You may be wondering what Fraxel Laser actually is? Or how it works to improve the quality of your skin. The is a reason so many of our Amerian clients want to have Fraxel done whilst they are staying around the Windsor area!
If we remove all the marketing talk and superlatives about how it will rejuvenate and stimulate collagen, it's basically a very safe and controlled way to heat your skin up to a level that prompts the natural "wound healing response", but doesn't actually "ablate", or vaporise the surface of the skin. So it's not a burn as such, unlike with lasers such as Co2 and Erbium Resurfacing. The laser beams from Fraxel target water in your skin (present in all our collagen), and is absorbed highly in this water to create heat at a very specific depth.
Below you can see the effect that Fraxel can have on sun damage. In the before photo there is classic solar lentigos, aka sun spots, liver spots, age spots, or freckles if we are being kinder.
The energy delivered to the skin targets these collections of pigment and disturbs them to cause them to breakdown.
Fraxel is controlled as the laser uses a unique roller system to deliver even spaces dots of energy to the skin in a scattered pattern with a coverage that can be tuned up or down (higher or lower density or percentage coverage).
It is safe as it allowed you to choose the density of energy (treatment level) as well as the amount of energy per spot, the "fluence".
The latest model of Fraxel is actually known as Fraxel Dual; the Dual referring to the two wavelengths or energy types that the laser emits. It has both Erbium:Glass 1550nm, and Thulium 1927nm lasers which each address different depths within the skin.
Cost?
Typical these treatments are over $1000 dollars per session in the USA. Our treatments start from £525 for focal treatment to the cheeks. For a full face treatment with our experienced therapist the cost is £750 and we occasionally run special offers. The cost for treatment with our doctor is £995, or £1495 if eyelids are being included.
Downtime?
This is really the main reason patients are reluctant to go ahead with laser treatment. Downtime can be almost nothing if low energy and density settings are used. But skin can also be pink for up to 2 weeks if there are higher settings or the skin is particularly sensitive. We usually estimate that patients should take 3-4 days at home to allow the redness and any initial swelling to subside. There is also a sandpaper effect on the skin which usually starts to resolve around day 4-5 and people tend to find it super satisfying when the grainy texture becomes baby soft new skin underneath!
