Fraxel Repair: Stories

What a nightmare for us all now... The only thing that has worked well for me is obagi skin care line. I used the enhance & condition and it helped correct some of the damage of fraxel. I'll never have my face back but obagi has helped more than anything else that I tried. It's been almost 4 years and I still live with the nightmare & always self-conscious about my face. Talk about regrets...

Hi CAgirl, I just am recently having problems with fraxel too..would you be willing to send me your email so I can ask you a few questions regarding hyper pigmentation. Thanks

Unfortunately I read this after I had my first and only Fraxel session with much the same outcome as yourself... I regret it so much and it saddens me that yes indeed it seems there is no fix.

I am sorry this happened to you. If you have not, please file a report with the FDA, via their adverse event report filing system. It is important to have an official record of these injuries so that they are documented.

Your name and the name of the doctor will not be on public display but only viewable by the FDA. If you reported this outcome to your doctor is was their obligation to notify the mfg, who was then supposed to file a report with the FDA but that does not always happen. Each patient still needs to file their own report with the FDA so you will have a voice and you can be sure the damage was reported and documented.

You can file the report online at this link below, just click the "Begin" button to the right. You will need the manufacturer and model (or at least that would be helpful) of device that harmed you.

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch-online.htm

Another victim of the evils of fraxel :( It has been 7 months for me. Latina with light skin. I went in as recommended by my otherwise fantastic plastic surgeon for melasma near my ear. He suggested I do my whole face-eventhough the rest of my face was clear. Off I went to his aesthetician who assured me that it was perfect for skin of color. I did loads of research on fraxel. I unfortunately never found this site. After the first fraxel treatment my skin looked heavenly after the 'sloughing off' of dead skin. However, by week three, some pigmentation was visible again so another treatment was recommended. The second treatment btw was FREE of charge, so I thought it was all in honesty trying to get my skin to look it's best. THAT did NOT happen. After the second treatment it was obvious my skin was fried. It looked like I was wearing a very, very thick layer of bad make up. My skin was so much darker than the rest of my body, and then as I agonized over the nasty hyperpigmentation and eerie "bronze" look, tiny miniature pimple like things began to cover my face. So much was going on with my face to notice a huge indentation developed on my cheek. It has been hell. I hate to look in the mirror now. I've always been an attractive person yet still always unsure of myself. I should have appreciated my skin as it was! I wish I had never agreed to the procedure! To think I almost walked out that day because I WAS nervous about it-I should have followed my gut instinct. I have been prescribed hydroquinone, but I am concerned about the side effects (cancer!), so I am using Retin-A and getting microdermabrasion done on a monthly basis. The bronze look has gotten a bit better, but the hyperpigmentation remains, as does the indentation on my cheek. The little pimples come and go as they please. I may have a clear face for a couple of weeks, then wake up one day and I am covered with them for the next couple of weeks. They are not pimples, they are tiny and look similar to baby acne. I try to limit being in the sun as much as possible, NEVER go out without sunscreen unless it is night out-not even in the winter. But, nothing has helped. I am scared it could get worse. I am hopeful it will get better. I hope we will ALL get better.

CA girl, can you message me with your e-mail? I'm interested in hearing your story as it sounds very similar to mine!

Thanks for asking, but I posted it two above. 15 months and I feel the same as you... like I have lost my life. Just recently lost my job in which my job performance went down due to depression, I no longer have a love life due to not dating since this all occurred. Therefore, I will have no family to call my own, but I am not sure that upsets me so much. However, I am still hopeful knowing that CAgirl's hyperpigmentation went away after 2 years. That is my major problem. I am a VERY white person, so hypopigmentation wouldn't really be noticed on me. :) I am now contemplating a law suit against my surgeon for the reasons I stated in my prior post. I actually spoke to an attorney yesterday who has sued this surgeon SEVERAL times. Not to mention, my sister is an attorney (but not malpractice) so she will be involved in the process a little which makes me feel more comfortable. I will let you all know how that turns out.

i feel your pain CAgirl T.T
all i can look forward to in life now, is to try and find some sense of peace and acceptance.

all my other life's goals have been thrown out the window. a career? a love life? a family? all devastated

in my search for peace, i've looked into Buddhist teachings, new age-y stuff like abraham-hicks stuff, also looked into quantum physics..

as they all talk about the impermanence of life and that we are more than our physical selves. and also that it's possible to transcend our physical beings into higher consciousness..


i've always thought these ideas were all hokey before.. but now i find great comfort in them..

What did you do to get rid of the Hyperpigmentation... or did it just fade on it's own after 2 years? Your story sounds so similar to mine.

Thanks to Fraxel I now have skin that looks like an orange peel, scarring, lots of "fine lines" and holes from the laser and HYPOpigmentation. This is PERMANENT LASER DAMAGE! I had none of this BEFORE Fraxel!

So what's there to do??? Because the truth is, there's NOTHING out there that will ever restore my skin to what it was BEFORE Fraxel destroyed it. I can continue to take more risks, which more than likely will cause more harm and injury. I can continue to spend thousands on creams, treatments, skin care systems, etc. And all it does is drive me insane. NO CREAM CAN FIX THIS! Obagi, Vivite, Retin-A, etc. The best, most expensive and proven-effective treatments WILL NOT WORK!

Searching for inner peace and healing...

I am 8 months post Fraxel re:store. I am looking for the same for correcting my skin. I live in fear that I will develop problems like AWalk!!

What issues do you want to address?

Are there any treatments out there to help restore the skin to its normal texture, or close to it? What about ablative CO2 Laser? If any of you have had corrective procedures, treatments, medication, etc., please advise.

It's a living hellish nightmare, but I'm still here. Sadly, Angie Walker is not. I met "Awalk" here on realself. Our living nightmares brought us together. God bless you, Angie Walker. May you rest in peace. I'm re-posting a message from Angie's mother: February 3, 2010 Today would have been my daughters 40th birthday..... but she will not be here to celebrate as she is dead from the pain and stress of a botched fraxel and laser treatment. Her death wasn't the most painful thing I experienced... although I may still be in denial. The pain she experienced on this earth was far worse than what I can even begin to imagine what I am feeling. Her pain free lunch time procedure turned into a 3 year battle with scars/pain/ ulcers on her face /fat loss/ homebound/ depression/ medication/ isolation/ shame/ horror and turned her into a complete recluse. She stopped living before she died. On October 16th the good Lord spared her of any more trauma over her face. Her last few years were spent researching and spreading the word of how dangerous and harmful some of the procedures can be. For one minute don't think it can't happen to me... it does and it will. It happens more than we know and the women are so embarrassed and ashamed they won't come forward to tell there story or the results of there botched procedure. You think the FDA really gives a rumbly butt what happens in the real world to these people. The Doctors/manufactures/ GEEEEEEEZ... spare me the details. look at AWALKS story..... read it and read it again. SHE IS DEAD ...gone ...... she just wanted to even out her skin tone and self preserve her skin. She was taking care of her skin and went to a reliable ( well known plastic surgeon) he sold her a nice packaged deal and lots of creams and medicine to heal the open sores on her face. Did he offer her repair no and did he offer to refund money she spent...no and he sure did not pay her funeral expenses and as sad and cruel as this seems as I sit here and ache for my child.... the truth is that in the morning his nurse or some other untrained person will take a laser and place it on another lovely girls face and take her money and help fund there little kickback vacation to the slopes from the machine manufacturer...while yet another victim will fall in the shadows of darkness to hide from her peers and family and herself. She will be crying and praying for her face to be restored to what it was. And it will fall on deaf ears..... why? I ask myself this everyday. Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter may your death be of some help to stop the torture of women and help prevent this from happening to others. This is all I can hope for as I go look at her photo on her tombstone. BUYER BEWARE....... Awalks Mother