If you have fine lines or wrinkles, poor texture, acne scars or simply want to make your skin look 10 years younger, the Profractional laser can give you dramatic results with just 2 or 3 days of down time!

Before and after 1 Profractional treatment to eyes (Photo by C. Elliott, MD)

Until recently, only deep CO2 laser resurfacing with it's associated weeks to months of redness could provide this kind of dramatic improvement. With the development of  Profractional fractionated laser skin resurfacing, similar results are obtained in just one or two treatments but without the prolonged healing period.

Before and 1 week after 2 Profractional treatments, Photo by C. Elliott, M.D.

"I didn't think anything could be done except for major surgery. To go through something this simple and it's like night and day. As bad as my skin was, 3 days later and Ta Da"     Skinspirations patient, Donna F.

How Does the Profractional Work?

With fractionated laser skin treatments the laser beam is broken up or fractionated into many small micro beams which are separated so that they strike the skin's surface in a regular pattern leaving small areas of untreated skin intact between them (See figure below).

Cross section of the skin showing effects of fractionated lasers

Each micro beam vaporizes a column (microthermal zone) down into the skin, which acts as a stronger stimulant to the skin than any other treatment in the past has been capable of, reaching a depth that causes remodeling of the surface, but without scars or loss of pigmentation.

Fraxel, the first fractionated laser with a cooler, less effective wavelength than Profractional, was extremely painful and required multiple treatments to reach even subtle improvement. With the development of the newest fractionated lasers like the Sciton Profractional, dramatic improvement can be seen in fine lines, redundant skin and  acne scars even with just one treatment.

Before and after 2 Profractional Laser treatments to scars (Photos by C. Elliott, M.D.)

The healing and remodeling that result from these zones produce new collagen to plump up the skin and smooth out wrinkles and lines while the intact skin between the columns invigorates and speeds the healing process.

The depth and percentage of skin that is penetrated is adjusted to provide the best results for your skin concerns, with acne scars requiring deeper but fewer columns and fine lines or sun damage requiring intermediate depth columns over a higher percentage of treatment area. Dr, Elliott will work with your goals and skin characteristics to determine the best settings for each treatment.

Most areas of the body can be treated and popular areas are the face, neck, chest and hands.

A single Profractional Laser treatment will produce visible results that continue to improve as the skin remodels over the following months, but a series of at least 2 Profractional laser treatments usually provides the best results. Profractional Laser treatments can be done at least 3 weeks apart.

A cream anesthetic is applied about 1 hour before the procedure and the treatment usually takes less than an hour. Most patients find Profractional tolerable but oral pain medicine is provided if anyone is at all uncomfortable with it.

Immediately following the procedure there is usually redness and a sunburn sensation. There may be some pinpoint bleeding for up to a day after a Profractional Laser treatment and several days of swelling if done around the eyes. Redness usually resolves within a week but can last up to months in fair-skinned patients. Any discoloration is easily hid by makeup or tinted sunscreen in as early as 3 days after the treatment. Prices for Profractional treatments range from $250-$1,900 depending on the size of the area treated and discounted packages of 2 treatments are available.