game this is a great option to dive in the wonderful world of beauty