Fraxel Laser: Stories

Good - everything went fine. The scars are still there but less so. People have noticed a difference - especially the other day when someone who hadn't seen me for quite a while said she noticed my face was smoother. From a realistic standpoint, they will never be completely gone, so again, good to have the thought that improvement, not perfection will be the outcome!

Trying to remember...was thinking it was 12. The higher it was, the more effective it was. But, a lot more short term pain. I was always fine after, but during the procedure it was difficult when he would do a second pass on my skin. I just couldn't tolerate much higher.

I've had a total of 6 fraxel treatements in the last 5 yrs. One 4 yrs ago along with Smoothbeam, Perfecta & Affirm. Then last year I had a series of 4 fraxel treatments that ended in Dec, one a month,. then another fraxel in June this year. All were Restore. It did improve what I had but I still need more. I'm kind of surprised it didn't work at all on some of the little ones but helped a bit on the larger ones. I got the bad scars from Erbium Laser Resurfacing. I went in for some little scars & came out with tons of scars & a dent. That's why I'm so scared of Fraxel Repair where they take the skin off. The doctor destroyed my face with the Erbium Laser, he used too high a setting & it took too much skin off on my cheeks so that's what I'm trying to fix. I go for another fraxel in Jan 2013. I guess every little bit helps but after 5 yrs I'm so tired of all the down time & staying in because how bad my scars are. I just got Sculptra to help build up the skin instead of a face lift. For some people it seems to work better & on some nothing. I guess it depends on your skin. I just knew I couldn't not do anything so I keep going hoping for the best..

Thanks Melinda!

I don't think we are allowed to actually give the doctor names on this site - if you email me, I could probably tell you that way.

I see other doctor names listed on this site - so I'll give it a shot - his name is Doctor Mohammad Diab. He is a dermatologist that I had been seeing for the last year as I had to go on acutane (my 2nd time on that medicine due to severe acne.) I liked him better than my other dermatologist and he talked about fraxel given the amount of scars I had over time. He does the fraxel in his 'skin care' location and to be honest, it definitely is NOT an upscale cosmetic place - it's a building that used to be a bank and now contains an urgent care with his small office for cosmetic procedures. If I hadn't seen him before in his dermatologist office, I'd be skeptical by the looks of things, but its been fine (probably helps keep the cost down on the treatments I'm sure.) He is also fairly cautious and starts on the lowest setting. Also, you cannot see it in the photos, but others are right that you have "red dots" left in your skin - you can't see these until you look in a magnified mirror. But in comparison to the bad scarring I had, it's a definite improvement and I'd still do it again.

Thanks. Had my 3rd treatment just about 2 weeks ago so I'll have to take another picture. Although I don't feel like these photos show it, I could still see some of the larger scars which are now starting to fill in.