Shooting scars

Non-ablative lasers include:
 InfraRed Lasers produce invisible light. They’re most commonly used for ther-
mally induced dermal remodeling and use water as their targets. They are min-
imally absorbed by melanin, the epidermal skin pigment, which makes them
suitable for all skin types. These lasers use aggressive skin cooling to limit the
heating effect, creating a controlled injury to the dermal collagen, with subse-
quent remodeling and tightening.
 N-Lite Laser is another non-ablative laser. It is now being used to trigger colla-
gen formation.
 Sprinkling laser beams: A kinder, gentler laser is now available. This latest laser
is called the Fraxel laser. Unlike older lasers, which shoot a single solid beam
of light, the Fraxel laser shoots out tiny clusters of beams that burn the skin in
patterns of dots. It burns away old skin cells and spurs the growth of new cells
and stimulates the production of collagen that, in time, tends to “fill the dots”
and smooth out the skin.
The theory behind this is that such “fractional” treatment allows the skin to heal
much faster than if the entire area were treated at once, using the body’s nat-
ural healing process to create new, healthy tissue to replace skin imperfections.
There is less injury to the skin with this method and less downtime compared
with the older lasers, and there’s minimal discomfort as compared to the abla-
tive lasers.