It seems that carbon dioxide laser resurfacing is the best way to erase telltale signs of aging on your face and keep them away. Though the technique does have a fairly high rate of complications; namely lightening of the skin color.
The finding is not entirely new. But, said Dr. Keyvan Nouri, director of dermatologic and laser surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, “The point is basically that carbon dioxide is still a very good treatment. It does have a down time and some side effects, but it does cause a dramatic improvement in many patients that we can’t achieve with anything else out there now.”
“The laser works by absorbing water inside and outside of sells, causing heat damage to nearby tissue. As a result, the skin produces more of the protein collagen, filling in wrinkles. It basically causes a controlled burn to the skin,” Nouri explained. “Then it removes the epidermis [top layer of the skin] and dermis [middle layer of the skin]. It also causes contraction or tightening of the skin.”
The main long-term complication was hypopigmentation (loss of skin color), notably present in 13 percent of patients. One case of hyperpigmentation (patches of skin that become darker) righted itself within two years of treatment. Some patients also developed milia, small cysts or acne. One participant developed an infection, and one had sagging of the eyelids.
“The biggest problem with CO2 is lightening of the skin. Essentially all of our patients got lightening to some degree, but a certain percentage got marked lightening where you could see quite a bit of difference on photographs,” Baker said. “That’s the cost of getting rid of wrinkles permanently or near-permanently.”
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