Your Guide to Laser Skin Resurfacing in Minneapolis

Whether you’ve never stepped foot in a med spa or you’re a seasoned veteran in the world of aesthetic treatments, navigating your many treatment options can be a challenge. From lights to lasers, radiofrequency treatments, and more, how do you determine which is right for you? 

At Vively Body Science, we are here to simplify the process and make it easy to find your perfect treatment. As a physician-owned and operated clinic, our safe, advanced, and effective treatments can help you reach nearly any aesthetic goal.

Our co-founders, Dr. Laurel Martini and Dr. Joshua Martini, have extensive experience that informs every part of their practice. In this blog, we are breaking down one of the best treatments to improve the health and appearance of your skin—laser skin resurfacing in Minneapolis. 

What is Laser Skin Resurfacing? 

Laser skin resurfacing is a non-to minimally invasive procedure that uses specific and precise laser beams to improve the appearance of your skin. There are two main types of lasers used for skin resurfacing: ablative and non-ablative. 

Ablative 

Ablative lasers improve the appearance of your skin by removing the outermost layer of the skin’s surface. 

How Ablative Lasers Work

How can a laser remove the outer layer of skin? These lasers work by targeting the water content in your skin cells. The water absorbs the laser energy, causing the cells to vaporize or peel away. 

By removing portions of the top layer of skin, it triggers the body’s natural healing response. This response stimulates the production of collagen (the essential protein that keeps our skin tight, structured, and youthful). More collagen helps produce new, healthy skin cells to replace the outer layer of skin. 

While ablative lasers offer significant results, they do require a longer period of downtime as the new skin heals and recovers. Because these treatments are more aggressive, it’s important to talk to your provider about the specific laser they will use and what you can expect for downtime. 

Non-Ablative

Non-ablative lasers take a gentler approach to skin resurfacing by working underneath the surface to improve skin from the inside out. 

How Non-Ablative Lasers Work

Non-ablative lasers target deep layers of the skin, leaving the outer layer of skin intact. By bypassing the outer layer, the laser energy stimulates collagen production from within to improve its appearance over time. 

The main advantage of non-ablative lasers is the minimal recovery time after treatment. Depending on the laser and your skin type, you may experience mild redness or swelling after treatment, but these side effects are typically minimal and subside within hours. 

With no downtime, you can plan on getting right back to your day after non-ablative laser skin resurfacing in Minneapolis. 

Hybrid Lasers

Not all lasers are either ablative or non-ablative—some are a combination of both. These hybrid lasers simultaneously target the outer layer of skin and the deeper layers beneath the surface to address a range of skin concerns. 

Hybrid lasers are becoming increasingly popular because of their remarkable benefits and shorter downtime. With combination lasers, you can expect dramatic results that are visible sooner. 

What Laser Resurfacing Can Treat

Laser skin resurfacing in Minneapolis can improve the appearance of many skin concerns and conditions, including: 

Fine Lines and Wrinkles

We all know that fine lines and wrinkles start to show up as we get older. Let’s discuss why these symptoms of aging appear and how laser resurfacing can help reverse this process. 

Why We Get Them

When we are young, our body produces the right amount of collagen to keep our skin tight, elastic, smooth, and youthful. As we age, our body’s natural collagen production begins to slow down, making our skin thinner, weaker, and less supported than it once was. As a result, our skin starts to sag and wrinkle. Not so fun fact… our body’s collagen production decreases by 1% every year after the age of 20 (gasp)!

How Laser Resurfacing Can Help

Laser resurfacing can help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by stimulating collagen production. This increase in collagen helps improve your skin’s firmness, elasticity, and texture over time. 

Age Spots

In Minneapolis, we have to take advantage of our warm summer months by spending time outside. However, UV rays can be very damaging to the skin and lead to age spots later in life. 

Why We Get Them

Melanin is the pigment that gives our skin color. It’s the reason why we tan after spending a summer in the sun. Melanin works by absorbing UV rays to minimize potential damage to our skin; however, it can leave unwanted marks of hyperpigmentation behind (known as age spots, sun spots, liver spots, etc.). 

How Laser Resurfacing Can Help

Laser resurfacing can target the pigmented cells responsible for age spots. The laser energy causes them to heat up and split apart, breaking down the excess melanin. With laser resurfacing, you’ll notice dark spots improving over time. 

Scars

Visible scars can hold you back from feeling your best. Fortunately, laser resurfacing can minimize the appearance of these unwanted marks. 

Why We Get Them

There are many reasons why you might develop scars over time, including past acne, injuries, or surgeries. Scars can be caused by excess melanin production and excess collagen formation, which can become more apparent over time with repeated UV exposure. 

How Laser Resurfacing Can Help

Laser skin resurfacing in Minneapolis can help reduce the appearance of scars by stimulating collagen production, targeting the excess pigment, and removing the damaged skin. Your Vively provider can help you determine the right type of laser for your specific type of scar. 

Our Favorite Laser Skin Resurfacing Treatments

Now that we’ve discussed the different types of lasers and how they target common skin concerns, let’s dive into our favorite laser treatments. 

Halo

The Halo laser is one of our most popular choices for laser skin resurfacing in Minneapolis. At Vively Body Science, we customize each Halo treatment to meet your skin’s needs.  

Laser Type: Hybrid

Treatment areas: Face, neck, chest, arms, legs

Downtime: 5 to 7 days, but most patients can go back to work within 2 to 3 days

The Halo laser can treat many skin concerns, including: 

• Sun spots and sun damage
• Facial redness in your cheeks, nose, or forehead
• The appearance of small veins
• Fine lines and wrinkles
• Enlarged pores
• Uneven skin tone, color, and texture
• Scars

Hear Dr. Josh Martini talk about the Halo laser at Vively! 

MOXI

The MOXI laser is a customized treatment that gives you brighter, better, and younger-looking skin with minimal downtime. 

Laser Type: Non-ablative

Treatment areas: Face, neck, chest, arms, hands, legs

Downtime: None (avoid wearing makeup for 24 hours after treatment) 

We use MOXI in Minneapolis to correct: 

• Dark spots
• Sun damage
• Fine lines and wrinkles
• Uneven skin tone and texture

Learn more about the MOXI laser treatment →

ClearSilk

ClearSilk is one of our favorite lasers because it’s safe to use any time of the year. This gentle laser facial is also effective for all skin types!

Laser Type: Non-ablative

Treatment areas: Face, neck, chest, arms, hands, legs

Downtime: None 

ClearSilk administers heat energy to the skin to improve: 

• Fine lines and wrinkles
• Pigmented lesions
• Redness
• Rosacea
• Scars

Learn more about ClearSilk from Dr. Josh Martini in this short video! 

Combining Treatments

If you’re looking to get dramatic results from your laser treatments, one of the best ways to see amazing results fast is by stacking treatments. At Vively Body Science, we create unique care plans that are completely customized to you and your specific needs.

Based on your concerns, we may recommend stacking 2 or even 3 laser treatments to best meet your needs. When we combine treatments in this way, the results actually amplify each other. In other words, you’ll see better results from a stacked treatment than you would from the 2 single treatments alone. 

If you’re looking for more ways to enhance and maintain your results from treatment, our favorite treatments to combine with laser resurfacing in Minneapolis are BBL and microneedling. 

BBL Photofacial

Forever Young BBL is a treatment that uses intense pulsed light (IPL) to improve the health and appearance of your skin. It’s a great treatment to pair with lasers or to help maintain the results of lasers, as this treatment helps with: 

• Aging skin
• Rosacea and redness
• Age spots
• Wrinkles and fine lines

Learn more about Forever Young BBL →

Microneedling 

Microneedling is another one of our favorite ways to compliment a laser treatment. This treatment creates tiny micro-injuries in the skin to stimulate collagen production and improve a variety of skin problems, including: 

• Scars
• Fine lines and wrinkles
• Hyperpigmentation
• Enlarged pores
• Sun damage
• Stretch marks

Learn more about medical microneedling →

Visit Vively Body Science for Laser Skin Resurfacing in Minneapolis

Laser skin resurfacing isn’t right for everyone, but we are sure to have a treatment that is right for you! If you’re ready to improve your health and wellness, Vively Body Science is here to help.

You deserve to look and feel your best. We are more than a med spa in Wayzata—we are a physician-owned and operated wellness and medical aesthetic clinic that cares for your whole health. From medical weight loss to Minneapolis laser treatments, we can help you feel incredible at every stage of life. 

Schedule an appointment to get started, or use our free virtual consultation tool for treatment recommendations sent right to your phone!