Laser Resurfacing: Stories

Marisabella,

Thanks for sharing your story! I signed up for a 3 treatment pkg. of the Matrix RF and after 2 treatments wanted to kick my Nurse's butt! I quit b4 the 3rd treatment. I did it more for preventative wrinkles and it left my formally smooth skin thicker (maybe som one out there wants that), left me with pores that I never had and left me with a texture close to that of an orange peel(but not quit as bumpy). I hated my results! I don't think it is a treatment for a young skinned individual like us, but more for someone that has sagging aged skin like a Grandparent. At least the b/4 and after photos I saw where of an elderly women - so that makes me believe that for any results you need to have skin like that to start with. I hope today your skin is better. For me, I am slowly trying to do light glycolic peels often to get my smooth texture back and possibly I'll do a TCA peel.

Sincerely,

Gems

Thank you for all the informaton provided. Is anyone familiar with Affirm laser?

Bottom line really is that few.... And I mean very few ppl have adverse results, certainly not enough to warrant scare tactics by people who are petrified by anything that carries any sort of risk. Ive spoken to laser techs who have done thousands of trt in all laser modalities and have never seen problems with fat loss (which is what we were didcussing).... Other than from Thermage (high setting or earlier models). Getting in our car every day carries risk but the benefits outweigh the limited risk. Such it is with other things in life. Nothing is risk free and life shouldnt be about perpetuating fear in others. Im all for research but dont forget to include the success stories and keep the fear factor in check.

Here are some medical papers for those who do the research.....
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1524-4725.2006.33031.x/full

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1610-0387.2008.06780.x/pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1524-4725.2006.33031.x/full

Bottom line: If the underlying tissue has been compromised, it will obviously have an impact on the upper layers....scarrings, dents, enlarged pores from loss of elasticity, etc.

Here's some more info on the differences
http://www.smartskincare.com/treatments/noninvasive/radiofrequencyplus.html

What Treatment I'm really sorry, it sounds like you have just had a poor experience all the way around. I've never heard of someone saying be happy because there are worse things in life! Wow. At this point it sounds like the best thing to do is some resurfacing with chem peels or microdermabrasion and perhaps add volume back with filler - which is usually recommended for the best results.

FSRB, Thermage and Matrix work in entirely different ways and do not reach the same tissue levels. Matrix is more surface and targets resurfacing upper layers with a mild tightening effect, while Thermage goes deeper, produces more heat and is specifically for tightening.
I think most people (who research it) knew that earlier generation Thermage caused some fat loss as they were fine tuning their machines. This is of course how alot of innovations come out. Same thing with hyperpigmentation - some lasers are good at resurfacing but have high risks of hyperpigmentation for the skin higher on the Fitzpatrick scale.

I chose Matrix because of the fact that its safe for all skin types, does not produce the heat nor the hyperpigmentation as other lasers do. I'm not saying there are not isolated cases of something going wrong, but that does not seem to be the case for most people.

Here are a couple of answers from some of the doctors regarding problems with Thermage which uses RF....

http://www.realself.com/question/thermage-facial-fat-loss

http://www.realself.com/question/there-lot-problems-past-first-generation-radiofrequency-tightening-devices-thermage-know-th

YES, it DOES happen. Everyone is different. Skin type, thickness of skin, healing rates, etc. then the machine's variables...passes, depth, density, settings, etc. How can you take the same concept which is RF and say it can remove fat from your thights and stomach and not say it can from your face?

I have not doubt that people see good results. I don't doubt anyone's positive account; however, it does not happen to everyone. Doctors and laser manufacturers need better informed consent.

The nurse didnt know why the treatments made my pores larger. She referred me to esthetician and she gave me complimentary derma sweep and told me if I wasnt happy with the procedure to go to another dr. And that I should be happy with the results because there are worst things in life.
During the treatments one month apart, my face was plump and looked really smooth but 3 months after the last treatment, plumpness went away and the scars started to appear deeper. Coworkers commented that I lost weight in my face. The texture of my skin is like an orange peel and since then, I look in the mirror and see a new scar appear every once in a while.

To What Treatment - what did your doctor say about the cause of your sunken appearance? I am an aesthetician/laser tech who has also had 5 trt of Matrix RF to the face. Though I do not believe that there would be any way for the treatment to adversely affect your skin texture or appearance of scarring (since it uses RF and not heat to work) I think those results have nothing to do with the treatment. However, I am curious about the sunken appearance and what your doctor has to say about that.
In my own experience, I have felt that over the past year (the time during which I've gotten treatments) that there may have been some volume loss in my face. HOWEVER, it is difficult to tell if that was caused by the treatment. I was already using facial fillers before the trt, and have considered the possibility that the trt "eats up" the filler; I've also considered that as the collagen is being tightened, the contours of the face become more apparent; I 've also considered that with the natural aging process a person loses the equivalent of 5cc of volume in the face annually and with my healthy diet and exericise some of the volume loss may also be natural.
Bottom line, I think there is more going on than just an adverse result from a treatment. The inflammation from the trt goes away after no more than 30 days, so I'm not sure why it would take 10 mos to see an adverse affect.

My skin is tighter, the texture is def better than it was before. I have put quite a bit of filler back into my face and now honestly look prettier than I ever have before because my face is shaped the way it should be - more prominent cheeks and jawline. I think most people would trade a little fat loss for improved collagen and thousands have been received these treatments successfully.

As you mentioned, I had plump skin after the treatments, then about 3 months after last treatment, my face started to sunk in. I just recently am seeing a different doctor and he recommends subcision and 5 treatments of Affirm laser. I heard good reviews of subcision but not the Affirm. I would like to have the subcision though.

I received 5 treatments of Matrix RF. It has been 10 months after my last treatment and now I'm experiencing fat loss, sunken cheeks, orange peel texture, and more acne scars are starting to appear. Has anyone experienced these negative results with Matrix RF and if so, have you have tried any other treatments to correct this?

to brittanynewyork: im getting my ematrix done at american laser skincare and ive had 3 treatments and im about to go in for my 4th.I still havent seen any results. These scars are depressing me and are making life hard for me. Shouldn't i see some results by now? help! im suffering here!

Hi angumz: I've had two treatments done now and am going back for the 3rd pretty soon. People who haven't seen me for the past 6 months have remarked on how young and tight my skin looks! It is definitely worth it..and has cumulative effects. Go for it :-)

I just had my first Matrix RF treatment last week. I have no idea why everyone is talking about the massive pain - it was no big deal at all. The aesthetician usually uses a topical numbing cream which makes the procedure practically painless. The most unnerving part of it is the fact that you can smell your skin burning, but other than that I was pretty relaxed during the whole deal.
The grid showed quite noticibly on my face for 3 days, and now my healing skin is very rough and will need a bit of scrubbing to get the dead skin off...however I was told that initial surface results don't show till about 2 weeks and then the tightening effect takes about 6 weeks. If it works the way that they say it will, the investment in 3 treatments will be well worth it. We'll see!

I am a spa owner. I have had this treatment done twice without a topical anesthetic. No doubt if your pain threshold is low you would need a topical anesthetic.
We have done over 50 Matrix treatments on women that can afford to have anything done from injectables to plastic surgery and they love the results of the Matrix.

My biggest problem with any laser/ipl/rf treatment is the person using the equipment. Many times, the person doing the treatment hasn't had enough skin experience to know what they are doing.

So as a consumer, the first question I would ask is when getting ANY laser/ipl/matrix treatment is how much experience does the operator have? We frequently see treatments gone bad because the person delivering the treatment does not have sufficient experience.

Marisabella, I just joined Realself.com just so I could thank you for posting this. I went to the doctor today and she was addament about me getting this Matrix procedure done. I have been dealing with acne and scars for 18 years. I am a 32 yr Indian woman with darker skin than you and have the same type of scars as you do. However I decided that lazers do not work on pitted acne scars. I spoke to her about getting fillers for my scars and she said she could do that however she was more into me getting the lazer, more $ to spend. I have researched lazers and have done many peels and microdermabrations w/o any improvement in acne scars. I think they actually made my scars worse and gave me more scars. The only way to improve them is to lift them to the surface and fillers are probably the only way to do that. Anyway thank you so much for your experience. And in a few weeks I will post on the filler Radiesse to let you know if that helped with most of the bigger scars.

I am the owner of Synergy Laser Esthetic Solutions,and I use the Matrix RF system 100 percent sucessfully and with no complaints of pain even with the most sensitive of patients only of course the warm hot sunburn feeling which is expected and normal. I was looking at your pictures and I hate to say they charged you way to much for a proceedure that was horribly executed. the "boxes" so to speak are not supposed to be so spaced out but consistent and side by side. Which is of course why your not seeing the results you should see with 2 treatments or even 1. The treatment is not supposed to be as painful as described. Which tells me due to your scarring they blasted you on the highest setting which requires without question a topical anesthetic and it is a treatment level that can only be performed by an RN. I am sorry you had to have such a terrible experince on a rather revolutionary and amazing piece of equipment. From the dates this was posted i can see you were also treated when the Matrix first came out and with the old tips that were not consistant in emitting proper and equal energy for the best results possible which we now have and have updated. This is such a shame Im located all the way over in NY, I beleive firmly in results results results and back everyhting by a 100% money back guarantee because thats my establishments reputation and were in this to offer indivuduals such as yourself the very best and results that we are not only promising and anticipating but that you all pay for. I know I could have gotten the result you were looking for and spent your hard earned money on. I wish I was the person that treated you. With that said if you are ever in NY I would be more than happy to give you a matrix treatment even 2 completely free so you can have a result and experience you deserve. Things like this and facilities that represent a treatment so unique and revolutionary especially for darker skin tones that have no other options in such a bad light by lack of experience and care frustrate me. I hope this doesn't sound like a gimmick or scam to you I sincerely would treat you personally and completely free. Also its a complete lie about keeping the skin dry they have no idea what the hell they are talking about and if i knew where they were i would tell them off myself. Ugh im so sorry you had to experience that. You can visit my website at www.synergylasersolutions.com I would be happy to show you some amazing before and afters from scarring far worse than yours and the results within just 2 treatments. SO if your ever in NY keep me in mind. For anyone else that may read this please for your sake since this is your face and the first thing people see and your hard earned money look well into the experience and knowledge of the facility treating you, as well as testimonials, see it for yourself and never be scammed into a sales pitch don't let anyone take advantage of you.