Active FX vs. Fraxel Repair - what's the difference?

To understand the differences, one must understand the similarities. The Active Fx and Fraxel Repair are both lasers using CO2 technologies. (Active Fx is made by Lumenis which is based in Santa Clara and Fraxel is made by Reliant in Mountain View which got acquired by Thermage.) They fractionate the CO2 whereby they leave areas of untreated skin juxtaposed with areas of treated skin.  The idea is that the untreated skin allows for faster recovery times; plus it is much less painful then its predecessor which required general anesthesia. How they differ is how deep the laser goes down.  Fraxel's philosophy is that you need to go real deep (1.6 microns vs 600-700 microns) in order for you to heat the collagen so that you can stimulate collagen to get the tightening effect.  Active Fx does not go as deep.  The overall question is how far do you need to go to have optimal results.  The answer is nobody knows.  Both lasers will show you histology slides that show collagen stimulation and both have some impressive results.  Generally the deeper you go the more painful it is. When Lumenis first came out with Active Fx, they did not believe you had to go that deep.  They later found out that the results was not that good.  They later came out with Deep Fx to punch deeper holes so the results are getting better especially for acne scars. To answer your question: 1. They both have excellent results for brown spots, moderate improvement for deep lines, and some improvement with skin laxity.  For deep lines and laxity they do not compare to a face lift.  So if you have real loose skin or deep, deep lines you still need a face lift. 2. Both procedures are painful.  You must have proper pre-treatment to make it through.  You cannot have a low threshold for pain if you want to go through with this.  There are ways to make it more tolerable ie the right topical numbing cream, blocks, Ativan, vicodin, 3. Active Fx has 5-7 days of downtime; Fraxel has at least 7 days - Fraxel also has more blood involved right after the treatment (remember it goes deeper) 4. Remember the provider can control the strength of the treatment - if you want more results - then more pain and downtime - if you don't want much downtime or pain then they will lower the settings 5. I am not sure what you mean by precancerous spots (there are many different lesions) so I won't be able to answer that question.

When you said active fx, i am assuming that you mean active fx and deep fx combined. Both are equally good. It really depends on who is using them. There are pro/cons for the physician using them but in terms of wrinkles, Brown spots and tightening I think you will see same results. The pain is the same in both. It hurts! Therefore you need to have a good discussion with your physician about anesthesia. Depending on the amount of skin getting covered and the depth one is using the laser to , there is a direct relationship with the length of time taken to recover. With regard to the comment about the brown spots a physician needs to check out any spots or moles of concern and consider biospy before any ablative treatment is considered. Hope that helps.

what is the best way to get rid of deep cheek lines,I have had Sculptra 4 times but there is no result at all.I am looking at Fraxel,is this the only option for my condition

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