CO2 Laser Resurfacing in Danville, CA
CO2 Laser Resurfacing in Danville, CA
CO2 laser resurfacing is an ablative skin-renewal treatment that uses carbon-dioxide laser energy absorbed by water in the skin to remove or fractionally treat damaged tissue and stimulate collagen remodeling. It can improve selected wrinkles, sun damage, texture and scars, but it requires more recovery and carries more risk than non-ablative resurfacing.
CO2 resurfacing takes off damaged skin. The laser uses a colour of light that the water in your skin soaks up strongly, either removing the whole surface or treating it in tiny dots, and your skin then heals and rebuilds. It can improve wrinkles, sun damage, texture and scars. It also needs more recovery, and carries more risk, than the gentler treatments that leave the surface intact.
CO2 Resurfacing: the essentials
The short version
An ablative carbon dioxide laser. Most modern treatments are fractional; ask which device and protocol are used here.
A laser that removes skin. Most modern treatments work in tiny dots. Ask which machine and plan we use.
Selected wrinkles, sun-damaged skin, uneven texture, acne or surgical scars, and other physician-selected resurfacing concerns.
Certain wrinkles, sun damaged skin, uneven texture, acne and surgical scars, and other things a doctor decides suit it.
Topical/local anesthesia or other pain-control measures may be used depending on treatment depth and area.
Numbing cream, a local anaesthetic, or other measures, depending on how deep it goes and how big the area is.
Visible healing can range from about a week to several weeks depending on depth, area and technique; redness can persist longer.
Visible healing takes anywhere from about a week to several weeks, depending on the depth, the area and the technique. Redness can carry on longer.
Surface changes appear after re-epithelialization; collagen remodeling continues for weeks to months.
The surface looks different once it has healed over. The rebuilding underneath carries on for weeks to months.
Potentially more substantial resurfacing than non-ablative lasers, with more downtime and higher risk of pigment change, infection and scarring.
It can do more than the gentler lasers, in exchange for more time off and a higher risk of colour change, infection and scarring.
What is CO2 laser resurfacing?
What is CO2 resurfacing?
CO2 laser resurfacing uses a 10,600-nm carbon-dioxide laser whose energy is strongly absorbed by water in skin. Ablative treatment removes controlled tissue while heat in adjacent layers triggers wound healing and collagen remodeling.
It uses a carbon dioxide laser, whose light the water in your skin soaks up strongly. It removes a controlled amount of tissue, and the heat left in the layers just below sets off healing and rebuilding.
What is the difference between fractional and more fully ablative CO2 treatment?
What is the difference between treating in dots and treating the whole surface?
Fractional CO2 creates microscopic columns of ablation separated by untreated skin, while more confluent/full-field approaches remove a greater proportion of the surface. Treatment depth and density strongly affect results, discomfort, downtime and risk.
Treating in dots makes microscopic columns with untouched skin between them. Treating the whole surface removes far more of it at once. How deep it goes, and how many dots are placed, strongly affect the result, the discomfort, the recovery and the risk.
| Approach | General tradeoff |
|---|---|
| Fractional ablative CO2 | Treats microscopic columns; often balances resurfacing with faster healing than confluent ablation |
| More confluent / deeper ablative CO2 | Potentially greater single-session change for selected concerns, with longer wound care and higher complication risk |
Treating in dots Microscopic columns of treated tissue with untouched skin in between. A balance between real resurfacing and quicker healing.
Treating more of the surface, more deeply Can achieve more in a single session for certain problems, but with longer wound care and a higher risk of complications.
Diagram showing fractional CO2 laser columns in skin with untreated tissue between treatment zones
A diagram showing the microscopic treated columns, with untouched skin between them.
What can CO2 laser improve?
What can it improve?
CO2 resurfacing is commonly used for photoaging, wrinkles, texture irregularity and selected scars. The exact treatment target should be diagnosed before resurfacing.
Commonly sun damage, wrinkles, uneven texture and certain scars. What is actually being treated should be identified before any resurfacing.
- Fine-to-deeper wrinkles in appropriately selected areas
- Sun-damaged and rough skin texture
- Selected acne, surgical or traumatic scars
- Selected benign surface lesions only when medically appropriate and within device labeling/clinical judgment
- Fine, and deeper, wrinkles, in suitable areas.
- Sun damaged, rough textured skin.
- Certain acne scars, surgical scars and scars from injuries.
- Certain harmless surface growths, but only where that is medically appropriate.
Who may be a good candidate for CO2 resurfacing?
Who is it for?
Good candidates have a resurfacing concern likely to respond, can follow wound-care instructions, can avoid significant sun exposure during healing and accept the required downtime and risks.
Someone whose problem is likely to respond, who will follow the wound care, who can stay out of the sun while healing, and who accepts the time off and the risks.
CO2 laser resurfacing recovery timeline from swelling and peeling to collagen remodeling
The recovery timeline after CO2 resurfacing, from swelling and peeling through to rebuilding.
Who may not be a good candidate for CO2 resurfacing?
Who should not have it?
Treatment may be deferred or modified for active infection, active inflammatory acne, recent tanning/sunburn, impaired wound healing, significant scarring tendency, uncontrolled medical issues, or skin types/conditions with an unfavorable pigment-risk profile. Assessment must be individualized.
It may need putting off or changing for an infection, for acne that is currently inflamed, after recent sun or a tan, for poor healing, for a strong tendency to scar, for health problems that are not under control, and for skin types where the risk of colour change is high. It has to be assessed individually.
- Active bacterial, fungal or viral infection in the treatment area
- Current sunburn or recent significant tan
- History of cold sores may require antiviral prevention for facial resurfacing
- Smoking and conditions that impair healing can raise complication risk
- Higher risk of post-inflammatory pigment change requires conservative selection and counseling
- A bacterial, fungal or viral infection in the area to be treated.
- Sunburn now, or a recent tan.
- A history of cold sores may mean taking antiviral medicine beforehand.
- Smoking, and anything else that slows healing, raise the risk of problems.
- A higher risk of the skin darkening afterwards means being conservative and talking it through properly.
What is CO2 laser recovery like?
What is the recovery like?
Recovery depends on treatment depth and area. Swelling, burning or stinging, crusting/oozing and peeling are expected during early healing; re-epithelialization may take roughly a week or more, while deeper treatments can require 10 to 21 days and redness may persist beyond that.
It depends on the depth and the area. Expect swelling, a burning or stinging feeling, crusting, weeping and peeling in the first days. The surface usually grows back over about a week or more. Deeper treatments take ten days to three weeks, and redness can carry on well past that.
| Phase | What may happen |
|---|---|
| First 1 to 3 days | Swelling, heat/burning sensation, tenderness; wound care is important |
| Days ~3 to 10+ | Crusting, peeling/sloughing and re-epithelialization; exact timing depends on depth |
| Following weeks | Residual pinkness/redness and sun sensitivity can persist while remodeling begins |
| Months | Collagen remodeling and texture change continue |
The first one to three days Swelling, a burning feeling, tenderness. The wound care matters most now.
About days three to ten and beyond Crusting, peeling, and the new surface growing over. The exact timing depends on the depth.
The following weeks Lingering pinkness and sensitivity to sun, while the rebuilding gets going.
Months The rebuilding and the change in texture carry on.
What are the benefits and risks of CO2 laser resurfacing?
What are the benefits and risks?
CO2 can produce meaningful resurfacing in properly selected patients, but the same tissue injury that drives improvement also creates real risks that must be discussed before treatment.
It can achieve real resurfacing in the right patients. But the very injury that produces the improvement also creates genuine risks, and those need discussing before you agree to it.
| Potential benefits | Risks / limitations |
|---|---|
| Improvement in wrinkles, photodamage, texture and selected scars | Pain, swelling, crusting, prolonged redness and social downtime |
| Collagen remodeling after healing | Infection including herpes reactivation, acne/milia flare, pigment change, delayed healing or scarring |
| Potentially greater change per treatment than lower-energy non-ablative options | Not appropriate for every skin type, condition or tolerance for recovery |
What you can gain Improvement in wrinkles, sun damage, texture and certain scars, plus rebuilding that carries on after healing. It can achieve more per treatment than the gentler options.
What you are accepting Pain, swelling, crusting, lingering redness, and real time when you look like you have had something done. Infection, including a cold sore flaring up, spots or tiny white bumps, changes in skin colour, slow healing, and scarring. And it is simply not appropriate for every skin type, every condition, or everyone’s tolerance for recovery.
CO2 laser device used for resurfacing at Dermatology and Laser Centre
The CO2 laser used for resurfacing at Dermatology and Laser Centre.
What are alternatives to CO2 laser resurfacing?
What else could I do instead?
Alternatives include Fraxel FTX or other non-ablative fractional resurfacing, Erbium resurfacing, RF microneedling, chemical peels and other treatments selected according to the target and desired downtime.
Fraxel FTX or another gentler fractional treatment, Erbium resurfacing, RF microneedling, chemical peels, or something else, chosen for what is being treated and how much recovery you want.
CO2 resurfacing remains the most effective non-surgical rejuvenation this practice offers. It changes the structure of the skin rather than only its surface, and the improvement is lasting.
What varies is depth, and depth is a clinical decision rather than something chosen from a menu. A light CO2 treatment lifts pigment and evens skin tone, and leaves a few days of redness with a sandpaper texture while the skin renews. A fuller CO2 or Erbium treatment reaches the deeper brown discolouration and the wrinkling of long term sun damage, as well as acne and surgical scarring. That needs about sixty minutes of topical anaesthetic and about seven days of visible healing.
Dr Gallacher carries out every laser treatment herself, and sets the density and the depth to your skin and to the recovery you are able to plan for. In her hands the procedure carries a low risk of complication and about seven days of downtime.
There is also a benefit that has nothing to do with appearance. Published studies of laser resurfacing report a substantial reduction in the later risk of skin cancer in treated skin, reported as up to fifty per cent.
CO2 resurfacing is the strongest non-surgical skin treatment we offer. It changes the structure of the skin, not just the surface, and the results last.
What changes is how deep we go, and that is a medical decision, not something you pick from a list. A light CO2 treatment lifts brown marks and evens out your skin tone. You get a few days of redness, and your skin feels like sandpaper while it renews. A deeper CO2 or Erbium treatment reaches deeper brown marks, sun damage wrinkles, and acne or surgical scars. That needs about an hour of numbing cream first, and about seven days of visible healing.
Dr Gallacher does every laser treatment herself. She decides how deep and how strong the treatment should be, to suit your skin and the recovery time you can plan for. In her hands the treatment has a low risk of problems and about seven days of downtime.
There is one more benefit that is not about how you look. Studies of laser resurfacing report that treated skin has a much lower risk of skin cancer later, reported as up to half.
Illustrative result
What a result can look like
Illustration, not a patient photograph. Before and after CO2 laser resurfacing for facial sun damage and texture. It shows the kind of change this treatment is intended to produce. Individual results vary, and no outcome is guaranteed. Photographs of real patients are published only with written consent.
This is a drawing, not a photo of a patient. It shows a before and after for CO2 resurfacing of facial sun damage and texture, to give you an idea of the kind of change it aims at. Results are different for everyone, and nothing is guaranteed. We only publish photos of real patients with their written permission.
Before and after
Texture & pores
Questions patients ask
Is CO2 laser painful?
Does it hurt?
CO2 resurfacing can be uncomfortable, so topical/local anesthesia or additional pain-control methods may be used depending on treatment depth and area.
It can be uncomfortable, so numbing cream, a local anaesthetic, or other pain relief is used, depending on how deep it goes and how big the area is.
How long is the downtime after CO2 laser?
How long will I be out of action?
Downtime varies widely. Fractional treatment may have about a week or more of visible healing; deeper ablative treatment can take 10 to 21 days, with redness sometimes lasting longer.
It varies a lot. Treating in dots may mean about a week or more of visible healing. Deeper treatment can take ten days to three weeks, and the redness sometimes lasts longer still.
Can CO2 laser treat acne scars?
Can it treat acne scars?
Yes, fractional ablative CO2 is one option for selected atrophic acne scars, but scars often need combination treatment based on scar type and skin tone.
Yes, it is one option for the dented kind. But scars often need more than one type of treatment, depending on their shape and on your skin tone.
Can CO2 laser cause dark spots or light spots?
Can it leave dark or light patches?
Yes. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation can occur, and risk varies with skin tone, treatment intensity and aftercare.
Yes. The skin can heal darker or lighter than before. How likely that is depends on your skin tone, how strong the treatment was, and the aftercare.
Do I need antiviral medicine before CO2 laser?
Will I need antiviral medicine first?
Patients with a history of oral herpes may be prescribed antiviral prophylaxis for facial ablative resurfacing. The treating physician decides based on history and treatment area.
If you get cold sores, you will probably be given antiviral tablets before facial resurfacing. The doctor decides, based on your history and the area being treated.
Is CO2 better than Fraxel FTX or Erbium?
Is CO2 better than Fraxel or Erbium?
Not universally. CO2 can be more aggressive, while Fraxel FTX offers non-ablative fractional treatment and Erbium can provide ablative resurfacing with different thermal characteristics. The best option depends on the concern, skin type and downtime tolerance.
Not across the board. CO2 can be more aggressive. Fraxel leaves the surface intact. Erbium also removes tissue, but leaves less heat behind. Which is best depends on the problem, your skin type, and how much recovery you can take.
Talk it through with a physician first.
Every plan starts with an assessment of your skin, your anatomy and what you actually want to change.
This page is general health information, not medical advice. It cannot tell you whether a treatment is right for you. Approved uses, risks and results differ from person to person, and product labelling changes. Ask us at Dermatology and Laser Centre about your own situation, or make an appointment, and seek urgent care for any serious symptom.
