There seem to be a lot of different lasers used for laser skin resurfacing. Does it make that much of a difference which laser is used? What are some of the more common or more effective lasers and what are they appropriate for treating?

There are several companies that manufacture several types of lasers for skin resurfacing. For patients who have evidence of fine lines, wrinkles, and sun-damaged skin, I tend to favor using a fractionated CO2 laser. There is some discomfort associated with this procedure, but that discomfort is properly addressed with topical anesthetic cream and, at times, injections of local anesthesia. We can “dial up” or “dial down” the laser to tailor the treatment to your needs and your downtime. Typically, the downtime for such a treatment ranges from a few days to one week. The key to success after this treatment is proper skin care. Occasionally, patients wish to achieve skin tightening without surgery. For those patients, I tend to favor using Exilis. Exilis uses radiofrequency that bypasses the superficial skin and goes down to the level of skin where collagen is located; this device delivers heat to that deeper layer, thus achieving some skin tightening. Typically, we perform 4 treatments per week over a 4 week period.