What is a Skin Resurfacing Treatment?

The sun, skin problems, ageing, and even family history can all cause changes in your skin. These changes can include wrinkles, acne scars, dark spots like freckles or sunspots, and visible blood vessels. Your skin may also start to lose its firmness and natural glow as you get older. There are different treatments that can help fix these skin problems.
Laser treatments, chemical peels, special face tools, and injections can help reduce fine lines and wrinkles. These can be used on the whole face or just on certain areas like around the eyes or lips. These treatments also help with dark spots from the sun, age spots, and acne scars.

The best treatment for your skin will be decided after a talk with a qualified plastic surgeon. Often, you’ll need more than one treatment over time to get the best results. It’s also very important to take care of your skin after treatment, like using sunscreen, so the results last longer.

What Is Laser Skin Resurfacing?

Laser skin resurfacing is a treatment that uses light from a laser to help improve your skin. It can reduce wrinkles and scars, even out skin colour, tighten loose skin, and remove spots or growths on the skin.

The laser sends short, strong beams of light to the area that needs treatment. It removes the top layer of skin (called the epidermis) and heats the layer underneath (called the dermis). This heat helps your skin grow new collagen, which makes your skin smoother, tighter, and younger-looking.

This treatment is also called a laser peel, lasabrasion, or laser vapourisation. It is done very carefully, one layer at a time, to make sure the skin heals well and looks better afterwards.

Skin Resurfacing Treatments

Skin Resurfacing treatment can help to fix many skin problems, such as:

• Static wrinkles: These are lines that you can see all the time, even when your face is resting.
• Dynamic wrinkles: These are lines that appear when you smile, frown, or make other facial expressions. They can get deeper over time.
• Pigmentation: This includes freckles, sunspots, or dark patches on the skin, usually caused by too much sun.
• Scars: Scars can happen after acne or injuries. They can look wavy, have pits (small holes), be discoloured, or have raised edges.
• Vascular conditions: These are problems with blood vessels that you can see on the skin, like small red veins, blood-filled spots, or constant redness on the face.
• Loss of skin tone: As you get older, your skin loses strength because the collagen and elastin (the skin’s support fibres) get weaker. This can make the skin loose or cause cellulite.
• Dull skin: Skin can look tyred and lifeless when dead skin cells and blocked pores build up on the surface.

Procedure Details: How Does Laser Skin Resurfacing Work?

There are two main types of laser resurfacing: CO2 (carbon dioxide) and erbium lasers. These lasers remove the top layers of your skin and help new, smoother skin grow in its place.
CO2 vs. Erbium Laser Explained

Another type is called fractional CO2 laser treatment. This laser makes tiny holes deep into the skin, but it leaves the skin around each hole untouched. This helps with healing and tightens the skin.

CO2 Laser Resurfacing

CO2 laser resurfacing has been used for many years. It uses short bursts of laser light or a steady beam to remove thin layers of skin carefully. It helps treat wrinkles, scars, warts, birthmarks, and other skin problems like rhinophyma (large oil glands on the nose).
Benefits of CO2 laser. Recovery time is about two weeks.

Erbium Laser Resurfacing

This laser is used for lines and wrinkles on the face, neck, chest, or hands. It removes less skin and causes fewer side effects like swelling or redness. It is often better for people with darker skin. You only need local numbing medicine, and recovery time is usually one week.

Fractional Laser Resurfacing

This laser treats parts of the skin in small spots, not the whole area. It helps tighten the skin by helping collagen grow. Because it goes deeper, there is a slightly higher risk of slow healing or scarring, but less of the skin is damaged. Recovery time is about one week.

What to Expect During and After Laser Skin Resurfacing

Laser resurfacing is usually done in a clinic. You will not need to stay in the hospital. A local numbing medicine is used, and sometimes a light sedative is given to help you relax.

• Only one part of the face, like around the mouth or eyes, may be treated, or the whole face can be done.
• A small-area treatment takes 30 to 45 minutes. A full-face treatment takes 1.5 to 2 hours.
• The skin is cleaned well before starting.
  

After the Procedure

• A soft dressing is placed over the treated area for 24 hours.
• After that, you will need to clean the area 2 to 5 times a day with saltwater or diluted vinegar.
• You’ll also need to apply a cream like Vaseline®, Aquaphor®, or Eucerin® to keep the skin moist and stop scabs from forming.
• Healing usually takes 5 to 21 days, depending on your skin and the laser used.

Skin Care After Healing

• Once the skin heals, you can use makeup to cover the red or pink colour.
• Green-tinted makeup helps reduce the red look.
• Use oil-free makeup while the skin is healing.
• The redness fades in 2 to 3 months, but for some people, it may take up to 6 months or a year to fully go away—especially if you have blonde or red hair.

For Darker Skin Tone

If you have darker skin, you might get dark spots (hyperpigmentation) after healing. Your doctor may give you a skin lightening cream to help.
Laser treatment for darker skin types

Risks and Benefits of Laser Skin Resurfacing

• Milia (small white bumps) may appear while your skin is healing, usually within a month. You can remove them by gently cleaning your skin with a soft cloth.
• Dark spots (hyperpigmentation) or, in rare cases, light spots (hypopigmentation) may happen. Dark spots can be treated with skin-lightening cream. To help prevent these, use sunscreen before and after the treatment.
• Cold sores (herpes) might come back, especially around the mouth. You can stop this by taking antiviral medicine before and after the treatment.
• Bacterial infections can be avoided by taking an antibiotic before and after surgery.
• Swelling is common. Your doctor may give you steroids to reduce swelling, especially around your eyes.
• Scarring is rare, but it can happen in treated areas.

Recovery and What to Expect

After the treatment, your skin may look red and feel like it’s sunburned. You may feel swelling, itching, or stinging for a few days. Your skin might ooze a yellow liquid or form blisters. Don’t scratch or pick the skin, as this can cause scarring or infection.

After 5 to 7 days, your skin will get dry and start to peel. The new skin will look pink at first, then slowly return to your normal skin colour over 2 to 3 months.

Tips to Care for Your Skin

• Clean the treated skin 2 to 5 times a day as your doctor tells you.
• Sleep with an extra pillow under your head to reduce swelling for the first 4 days.
• Use a cool cloth or ice pack for 15 minutes every 1–2 hours during the first 1–2 days to soothe the area.
• Apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly (like Vaseline) or antibiotic cream (like bacitracin) twice a day until healing is complete.
• Avoid strong face products like tretinoin or glycolic acid for 4 weeks.
• Don’t use products that may irritate your skin for 6 weeks.
• Don’t do things that cause your face to turn red (like hot showers, saunas, or heavy exercise) for 2 weeks.
• Don’t smoke—it slows down healing.

After Your Skin Heals

• Use broad-spectrum sunscreen daily to protect your new skin. Choose a sunscreen made for the face with at least SPF 30.
• Use a daily moisturiser recommended by your doctor.

Vinegar Wash Instructions

• Mix 1 teaspoon of white vinegar with 2 cups of water.
• Soak a clean gauze in the solution.
• Gently place the wet gauze on the treated area for 10–15 minutes.
• Use light pressure to gently wipe the skin with the gauze—do not rub hard.
• It is normal to see some clear liquid or a little bleeding on the day of treatment or the day after.
  

Best Choice for Skin Resurfacing

Tanja Phillips is known for offering some of the best skin resurfacing treatments available. They use advanced, safe, and gentle laser methods to treat wrinkles, acne scars, sunspots, and dull or uneven skin. The clinic focuses on giving each person a personalised treatment plan to match their skin needs and goals. The staff are friendly, professional, and highly trained, making sure you feel comfortable and well cared for during the whole process. With proven results and a strong reputation, Tanja Phillips is a trusted place for anyone looking to improve their skin and regain a smooth, fresh, and younger look. Visit: https://tanjaphillips.com