Novel post-treatment care after ablative and fractional CO2 laser resurfacing

This study evaluates a topical oxygen emulsion (TOE) to reduce adverse effects after skin rejuvenation with a fully ablative CO2 laser alone and in combination with a fractional ablative CO2 laser.

Patients (n = 100) seeking skin rejuvenation underwent CO2 laser resurfacing. Group A patients (n = 34) received a single deep fractional laser treatment followed by application of Aquaphor immediately after treatment for 24 h and TOE every 6 h for the next 6 days. Group B patients (n = 66) underwent both deep fractional and fully ablative laser resurfacing followed by application of TOE every 6 h for 7 consecutive days.

Patients in both groups showed clinical improvement and a 7.1% overall incidence of adverse effects which included milia (5.1% overall) and hyperpigmentation (3.1% overall). For milia, Group A and Group B individual adverse effect rates were 11.8% and 1.5%, respectively; for hyperpigmentation, individual rates were 0.0% and 3.1%, respectively.

The elimination of petrolatum products in the post-skin care regimen has significantly reduced the incidence of post-procedure complications when compared with the use of TOE, resulting in the lowest incidence of complications in fully ablative or fractional resurfacing published thus far.