Resumo

Objectives: The technique of resurfacing has evolved over several decades from conventional laser dermabrassion to fractional resurfacing and now to fractional energy based device treatments. Combinations of various techniques has always been seen to give better results than the individual procedures. Introduction: introduction of MNRF has revolutionised the resurfacing technique as this has made sure that we can go quite deep into the dermis to deliver the required energies where we actually want them to reach. The combination of this deep treatment with the relatively superficial treatment with fractional CO2 lasers gives us best of both the worlds with treatment of deep scars and improvement of the texture superficially Materials / method: Over the last about 3 years since we acquired the micro needle RF device we have combined the treatment with CO2 fractional laser in at least 20 patients. Some of these patients had received only CO2 laser sessions earlier with partial relief. On combining the two techniques we saw a tremendous difference in results Results: The patients who had not been doing very well with only the CO2 fractionation started doing quite well with the combination of MNRF and CO2 fractional. Those with deep scars do not seem to respond only to CO2 fractional laser and we need to go deeper in the dermis for these patients. We also observed that this combination gave the deep tightening effect with the MNRF and a superficial sheen and shine to the skin with the CO2 fractional. Contrary to the common belief that CO2 fractional laser is a potential inducer of PIH in skins of colour, we did not come across any major side effects Conclusion: Combining MNRF and CO2 fractional for deep acne scars improves the outcome considerably. We recommend that these should be combined wherever possible