Question: I have been told that one of the greatest advantages of using a Fraxel laser is that it promotes new collagen and skin cell growth. Is this true and how would it change the look of my face?
Answer: Well the whole idea behind skin rejuvenation is to try to create new collage deposition in the deeper portion of the skin. This has a rejuvenating affect and one of the only ways to really create new collage is to create injury to the collagen that is deep in the skin and one of the most affective ways is to use a laser to do this, but classically this involves lasering the entire surface of the skin down into the dermal layer and causing new collage deposition and new resurfacing of epithelium. This is a wonderfully rejuvenating procedure but it takes 6 to 7 days for healing to occur so there is significant downtime associated with it. The nice thing about fractionated lasers is that they only injure a small percentage of the skin but they can still injure the dermal layer causing new collagen deposition. Healing is therefore faster but you can also still get significant results as if you had had a full laser resurfacing. In most patients; however, several treatments are necessary for adequate improvement.