If you’ve looked into rejuvenating your aging skin using laser resurfacing, chances are you’ve heard about carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers. It’s no secret that ablative CO2 lasers offer amazing results, tightening sagging tissues and improving damaged skin.
But older CO2 lasers required a lengthy recovery and couldn’t precisely target your trouble spots. Thanks to advances in medical technology, today’s advanced CO2 lasers offer equally amazing results with only a fraction of the recovery time and an ability to deliver a more precise treatment.
At Carl N. Williams, Jr. M.D. Hand and Plastic Surgery in Las Vegas, Nevada, our care team chooses only the best in aesthetic treatments. That’s why Dr. Williams selected the Tetra CO2 laser featuring CoolPeel® from the best-in-class Cartessa™ suite of treatments.
Here, we explain the difference between older CO2 lasers and the new Tetra CO2 laser and what this advanced skin resurfacing technology can do for your skin.
Both older CO2 lasers and newer, more advanced CO2 lasers resurface your skin by combining the power of light energy with your body’s natural healing capabilities.
Laser energy gets delivered to the surface of your skin and creates a wound that signals your body to ramp up collagen production to heal and rebuild your skin. The old layer of skin peels away, and new, firmer skin appears.
Because the skin at the surface is new, it has fewer signs of aging, making laser skin resurfacing an ideal way to treat:
Older CO2 lasers are less precise, however. And they work by fully removing your skin. This increases the risk of scarring and depigmentation. Fortunately, advances in technology led to the development of new fractional CO2 lasers.
Fractional laser resurfacing is an innovative therapy that breaks or “fractures” the light energy into thousands of tiny beams, each of which hits a small part of the target surface. This allows fractional CO2 lasers to remove micro-columns of your skin while leaving the surrounding tissue intact and unharmed.
The result? Amazing results with a shorter recovery time and fewer risks.
At Carl N. Williams, Jr. M.D. Hand and Plastic Surgery, our providers selected the Tetra CO2 laser featuring CoolPeel because it offers even more than other fractional CO2 lasers. Here’s how:
This advanced laser system allows your provider to customize the intensity and depth of your laser treatment using extremely short pulses of energy. With your provider’s expert guidance, you choose from varying levels of intensity based on your aesthetic goals. This means a gentler, more precise treatment that doesn’t damage your surrounding skin.
The CoolPeel technology allows us to reduce the amount of residual heat on your skin, virtually eliminating the risk of demarcation, infection, or hyperpigmentation. After your treatment, you can expect your skin to be a little red, similar to a sunburn. This usually resolves in a day or two and doesn’t affect your normal activities.
Tetra CoolPeel laser treatments also don’t require localized anesthesia like older CO2 laser resurfacing options do. And with Tetra, you can get additional treatments as needed to maximize your results. Most of our patients benefit from a series of sessions over a 4-6 week schedule.
The Tetra system has been FDA cleared, so you can rest easy knowing your treatment is safe and effective provided you get laser resurfacing from a trained specialist, like the team at Carl N. Williams, Jr. M.D. Hand and Plastic Surgery.
Ready to learn more about new Tetra CO2 laser resurfacing treatments? Schedule an appointment with our team online or over the phone today.
