ABSTRACT
Laser resurfacing has become one of the most popular techniques for skin rejuvenation. The demand for lasers has increased due to their precision, consistency and predictability of results, but also because of the public’s association of the term ‘laser surgery’ with cutting edge advancements in surgery and medicine. The discovery that laser removal of skin lesions led to skin improvement with a lessening of wrinkles opened the door for the continuous development of new laser systems for skin rejuvenation. The initial ablative lasers caused a great amount of thermal injury; therefore, systems were developed to limit the extent of injury. Pulsed carbon dioxide (CO2) systems, as well as continuous-wave scanning CO2 lasers with a short tissue dwell time, were developed to limit the diffusion of thermal injury into the surrounding tissue. And to further decrease injury, the erbium laser was developed. However, all the ablative lasers result in the production of an open wound since at least some portion of the epidermis is removed. Due to the complications that can occur with such an open wound, laser technology is now focusing on the development of lasers that injure the dermis without causing epidermal ablation. The non-ablative lasers are in the developmental stages and even though new collagen is produced,
they do not at this time provide the surgeon with the excellent results seen with the CO2 lasers, in terms of facial rejuvenation.
