Dear Dr Seckel, My dermatologist recommends Fraxel for me to reduce wrinkles and skin sagging. I am interested in having this done but realized as I left the office that the procedure would not be performed by him but by an assistant aesthetician in his office. Would you recommend this–even if the assistant is well trained? Is there any reason why this should be done exclusively by the Doctor (since this isn’t surgery maybe there would be no problem)? Thank you, Elizabeth, Tucson, AZ
Dear Elizabeth,
It is customary for a nurse or aesthetician supervised by a physician on site to do Fraxel treatments.
However results using Fraxel for wrinkle removal and skin tightening have been sometimes disappointing and if wrinkle removal and skin tightening of loose or lax skin is your goal I would not rely on the Fraxel. Fraxel is most effective for pigment removal and acne scarring at this writing.
According to the people who have used Fraxel most-it is best for removal of sun damage pigment and acne scars.
For effective wrinkle removal I use the Lumenis Ultrapulse CO2
LYTE-ActiveFX laser skin peel-it is by far the most effective for
wrinkle removal in my hands-the machine is new but you can check lumenis.com for a doctor in your area who has it-downtime is 4-6 days usually.
For effective skin tightening there are several -Thermage, Titan, Aluma with Faces by Lumenis and Lux IR by Palomar-I use the Palomar LuxIR and have been very happy with skin tightening results. I also like the Aluma for skin tightening in the area around the eyes.
You will get some skin tightening with the ActiveFX laser skin peel-wait 3 months after your laser skin peel to see the effect.
The other tightening machines are very different and tighten the skin by deep heating with Radiofrequency or Infrared energy.
You may however be happy with the skin tightening you get from the ActiveFX laser skin peel-you may want to do 2-3 CO2 lyte peels over a year-the results should be excellent if the procedure is done correctly.
For more information on laser skin rejuvenation, wrinkle removal, skin tightening and non-surgical facial rejuvenation read Save Your Face or contact me.
Boston, Massachusetts