 [ Symptoms ] what is fraxel and how does it compare to a co2 laser peel [ Disease ] fraxel is a non ablative erbium glass treatment that has been used to improve acne scars and uneven pigmentation with some success usually 4 6 treatments are needed there is usually little down time with redness and scaling for a few days after the treatment fractional co2 treatments build on the gold standard co2 resurfacing laser for improvement of lines wrinkles sun damage and other signs of aging usually only a treatment is needed but it is ablative which means that there is greater recovery time usually about 7 10 days