Carbon dioxide laser resurfacing of the aged face.

Abstract

Aging of the skin of the face consists of an intrinsic aging process that is genotypically inherent and inevitable, which accounts for the thinness of tissue that is lax and redundant. It can include benign and premalignant neoplasms [1, 2]. While photoaging or extrinsic aging is environmentally mediated and is characterized by fine and deep facial skin wrinkling; it can be characterized by thickened, coarse, yellow, sallow skin, that is studded with telangiectasia, macules of hyper-and hypopigmentation, benign, premalignant and malignant neoplastic lesions [1, 3—6]. There are many ways to rejuvenate aged skin, which include topical treatments with vitamin A acid [7,8], alpha and beta hydroxy acids [9, 11] and various types of skin resurfacing either by chemical peelings of glycolic, trichloracetric or phenolic acids for superficial, medium to deep depth resurfacing respectively [12, 13], or by performing a mechanical dermabrasion [14, 17]. This presentation will highlight rejuvenating the photodamaged and aged skin of the face by the currently most popular modality of resurfacing, which is using a high energy carbon dioxide laser that is either pulsed or flashscanned [18—23].