Do Retinoids Protect Darker Skin After Ablative Laser?

Dermatologic Surgery examined whether patients using a retinoid around the time of ablative laser resurfacing developed less post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, in the skin types where that risk is highest. Pigment left behind after resurfacing is the complication that decides candidacy in darker skin, and it is why a treatment that suits one patient is a poor idea for another with the same finding. Anything that shifts that risk changes the conversation about who is a candidate, not the settings on the machine.