Preparing for Your eCO2™ Laser Treatment
At DRS Skincare Hamilton, ON

Treating acne scarring is challenging, especially when you’re dealing with ice pick scars, as in this case. We use a multi modal approach to treat these and did quite well over time. This approach consisted of TCA CROSS, which works fairly well for ice pick scars, followed by subcision, fractional CO2 laser, RF microneedling, and PRP, all done in one session. We did four sessions separated by one to two months. Collagen-stimulating fillers such as hyperdilute Radiesse or Sculptra could have been added to further enhance results if the patient desired. Importantly, results vary widely. There is no perfect treatment at the moment. Patience is critical. It does take time to see results. Customization is also key. We will create plans specific to our patients’ skin concerns to get the best possible results.

This is fractional CO2 laser being used to treat cholesterol deposits known as xanthelasma around the eye. As you can see, this is an extensive case, and she’s improved very nicely over time over a series of treatments. Importantly, if you have this, get your cholesterol checked, it can be high. Other treatment options are listed below in the caption.
Treatment options: CO₂ laser, cautery, chemical peels, or excision
In the above case, I am using a fractional CO2 laser to help improve this condition. A series of treatments is often required for the best results

This is an example of a non-surgical CO2 blepharoplasty where I used a CO2 laser to remove the excess tissue on the before picture in the upper eyelid, and you can see in the after we had a reduction after one session. Surgery would have been a great option in this case for the patient. However, they were not open to doing it. CO2 laser in the eyelid area can help reduce excess tissue to a mild amount. It can help tighten skin around the eyelids, reduce wrinkles, fine lines, and improve pigment. It also can help reduce the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer.

This is full-face fractional CO2 laser resurfacing, including the eyelids, but nonsurgical. The left or right. Okay. The eye shield is in place for safety. That’s so good. Love it. This is the gold standard for wrinkle reduction and scar reduction, as you can see in these pictures, and it can help with pigment as well. It can help tighten the eyelids, as you can see here, reduce wrinkles around the eyelids, and tighten loose skin around the eyelids as well. If you’re looking for more information, let us know.

How are you doing? I’m doing great. And you?

I got this comment in response to the milia video I posted a few days ago. I did the exact same procedure in this patient above, in arguably a more challenging area near the eye, and as you can see, he did incredibly well. That doesn’t mean everyone who has this procedure is gonna do amazingly well each time. However, it does bring up the point of risk and understanding your options before proceeding with the removal. I think it’s important you understand all the options with their pros and cons and see if there’s a choice that suits you best. In some cases, no removal at all is your best choice as the scar is potentially going to be worse than what you see.

Top three lasers we use in dermatology to treat medical concerns. Lasers are not just for beauty. Number one, fractional CO2 laser. This helps treat pre-cancers as well as prevent against non-melanoma skin cancer, and often used to treat acne scarring. Here is the CO2 laser in action to treat acne scarring. Number two, Fraxel laser. This helps prevent against non-melanoma skin cancer and treats pre-cancerous actinic keratosis. This is Fraxel in action preventing against skin cancer and treating sun damage. Number three, vascular lasers. These typically fall under the brand names of Pulsed Dye laser, Excel V Plus laser, Derma V laser. These help treat rosacea as well as acne, and a lot of sun damage. This is an example of a vascular laser treating flushing in a rosacea patient

This is subcision, a treatment we do when managing acne scars to help release bound-down scar tissue. Often it’s followed by collagen stimulator, in this case hyperdilute Radiesse to help build further collagen. The white material you’re seeing on the cheeks is TCA cross to help with ice pick scars. Often we follow this with lasers and microneedling to get the best results. Consultation is key to customize your treatment plan.

I just had a CO2 laser done on my face, and typically when you see CO2 laser on this app and on my page, very red, crusty, and gruesome looking. It does not have to be that way. You can do very conservative and light settings to get a chemical peel-like effect, help tighten pores, improve fine lines, wrinkles, and improve some pigment. A few things to keep in mind, CO2 can be done in darker skin. If you haven’t noticed, I am not white. And secondly, aftercare still does matter. I have sunscreen on, post-care on, and I’m gonna keep that on through the weekend. It is very sunny this weekend.

These little openings on my nose are pores. They are totally normal. You do not need to do anything about them. If you don’t like them and you find them too big, there are things you can consider to help shrink them. Number one, lasers over skincare. People on this app talk about skincare all the time to shrink pores. It doesn’t really do much. It helps clean out pores. It’s not gonna shrink them. You need to find a device that’ll help build collagen. This can be lasers like fractional CO2, Pico Laser, Clear and Brilliant, Fraxel. Um, it can be devices like radiofrequency microneedling. These will help build collagen and shrink pores. And number two, patience is really important. It takes time to see results, and results will vary.

Oh God, look at it. It’s perfect.

These are xanthelasma, yellowish spots we find under the eye, and can be a marker of high cholesterol. If you notice these, please get your cholesterol checked. Although you do not need to do anything about these, they are benign, many people don’t like them. In this case, we’re using a fractional CO2 laser followed by a light curette coming up here to help remove these spots. I find this method to be effective. There are other options. We will see in a minute her results. She did amazing. This was right before a wedding for her. It’s important to plan this out. It does take time to heal, and responses will vary.

Hi guys. Here’s an example of an acne scar patient we treated recently with TCA Cross to help with ice pick and boxcar scars, followed by subcision to help release scar tissue from underneath, and finally, fractional CO2 with PRP to further enhance scar reduction. Keep in mind, this was all done in one session, and the before and afters are taken one month apart, and we expect better results with more treatment and more time. Keep in mind the following principles if you are going to undergo an acne scar reduction journey. Number one, multimodal therapies tend to give you a better result with a strategy than just doing one type of treatment alone. Number two, patience is required. Time is needed to see the best results, and multiple sessions. And number three, responses vary between individuals.