A method and apparatus for treating tissue includes an energy application device that directs energy at the skin tissue of the patient in a fractional treatment mode in which a plurality of spots receive energy which may be in a form of a laser beam. In order to lessen thermal damage to the surrounding tissue of the spot, a controller will cause the laser or the energy application device to skip around the area to be treated rather than to apply the laser beam in a sequential, raster-like fashion to each of the points in a fractional treatment area.
