Active Fx, CO2 laser and Who Should Do Face Lifts?

Hello,
I consulted with a derm, he has reccommended laser resurfacing for my crowsfeet and under eyearea (where my wrinkles are the worst) and a TCa peel elsewhere for general sun damage...... they have told me I will need 10-14 days off work --- what is the norm recovery time b/f you can go back out in public, how risky are these procedures, would a derm or PS be better? Are some lasers better than others?
Also he also suggested a mini face lift said he would do at the same time, is this safe? What about contour theards, less invasive?

hi,
there's alot of blurring between specialties in the cosmetic field these days - derms doing what surgeons do and vice versa. however, this goes beyond the pale. you should not be getting any kind of face lift from a dermatologist. they just do not have the same training as a plastic or facial plastic surgeon, and they are more likely to recommend the shortcut facelifts that do not last long and do not give you such great results. i'm not a big fan of threadlifts - the procedure is expensive and doesn't last very long, and the strings can pop, leaving you with a bad result.
although my training is facial plastics, i do not operate, so i'm not really biased one way or the other.
i think that full bore operative CO2 laser is overkill for eye wrinkles these days. active fx is a fractionated (less downtime, pain and redness, no need for anesthesia) version of the CO2 laser that has similar results. i think you can get all the stuff you want done without surgery, unless you really need a facelift because of alot of skin laxity. in that case, you should really consider the real thing - these little shortcuts really don't last very long.
hope that helps