Has a teenage battle with acne left you with scars as an adult? Do you look in the mirror and wish your skin had a smoother, more even texture with less fine lines and noticeable pores? Our ResurFX™ Laser Skin Resurfacing may be the smoothing solution you’re looking for!
Acne scarring, enlarged pores, fine lines, and wrinkles all have something in common; they directly correlate with collagen and elastin loss in our skin. When our body if fighting off an acne lesion, it rushes white blood cells to the area to fight off the infection. Unfortunately, white blood cells are NOT discriminate. As they kill off acne bacteria, they can also damage and destroy healthy collagen and elastin in the area and create a depressed scar. Collagen and elastin are our skin’s building blocks that keep it plump, smooth, and youthful.
Sadly, our rate of collagen production drops dramatically in our late twenties. This time frame is also when we may begin to notice fine lines forming due to facial muscles contracting and breaking down the collagen and elastin fibers that lay above them. In addition, pores may begin to appear more substantial because the firm collagen support they once had is now weakening, making the pore’s opening look wider. Laser Resurfacing addresses these concerns by rejuvenating your skin from the outside in!
How does Laser Resurfacing work?
When your skin sustains a wound, it is driven into a healing cycle. This cycle stimulates the growth of collagen and elastin at the site of the injury to restore the skin’s structure and resiliency. With laser resurfacing, we use the laser’s energy to cause a very controlled injury to the skin’s surface to invoke this response. As a result, collagen and elastin production goes into hyperdrive, and your skin begins to thicken, tighten, and smooth over time!
What makes the Lumenis M22™ ResurFX™ treatment unique?
ResurFX™ is a state-of-the-art, non-ablative, fractional laser treatment. This means that it does not ablate or destroy skin cells during treatment and that your provider can control the fraction or percentage of skin treated. This unique quality allows for fantastic results with minimal downtime and recovery – unlike traditional CO2 laser resurfacing, which may require several days of crusting, peeling, and swelling.
What happens during a Laser Resurfacing treatment?
A thorough consultation is needed before any laser resurfacing treatment to ensure that you are an appropriate candidate. The use of certain medications, topical skincare, and having an active tan may temporarily contraindicate you for treatment. Many clients choose to have laser resurfacing treatments performed in the Fall and Winter months to avoid complications with the sun.
ResurFX™ skin rejuvenation prioritizes patient comfort just as much as effectiveness! During your treatment, a small amount of topical anesthetic will be used to keep treated skin comfortable. Your provider will choose the ideal pattern of fractionated energy delivery, depth, and strength to match your skin concerns. She will then work in small sections of your treatment area until a full “pass” has been completed on your skin. The fractionated laser beams will create tiny channels in your skin that prompt an increased production of collagen and elastin to heal themselves.
ResurFX™ can be performed virtually anywhere on the body where uneven skin texture is present, including the face, neck, chest, hands, and may even be effective on stretch marks on the breasts and abdominal area for some people. Your resurfacing will take anywhere from 45 minutes to one hour, depending on the size of the area treated. ResurFX™ can even be combined with Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) for enhanced improvements to skin tone as well as texture!
What results can I expect with Laser Resurfacing?
Although improvements can be seen with one ResurFX™ treatment, a series of at least three spaced 4-6 weeks apart is recommended because it is a fractional laser that only treats a certain percentage of skin at a time. More treatments may be needed for deeper acne scarring, wrinkles, and stretch marks.