Ablative fractional resurfacing or AFR helps treat scars from surgery or trauma using a brand new laser surgery technique.  A report published in the Feb. 14th Archives of Dermatology shows that women who underwent Ablative fractional resurfacing showed an overall improvement of their skin six months after being treated. The women had mild to moderate side effects but resulted in no scarring according to New York doctors who conducted this study.
 
Although skin resurfacing practitioners use various ablative, nonablative, and fractional devices to conduct skin resurfacing, the results are not always consistent or complete. Carbon dioxide lasers may cause tissue damage and do require longer recovery periods.

The Ablative fractional resurfacing study researchers reported that the above study was primarily focused on treating facial scars. However given the small sample group of participants in the above study, it's unclear whether Ablative fractional resurfacing works or not.