Medical and Aesthetic Indications of Ablative Lasers

Ablative lasers (Erbium and CO2) have been used since the early 1980s as a treatment for many medical indications, and then for facial skin aging. In photoaging skin treatment, it is necessary to distinguish the conventional pulsed mode that vaporizes the entire skin surface, from the fractional mode that leaves healthy skin spaces, less heavy in terms of healing but whose final result is less spectacular. The management of ultra-pulsed CO2 operating suites of the latest generation is intermediate between the old pulsed CO2 and ablative fractional lasers. The correct indication of pulsed CO2 is conditioned by the patient’s acceptance of 10-15 days of surgical follow-up with nursing care. For medical indications, our experience focuses on CO2 lasers used in continuous as well as pulsed mode. The main indications of continuous CO2 laser are: warts, genital warts, syringomas, bowenoid papulosis, multiple cutaneous neurofibromas, angiofibromas of tuberous sclerosis, rhinophyma, … The main indications of pulsed CO2 laser are: actinis keratoses, epidermal nævi.