Question: What kind of anesthesia, if any, is used during laser skin resurfacing?
Answer: The anesthesia for laser skin resurfacing depends on the depth of the laser skin resurfacing and the area being treated. Most Fractionated CO2 laser or FRAXEL type laser resurfacing can be tolerated with topical numbing creams. Deeper treatments can be done with numbing blocks or injections of lidocaine if the area is limited such as the eyelids, crows feet or lips smokers lines. If the full face is being treated with CO2 laser to a deep degree then general anesthesia is required. Its not that painful afterwards but the actual treatments would hurt.
