CO2 Laser Skin Resurfacing in Montreal

Plan for 7 to 10 days of social downtime for the deeper resurfacing settings. Not two days, and not a long weekend. Light-mode resurfacing is a shorter proposition, closer to three or four days before makeup will sit properly, and Mid sits between the two. Ask which mode you are booked for and plan against that number rather than the best case.

Our exosome protocol makes that window shorter and considerably more comfortable than standard CO2 recovery, but it does not remove it. Book against a quiet stretch of your calendar, and take the time off before you book rather than after.

Days 1 to 3. Significant redness and swelling, and a sensation like a severe sunburn. The heat is most intense in the first few hours. Swelling peaks in the first 48 hours and is usually worst around the eyes when you wake up. The skin weeps a clear or yellowish fluid. You will be doing soaks and reapplying ointment constantly, and you will not want to be seen.

Days 4 to 7. The weeping stops and the surface dries into fine bronze or brown micro-crusting with a sandpaper feel. The skin darkens before it clears, which surprises people. Then heavy peeling begins, coming away in uneven patches with bright pink new skin underneath. This is the stage people find hardest to look at, and it is also the stage where the exosomes earn their place.

Week 2 onward. Peeling finishes and the pinkness starts fading. Most people are covering what remains with mineral makeup and back to normal life. A pink tone can persist for several weeks to a few months after a deep treatment, which is normal.

Months 1 to 6. The actual result builds as collagen remodels. What you see at two weeks is not the outcome.

We apply a medical-grade topical numbing cream about 45 minutes before the treatment and leave it to work under occlusion, and the device cools the skin as it fires. You will still feel heat and a prickling snap during the pass, and you will smell something. It is well within what people tolerate, but it is not nothing.

The hours immediately afterwards are the uncomfortable part, with intense heat and tightness for the first two or three hours. Cool compresses and the ointment help, and the exosomes take a noticeable edge off the inflammation. Tell us in advance if you are anxious about pain so we can plan for it rather than improvise on the day.

When the laser pass finishes, your skin holds thousands of open micro-channels running down into the dermis, and they do not stay open long. Anything applied in that window reaches a depth that a serum on intact skin never will.

We apply exosomes into those channels immediately. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles carrying growth factors and signalling proteins that support tissue repair. Delivered into open channels, the aim is to calm the inflammatory response, support the healing happening in the dermis, and move you through the crusting and peeling phase faster than standard CO2 recovery.

It is an addition to the protocol, not a shortcut around it. You still need to protect the recovery window and follow the aftercare.

Four things carry most of the weight. Vinegar or saline soaks several times daily through the weeping and crusting phase, exactly as prescribed. A heavy occlusive barrier such as Aquaphor, applied thickly and reapplied day and night so the healing skin never dries out. No picking, at all, of anything. And absolutely zero sun exposure.

Alongside those: gentle cleansing with lukewarm water, sleeping elevated for the first few nights, and no exercise, saunas, hot showers, pools or alcohol while healing. No makeup until we clear you. You get all of it in writing, with the products, before you leave.

You risk a permanent scar and you risk infection. The crust is a temporary barrier over a wound that has not closed. Pulling it off early tears skin that is still knitting together, and picking is the single most common cause of a poor outcome from CO2 resurfacing.

It will itch, sometimes intensely, and it will look ready to come off before it is. Keep it greasy, since ointment reduces the itch, and let every piece fall away on its own. If the itching becomes unbearable, call us instead of touching it.

Absolute. Zero direct sun while you are healing, then rigorous protection for months. New skin after ablative resurfacing has almost no defence against ultraviolet light, and exposure causes post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Those brown patches are harder to correct than whatever you came in to treat, and they can be permanent.

In practice that means staying indoors and away from windows early on, then broad-spectrum SPF 50 every day once we clear you to apply it, reapplied through the day, with a wide-brimmed hat. This holds on cloudy days and through winter. It also rules out beach holidays, ski trips and tanning for the period we specify. If you have something booked, tell us at the consultation and we will schedule around it.

It depends on what is being corrected and how deep we can safely go. Some anti-aging resurfacing goals are met in a single deeper session. Deep acne scarring generally needs a series spaced several weeks to a few months apart. The doctor gives you a realistic range at the consultation rather than a promise, because the plan gets adjusted based on how your skin responds to the first treatment.

It depends on the area treated and the depth required, since a small spot treatment and a full-face deep resurfacing session are not the same procedure. The ranges on this page reflect what the treatment typically costs across Montreal, running from around $300 for small areas to $2,500 for full-face deep anti-aging work.

You get a written quote at your consultation once the doctor has assessed your skin and confirmed how many sessions you need. Ask for it to include the aftercare products, which are not optional with this treatment.

Not immediately, and not when the redness fades. Once peeling finishes you will see brighter, smoother skin, but that is the early part. Collagen remodelling runs for three to six months, and wrinkle, texture and firmness improvement keeps accumulating across that whole period. Judging the outcome at two weeks is the most common mistake people make. We photograph each visit so you can see the change against where you started.

Both have defined roles. Our medical director, Dr. Danielle Eiböck, conducts the consultation, assesses your skin and medical history, decides whether you are a candidate, writes the prescription and treatment parameters, and provides medical oversight for your course of treatment. The CO2RE sessions themselves are performed by our fully trained, specialized cosmetic nurse, who works to the plan the doctor has set. You meet the doctor at consultation and see the nurse for your treatments.

Reach and recovery. Microneedling and chemical peels work at or near the surface, need a course of sessions, and cost you little or no downtime. They are the right answer for early texture change, dullness and mild unevenness.

CO2 resurfacing removes tissue and reaches the dermis, which is why it corrects damage the gentler treatments cannot touch, and why it takes a week of your life to recover from. If your concern is mild, the gentler route is the better trade. If you have already tried it and the improvement never held, that is usually the signal you need this instead.