A Fraction of the Information on Laser Skin Resurfacing.

During a laser skin resurfacing, only a fraction of the patient's skin is touched by the laser light. Laser skin resurfacing should not be viewed as a wholesale restoration of the facial skin. It is a high quality rejuvenation of selected skin cells, cells that fall on the contour lines of the face.

As the cosmetic surgeon performs a laser skin resurfacing, that physician produces changes in chosen sections of the facial skin. The skin marked for rejuvenation is hit with thousands of tiny laser spots. Those microscopic spots remove wrinkles, acne scars, any unsightly age and sun spots, sun damaged skin, melasma and hyperpigmentation.

Laser skin resurfacing can abolish any uneven coloring in the facial skin. Such changes do not, however, take place "overnight". They require a slow and meticulous treatment, a treatment that produces focused and subtle results.

Laser skin resurfacing allows the facial skin to feel softer and smoother. The resurfaced skin takes-on the appearance of a more youthful skin. The fractionated nature of the treatment insures the retention of some healthy skin cells. Those healthy skin cells aid the healing of the cells that have been hit by the laser.

The cosmetic surgeon concentrates on completing one resurfacing session within a 30 minute period. The cosmetic surgeon generally aims for a total of 3 to 5 resurfacing treatments over a one to two week period. The cosmetic surgeon follows the same schedule during each of those resurfacing sessions.

The cosmetic surgeon first washes the facial skin. Then the cosmetic surgeon applies a numbing gel to the skin that needs to be resurfaced. A water soluble tint is painted over the numbing gel.

That gel helps the cosmetic surgeon to more easily discern the contour lines of the patient's face. By looking at those contour lines, the cosmetic surgeon can better understand where the he or she needs to apply the penetrating laser beam. The use of the laser can warm the facial skin; the cosmetic surgeon counts on a special cooling device to keep the patient's skin from becoming too hot.

After a laser skin resurfacing, the damaged skin needs to heal. The body encourages the healing of the skin cells by sending blood into the facial skin. After a laser skin resurfacing, a patient will have pinkish facial skin for 5 to 7 days.

Following a laser skin resurfacing, a patient can return to work; the patient does not need time to recover from the resurfacing procedure. Following a laser skin resurfacing, a woman can apply make-up to the rejuvenated skin on her face. Following a laser skin resurfacing, a man can apply a razor to the healing skin on his face.

Both men and women should expect to see some flaking of their facial skin after a laser skin resurfacing. Both men and women can hide that flaking by applying a generous amount of moisturizer to the laser treated skin. In addition to using moisturizer, the patient who has undergone a laser skin resurfacing should apply sunscreen two times a day.