Laser Skin Resurfacing
Ablative Laser Resurfacing Replaces Damaged Skin with New Skin
Ablative laser skin resurfacing, done with either an Erbium:YAG or CO2 laser, is an aggressive procedure that is the most effective method available today for replacing damaged, wrinkled, or scarred skin with smooth new healthy skin.
Because dramatic laser results come with higher risks of adverse events, it’s important to choose the most experienced physician for it that you can find. Dr. Cynthia Elliott, the owner of Skinspirations in Clearwater, FL, has been performing ablative laser resurfacing treatments since 2008. She was not only one of the first clinicians in the Tampa Bay area to provide this treatment, she’s also been a physician instructor for Cutera Lasers since 2008. Dr. Elliott has been cited as an ablative laser resurfacing authority in multiple journal articles.
Kate Dellangelo, DNP, has been providing ablative laser resurfacing treatments at Skinspirations for over eleven years, which is much more experience than most other laser providers.
Ablative lasers work by vaporizing a predetermined depth of skin, and the heat they produce under and around the treated areas causes a response that increases collagen and elasticity. They’re the most effective treatments for repairing sun-damaged, aged skin and some scars.
Skinspirations has used Sciton Erbium:YAG lasers since 2008, upgrading them as newer models were developed, because they have a range of parameters that are capable of producing both Erbium as well as C02 results.
The two main types of ablative laser treatments are full surface resurfacing and fractional resurfacing. Each has its own advantages as described in the sections below.
Pricing
Profractional laser treatments are based on the size of the area and range from $595 to $1,970. Save 15% on a package of two treatments.
Full-field laser resurfacing treatments start at $945 for the eyes to $1,950 for the full face
Prices are subject to change without notice.
Fractional Laser Skin Resurfacing
Say goodbye to crepey, crinkled or scarred skin on any area of the body and on any color skin with fractional ablative laser resurfacing.
How Does Fractionated Laser Skin Resurfacing Work?
With fractionated ablative laser treatments, the laser beam vaporizes columns of skin down to depths not possible with full-field laser resurfacing. Because the surrounding untreated skin reacts by releasing healing substances and growth factors, the columns are replaced with brand new, tighter skin faster, and with less risk of adverse reactions, than if the entire surface was removed.
Before and After
Before and 4 weeks after the 2nd treatment
Results 3 years after 1 treatment
There’s less chance of losing pigment, infection, or scarring compared to full-field laser resurfacing and there’s less discomfort and downtime.
In general, two fractionated ablative laser treatments done with our Profractional laser will give about 90% of the improvement seen with a full field laser resurfacing treatment.
Fractional ablative laser treatments have changed the field of nonsurgical scar revision, because they replace up to 20% of a scar per treatment, with soft healthy skin. Hair follicles, sweat glands, and even pores return.
What to Expect with Fractional Ablative laser Treatments
On the day of your Profractional treatment, we’ll apply a prescription-strength anesthetic cream and do a painless dental block if treating the mouth area. When we start the treatment, we do a light pass with shallow settings so that we can paint on liquid anesthetic to penetrate deeper than surface anesthetic can get, which makes the rest of the treatment more comfortable. We also offer complimentary nitrous oxide (laughing gas) during resurfacing treatments.
During the treatment, we paint on medications and/or vitamins, specific to your goals and skin type, to penetrate down the open columns made by the laser to reach the depth where they’ll be most effective. For example, if treating acne scars, we paint on retinoic acid to help prevent post-treatment breakouts. If treating fine, crinkly skin, we add vitamins to stimulate collagen, or even Sculptra, to thicken skin further.
The treated area will feel hot immediately afterward so we apply cold compresses to soothe it until it cools down. Once you’re comfortable, we apply a thick moisturizing dressing. We provide you with everything you’ll need for the next few days, including gentle cleanser, moisturizer, and a disposable pillowcase. During your consultation we can provide you with prescriptions for pain medication, anti-anxiety medicine, and cold sore medicines that you can get filled before the day of your treatment.
With deeper treatments, the treated skin may have spots of pinpoint bleeding immediately afterwards. With Profractional treatments for acne scars, there’s often also some swelling for a few days.
From the second day post-treatment through possibly day ten, depending on the area treated and your skin response, the treated area will go from a patchy red to a mild pink. People find it hard to believe initially that they’ll look presentable usually in less than a week.
Full-Surface Ablative Laser Resurfacing
Full-Surface Ablative Laser Resurfacing treatments can dramatically improve etched lines, "crepey" skin, sun damage, and rough texture better than even fractionated ablative laser resurfacing.
The difference between full-surface resurfacing and fractionated laser resurfacing is that full-surface laser resurfacing vaporizes a customized depth of skin over the entire treated area, versus a percentage of the area. The vaporized skin is then replaced with smooth, tighter, younger skin.
In the past, CO2 laser resurfacing produced the most dramatic tightening, but as Dr. Saami Khalifian states in his article in the December, 2025 issue of Modern Aesthetics, “Modern erbium platforms allow tunable coagulation that mimics this effect while preserving erbium’s precision and a safer pigment profile. In experienced hands, erbium with added coagulation has become the favored instrument for periocular and perioral work where hypopigmentation risk must be kept low and precision matters.”
Full-field resurfacing can be done over the entire face, but is often only needed where the skin is especially damaged or crinkly, such as around the eyes or mouth. We can use full-field resurfacing on those areas and fractionated ablative laser resurfacing for the rest of the face, if desired.
Before and After
Results after 1 week for under eye resurfacing
Full-surface face resurfacing
What to Expect with Full-Surface Ablative Laser Treatments
Full-surface laser resurfacing requires preparation, meticulous aftercare, and protected healing, but dramatic treatments produce dramatic results.
Depending on the area of the face treated, anesthesia may consist of a combination of topical anesthetic cream and/or injected anesthetic, nitrous oxide, and oral pain medicine.
When the procedure is finished, the treated area feels very hot, so cold dressings are applied and reapplied until the areas cool. A soothing, moisturizing dressing is then applied before you go home. The treated area will feel sunburned and uncomfortable for the first few days, with some weeping and possibly swelling, depending on the depth of treatment. We provide all the post-treatment supplies you'll need, including a mild cleanser, laser balm, and even a disposable pillowcase.
Redness in the treated areas lasts for weeks to sometimes months, depending on the depth of treatment and your skin type. Post-resurfacing redness tends to last longest in people with very fair complexions. Green-tinted concealers work to conceal redness best and can be used as soon as the thick moisturizer is no longer needed.
Most patients can return to work and social activities about 6 days after full-field laser resurfacing around the eyes. Because the skin around the mouth is thicker than the eyes, it can take up to ten days of social downtime. Strict sun protection is necessary for at least 3 months after facial laser resurfacing. Our estheticians will provide you with at-home skin care recommendations to help maintain your results indefinitely.
Only Trust an Expert for Laser Treatments
It’s important to have aggressive treatments like laser skin resurfacing done by a clinician with extensive medical and laser resurfacing experience.
Dr. Cynthia Elliott has been performing laser skin resurfacing since 2008, has over 15 years of experience in emergency medicine, and is a certified Cutera laser trainer.
Both Kate Dellangelo, DNP, and Dr. Stacy Chase at Skinspirations also each have more than ten years of experience providing laser resurfacing treatments.
Discover if laser skin treatments are right for you; schedule a complimentary consultation.
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“I didn’t think anything could be done except for major surgery. To go through something this simple and it’s like night and day. As bad as my skin was, 3 days later and Ta Da.
– Donna F