Facial Wrinkle Resurfacing with the Fractionated Erbium laser at The Skin Centre.

The Skin Centre is located on the Gold Coast in Queensland and offers Facial Wrinkle Resurfacing by Dr Michael Freeman, Dermatologist and Laser Specialist.

Facial wrinkles can now be improved without permanent side effects. These days, the Erbium laser has essentially replaced the CO²  laser for ablative resurfacing. The latest advance in resurfacing is fractionation. The ability to treat only a small fraction of the surface protects the pigment and allows rapid healing while achieving significant improvements in the collagen. The down time is only 3 to 4 days and the procedure is performed under local anaesthesia.

One session of the New Fractionated Erbium

(Click to enlarge)

The  micro laser peel also known as the weekend peel has largely taken over from light to medium strength peels as it is more even and safer.

The V Beam the laser light stimulates the skin to make new collagen smoothing out wrinkles over a number of weeks. This Non-ablative resurfacing with the V Beam laser is very useful in improving skin tone and texture when no down time is required.

Resurfacing with the CO² laser usually leads to significant post operative complications including permanent whitening. There is not the same problem of permanent whitening of the treated area with the V beam because the skin is not broken. There is much less down time with the V beam. The improvements are more modest however.

Laser resurfacing has changed significantly over time. The initial treatments with CO2 laser, whilst very effective, were prone to complications, particularly infection, scarring and post treatment whitening of the skin. Whilst the whitening of the skin is acceptable when one is much older, it is not acceptable for younger people, particularly in a climate that has significant ultraviolet radiation.

 Fractionated Erbium Glass laser

The Erbium Glass laser: 1550-nm
The primary effect of this laser is the micro thermal stimulation of the dermis (the second layer of the skin), inducing your body to remodel and form new collagen and elastin, which results in tighter, fresher, more youthful-looking skin. The resultant remodelling or toning evens out scars, wrinkles and improves stretch marks.
Pigmentation can be evened out even the stubborn pigmentation from the pill.

The skin is not broken during the procedure. This allows normal activities as there is no down time other than a light pinkness. Because the treatment is so precise, the laser columns target only a fraction of skin at a time, leaving the surrounding tissue intact. This allows your body to heal the skin much faster than if the entire area were treated at once. Interestingly, all the improvement does not occur immediately; instead, over several months.
When the scarring is more severe the erbium Yag Laser is used which has more down time.

The real advance that these lasers have is the ability to only treat microscopically with pin point laser beams but leaving the surrounding islands of tissue undamaged avoiding unwanted side effects especially with skin colour. Compared with traditional resurfacing lasers the advantages are the much shorter healing time and the greatly reduced risk of complications. In addition, the treatment can be performed using local anaesthetic cream rather than under a general anaesthetic. The Erbium Glass Laser is also safe to use in patients with darker skin types, and on sensitive areas such as the neck and chest. However, as the treatment is gentler than the traditional resurfacing lasers, multiple treatments are usually required.