Fraxel vs Pico Laser
Fraxel is the stronger choice for rough texture, acne scars and wrinkles. It drills thousands of microscopic columns of controlled heat injury into the skin, and the skin rebuilds itself over the following weeks. A pico laser is the better choice for tattoos and stubborn pigment. It fires pulses so short that they shatter pigment by shock rather than by heat, so most people look normal again within a day. Pico is also the gentler option on deeper skin tones, because less heat goes into the skin.
What it does to the skin
It treats a fraction of the surface and leaves the skin in between untouched. That untouched skin heals the rest. New collagen fills the columns in over weeks.
The pulse lasts trillionths of a second. It breaks pigment into dust more by shock than by heat. Your body then clears the pieces away.
What it is best for
Sunken acne scars, rough or crepey skin, fine lines, sun damage and surgical scars.
Tattoo removal, sun spots, freckles, and some cases of melasma. Also used for mild texture.
What it will not do
Fraxel does not target ink, and it does not lift loose skin.
A pico laser can soften shallow texture. A deep, pitted acne scar changes very little on its own.
What it feels like
Like a hot rubber band snapped over and over. Numbing cream is standard. Afterwards the skin feels sunburnt.
Sharper, but much faster. A small area is done in minutes. Numbing cream is often enough.
Downtime
Expect swelling, redness, a bronzed look and flaking for about five to seven days. The strongest Fraxel is ablative, meaning it removes surface skin, and that means one to two weeks of raw, crusting healing.
Redness and mild swelling for a few hours to a day. Treated spots often darken, then flake off over the next week.
How many sessions
The ablative version can do the job in one go. The gentler version is a course, spaced four to six weeks apart.
Pigment usually takes three to six visits. A tattoo can take far more, spaced six to eight weeks apart.
How long it lasts
New collagen is real change. Ageing continues around it.
Ink that is cleared does not come back. Sun spots and melasma can return with sun exposure.
Main risk to know
Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, meaning brown marks left behind after inflammation, is the common problem. It is more likely on deeper skin tones. Infection and scarring are uncommon but real.
Blistering, temporary dark marks, and loss of colour in the treated spot. Tattoo ink can also change colour instead of fading.
Cost
An ablative treatment may be one large bill. Ask what a full plan costs, not one visit.
Each visit costs less than strong resurfacing, but you will need several. The total is the number that matters.
The at-home or drugstore version
At-home fractional devices use the same principle at a small fraction of the power, and reach only the very top of the skin. A retinoid cream is the honest home comparison for texture and fine lines. It is slower, and it works.
Tattoo removal creams and home wands do not shatter pigment. Nothing sold for home use produces a picosecond pulse.
Who each suits
"Fraxel" is a brand, not one machine
Fraxel is a family of devices, and they are not equally strong: The name on a clinic price list tells you little on its own.
The gentler ones leave the surface intact: They heat columns under the skin without removing it. That is the version most people mean by Fraxel, and it is a course.
The strongest one removes surface skin: It is a carbon dioxide laser. It does far more in a single session, and asks for a week or two of wound care.
Ask which one your clinic runs before you compare prices: Two clinics quoting "Fraxel" may be selling very different weeks of your life.
Why the two categories blur
Many pico machines can run a fractional handpiece: A lens splits the beam into a grid of high-energy points, which lets a pigment laser do some resurfacing.
That is still not the same treatment: A fractional pico works by shock inside the skin. Fraxel works by heat, and heat is what drives the collagen response. A fractional pico sits in the middle: more than nothing for texture, less than resurfacing.
If your skin tone is deeper
Heat is what triggers dark marks after treatment, so the lower-heat option is usually the safer place to start: That points to pico for pigment, and to careful settings if you have Fraxel.
Fraxel is still used on deeper skin tones: It calls for lower energy, longer gaps between visits, strict sun protection, and sometimes a pigment-calming cream started beforehand. Ask how often that clinic treats your skin tone with that exact device.
Before you book
Ask which device and which setting, and why that one for your problem.
Ask for before-and-after photos of someone with your skin tone and your concern.
Ask what the whole course costs, not the price of one session.
Book resurfacing when you have time off. A week of peeling is hard to hide at work.
Mention active acne, recent isotretinoin, or a history of cold sores. All three change the plan.
