Q:

I saw a friend recently whom I hadn’t seen in a year, and she looked so good. She told me that she had a CO2 laser treatment since we last met, and she’s very happy she did it. Can you tell me about this treatment? What does it do, and would it be good for me?

A:

The CO2 laser is one of the earliest skin lasers, which has been used for about 30 years, and is still the gold standard for treating sun-damaged or aging skin. The treatment is essentially a laser peel, which vaporizes the damaged surface layers of the skin so that it may heal with healthy new skin.  It helps most of the common problems on facial skin, such as wrinkles, brown spots, roughness, pre-skin cancers, scars, and sagging. We typically treat the entire face, including the eyelids (which is helpful for crepiness and crow’s feet), and also the neck and chest for many patients. Healing takes about one week.

The CO2 laser may not be a good choice for the individual who isn’t able to avoid sun exposure for a few weeks, or whose skin is prone to discoloration.  If CO2 laser treatment isn’t suitable for someone, we have many other treatment options that are milder and require little or no downtime for healing.