A fractional CO2 laser works by breaking up one main CO2 beam into thousands of tiny beams. These beams penetrate into the deep layers of the skin - much deeper than a Fraxel DUAL laser. In essence, they create many tiny ‘wounds’ in the skin, on purpose. This process removes the top layers of old tissues. After treatment sessions, the body begins to repair itself by pushing out old skin as it heals. It replaces old skin with new skin. The healing process increases collagen in the skin. The increased collagen has a skin tightening effect, which happens as an off-shoot of skin resurfacing. This is why CO2 laser treatments can be used as an anti-aging treatment. In the old days, the only way to perform this treatment was by skin ablation. Nowadays, we can use fractional CO2 lasers. These keep much of the skin in-tact. This results in faster healing.