If you’re like most people, then you’ve probably noticed that your skin doesn’t have the same youthful and smooth appearance it once did. Aging, sun damage, acne, as well as a variety of other factors can contribute to the development of a many skin and aesthetic imperfections as the years go by.

Over the years signs of aging appear as a result of exposure to the sun (photoaging) and the effects of gravity and natural aging. The texture, tone and pigmentation of your skin can be affected, often resulting in unwanted wrinkles and fine lines, sun spots and larger pores.

Do you want to look years younger by rejuvenating the appearance of your body’s skin without the need for surgery or a long recovery process? Then you should look no further than the SmartSkin CO2 Micro-Ablative Laser Skin Resurfacing procedure — it can refresh your look using quick, minimally-invasive measures that require little downtime.

What is SmartSkin CO2 Micro-Ablative Laser Skin Resurfacing?

SmartSkin CO2 Micro-Ablative Laser Skin Resurfacing is a new, innovative cosmetic laser technology designed to effectively treat targeted areas of the body that could benefit from skin rejuvenation. During the procedure, Dr. Ashruf will use a laser that is capable of not only resurfacing aged and damaged skin, but also of stimulating the generation of collagen.

Although the most common areas of the body treated by SmartSkin are the face, neck, hands, and upper area of the chest (the region that typically remains uncovered when wearing low-cut articles of clothing), virtually any area of skin on your body can be treated with a SmartSkin treatment at Cosmetic Plastic Surgery of Maryland.

What are the benefits?

As mentioned before, the overarching benefit of the new SmartSkin technology is that it is able to provide desired skin rejuvenation without having to resort to surgical tactics, which require the introduction of risks and complications inherent to surgery as well as the resulting necessary recovery period.

Specific Benefits

By harnessing the light energy from the laser, the SmartSkin procedure can:

  • Reduce the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, and pores
  • Reduce the appearance of age spots and sun damage
  • Reduce the appearance of acne scars
  • Reduce the appearance of skin discolorations, such as unwanted brown or red spots
  • Stimulate the growth of collagen, which can give a healthier, fuller look to skin

Basically, SmartSkin technology brings about an overall improvement of your skin’s tone and texture — reducing the signs of aging and other damage to the skin, while encouraging the replenishment of new, healthy layers of skin.

Is Smart Skin C02 Laser Resurfacing Right You?

  • Do you want to reduce the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and pores?
  • Do you want to reduce the appearance of age spots and sun damage?
  • Do you want to reduce the appearance of acne scars?
  • Do you want to reduce the appearance of skin discolorations, such as unwanted brown or red spots?
  • Do you want to stimulate the growth of collagen to give your skin a healthier, fuller look?

The Procedure

Prior to the procedure, you will relax in our state of the art procedure room, while a topical numbing and local anesthesia is given to optimize the comfort of the procedure.

Dr. Ashruf will use the SmartSkin laser to apply a series of tiny pulses of laser energy to your skin. As these microscopic holes heal, new younger-looking skin is revealed and collagen is stimulated deep within your skin. While the laser is scanning the skin, a device known as a chiller will deliver soothing, cooled air directly to the skin. This helps many people alleviate any discomfort with the procedure. Immediately after the treatment, your skin will feel warm and appear to be sunburned. Your body naturally starts working by replacing the aged skin cells with new ones. After a few days, you will notice a more even skin tone, smoother skin texture, and healthier-looking skin.

The SmartSkin procedure usually takes somewhere between thirty minutes and one hour to complete.

In order to minimize any discomfort felt during the procedure, a topical numbing cream is applied to the specific areas of skin that are targeted by the SmartSkin laser. Various cooling measures are also employed throughout the procedure to counterbalance the heating effects of the laser, further minimizing discomfort.

After the cream is applied, the laser is slowly waved over the targeted areas. Each laser pulse is carefully spaced out in order to make sure that the frequency of the laser pulses are at their most efficient. It should be noted that the SmartSkin procedure is fully customizable, meaning that the power of the laser, the length of each laser pulse, and the spacing between lasers can all be adjusted to best address each patient’s unique skin issues and conditions.

Once the laser has satisfactorily treated all targeted areas, the skin will be sufficiently cooled so that a soothing ointment can be applied to the treated areas.

Recovery

Because the Smart Skin C02 laser has the distinct ability to deliver micro pulses of energy, you will experience a significantly shorter recovery time than with fully ablative laser treatments. Each tiny hole heals within 2-7 days and patients are able to apply makeup on the treated surface and return to a normal lifestyle.

For the first few days after the treatment, you will most likely feel as though you have mild sunburn, with some noticeable redness and swelling of treated areas. Skin may also be dry, resulting in some peeling, with dark spots becoming a bit darker before they begin flaking off. All these effects are normal and expected, and should resolve on their own within a few days.

While some results of the SmartSkin procedure will be immediately noticeable, you should notice continual improvement and an increasingly rejuvenated appearance as the skin gets the chance to generate more and more collagen.

Be sure to follow any and all post-treatment skin care instructions provided by Dr. Ashruf in order to ensure that you achieve the best possible results. You should also avoid sun exposure and heavy exercise for several days after the procedure, so as not to unfavorably disturb your skin’s healing process.

To learn more about SmartSkin procedure or any other skin rejuvenation procedure provided by Dr. Ashruf, please contact our offices today by calling 410-590-4313, or by filling out our “contact us” form.