Important Things You Need to Know About Skin Resurfacing


Skin resurfacing with a laser is proven to reduce scars, acne, age spots, wrinkles, as well as other kinds of blemishes. It will also balance your tone and tighten the skin. It may be difficult to decide which procedure will be best for your condition, especially because there are such a wide variety of different treatments available. However, your doctor or dermatologist will be able to assist.

Things you need to consider when you decide to go for skin resurfacing treatments

Look at the following key factors to skin resurfacing treatments:

What difference will the time of year do for you if you go for laser resurfacing treatment?

Autumn or even winter usually is considered as the best time for laser treatments. This is because your skin will be hypersensitive to exposure of the sun. At this time of the year the days are shorter, and most of the time you will, in any case, spend your time indoors.

Except for the season when you go for treatment, you will also need to use SPF 30 sunscreen or even higher every day and regularly re-apply it when it’s needed. This will provide you with the best results, and protect your skin against cancer, as well as prevent premature aging.

Dark skin types don’t necessary need to be excluded from a laser resurfacing treatment

Although it’s been said that this treatment is safe only for patients with a light skin, it’s not completely true. However, there is a risk that is higher with certain laser procedures for discoloring or cell damage to patients with a dark skin, other options are available that will effectively and safely resurface their skin.

For Asians, African Americans or Hispanics, with lighter skin tones, sometimes Erbium laser treatments can be an option that is good and will pose a minor risk to develop discoloration. Dark skin patients with black or brown skins might consider treatment options like micro-needling or radio-frequency resurfacing procedures.

To ensure that you receive a treatment that is effective and safe for your type of skin, you should consult a professional with the knowledge and expertise to guide you.

Certain conditions or medications can affect your skin by reacting to the procedure

You should be honest and upfront with the doctor about supplements or medications you use, and also a full medical history.

For example, you might be prone to fever blisters or cold sores, and breakouts can be induced through laser treatments. Medication for acne which contains Accutane, a part of isotretinoin can cause scarring or poor healing from the treatment. Other over-the-counter medications that are common such as aspirin may increase your risk to bleed after the procedure.

Any chronic condition and diabetes can make an impact on the results and safety of the treatment. It’s also important to stop smoking about two weeks before and after your laser procedures. Additionally, avoid any complications in the healing process, as well as giving your body a chance to provide the optimal results.

Different laser skin resurfacing options for a variation of skin types and issues

Look at some of the varieties of laser treatments for different conditions that are available:

CO2 laser

This laser generally is ablative and it’s used for treating certain deep skin flaws, wrinkles, warts, and scars.

Erbium laser

It can either be non-ablative or ablative, by promoting remodeling of collagen, which makes it very popular to treat age spots, skin laxity, wrinkles and fine lines.

A pulsed-dye laser

They are normally non-ablative and heat your skin to absorb the pigments that will reduce rosacea, broken capillaries, hyper-pigmentations and redness.

The fractional laser

It breaks the energy up of the laser within thousand small beams and treats a fraction only of your skin’s area to reduce any downtime. They can be non-ablative or ablative, which are usually used for various blemishes related to age.

Intense pulsed light/IPL treatment


Technically this isn’t a laser, although, most of the time it can be used for treating the same conditions as lasers, like hyperpigmentation, rosacea, acne and sun damage skin.