I was looking into getting facial laser resurfacing not like the extreme ones but something to help with aging and to rejuvenate the skin around my lips and cheeks under eyes and chin. I was reading that the deeper laser resurfacing doctors use tumescent anesthesia and the benefits of using it look great. Is that an option for a less abrasive laser resurfacing treatment.
Some ablative skin resurfacing needs sedation or general anesthesia.
Non-ablative laser resurfacing can be done with topical or tumescent anesthesia.
There are several types of laser treatments of the skin. The only ones that require anesthesia are those that remove part of the dermis and all the epidermis, called a leveling laser. The depth that you go depends on the depth of the wrinkles so beware of promises of not going deep. No matter what you do, you should be on basic skin care and tretinoin (Retin-A, retinol is OK as long as you are not trying to rejuvenate your skin) and Obagi's ELASTIderm to stimulate collagen and elastic tissue which thickens the dermis eliminating wrinkles and reducing the effect of the muscles making wrinkles. Since leveling laser leaves an open area that has to reepitheliaze, recovery is 2-3 weeks, I personally prefer to add to skin care microneeedling or Fraxel laser that punches holes in the dermis for moderate wrinkles and injecting the deeper ones with one of the newer thinner fillers since this approach has essentially no down time. Make sure you see someone very skilled in skin rejuvenation