Pixel Laser: Stories

Pitoca- see if the ACCC can help. http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/ForConsumers/

Also 2 more things:
- with pixel they go over a nerve in your forehead which feels strange as it feels like some tugs on a small clump of hair on your head, with fraxel this doesn't happen
- I'm comparing fraxel dual with pixel (not the co2 pixel)

Also for the record: pixel is not the same as fraxel. I was told by clear skin care clinic mosman that they are the same thing it's just a different name. This isn't true. My twin sister had had fraxel, and I've had pixel. 
They are both ablative lasers but:
- fraxel can treat up 70% of the surface, pixel only does up to 20%
- the fraxel lazer beams are about  half the size of pixel lazer beam I.e with pixel you see the lazer marks very clearly straight after the treatment but with fraxel you don't
- fraxel can do a much deeper treatment than pixel
- fraxel involves 8 passes, pixel is 2-4
- fraxel allows you to wash, wet, and apply as much moisturizer as you want after the treatment, they also let you rub off the scabs if you want probably cause they're so much smaller than pixel, they even apply a cream straight after the teeatment. With pixel you're not supposed to put anything on your face for 24hours, and after that it's very minimal on creams and washing
- as far as results go, we both saw them, but were treated for different things. My twin was treated for malasma and pigmentation- the results after one treatment were phenomenal, they did 45% of the surface. I was treated for large pores and acne scarring- I've been told my skin looks clearer and smoother although I don't notice any change in the scarring, which is to be expected after just one treatment. Now i wonder how different fraxel would make for me compared to pixel??? 

I was booked for a pixel treatment at clear skin care mosman last year. I did all the prep work i.e. no sun for a month, used a cream to get my skin tone down, wore sunscreen everyday, booked annual leave time off work, bookd it near a weekend i knew i had no big plans, and organised a lift to and from the appointment.
Then on the day of the appointment I got a phone call from them saying the girl who would do my treatment wasn't feeling well and so Veronica told her to go home. I was really disappointed in their lack of care or concern for me-the paying customer, they asked if I'd like to book in for the following week like I was just needing a wax....I wasn't able to reschedule my annual leave and didn't have another free weekend for 5 weeks. I wasn't very happy and found the situation very unprofessional.

I think that Caci Clinic are rolling in cash and the owner has forgotten about customer service. Very unprofessional in their follow up with clients, it is obvious they are just happy to take the money and any thing that the client experiences after leaving their salon they dont feel is their concern.

Hi Pitoca,

Thnks for sharing your experience... and the ipl and laser damage website.. hope this will be an eye opener to many ppl. Its always better to let our skin age naturally. because aged skin looks pretty much better than damanged skin.. lolz.. thanks again..

i can not speak more highly than the team at clearskincare cremorne. I'm in my late 30's and had a course of pixel for anti ageing with them for the last 3 months. my therapist explained exactly what to expect, stated the stages step by step and rung me on day two to touch base and see how i was feeling. She said needed me to understand before we started that it was an advanced and very uncomfortable treat and if i could not cope we would stop immediately. i feel bad that you ( Pitoca) have had a bad experience but myself and fellow friends in Mosman that see Jess and Veronica are trilled with our results

I have been going to Caci clinic for a while and my experiences have been very mixed. Despite having some fillers and botox done which was no problem I did have some very unfortunate experiences with the staff who also tried to talk me into doing the treatment and were not very supportive when I found it very painful and had to reschedule. They did not explain to me at all that the procedure would be very uncomfortable. I also had a very unfortunate experience with the lazering of some veins. They did not tell me when I booked that I would need support tights and after finding out I could not find any and found out the you need a specialist chemist or you need to buy to measure. When I called the clinic they were very unsupportive and blatantly rude. I am sorry to say that the customer service of this clinic and the support in treatments that don't go to plan is really lacking and in this kind of field I feel it is imperative to have staff and procedures in place to nurture and support clients.

Yeah well several days have passed and its looking a little better and peeling and healing.. The thing I am most concerned about is that this treatment (after reading into it), is generally for acne scar treatment and also the copper peptide is for this too. I HAVE NO ACNE, NOR SCARS! so honestly this was a little strange to me and a bit of a waste of time. It will be several weeks before my skin gets back to normal. Its not normal to "burn" your skin to make it look or feel better.

Relax, that't the only thing you have to do.
My face took about 5 days to heal and then the flakiness started which you're not aloud to touch. Which is quite hard. Plus when you get 50% of your skin burnt. Literally burnt off. This is what happens.
Didn't you sign a sheet of paper stating that you understand the procedure you are agreeing to undertake and the side effects?
They give you 2 sheets of paper.
One, you get something that they by law have to take you through, making sure that you understand it clearly and know exactly what you are getting yourself into.
The second sheet they should have given you after the procedure which tells you what to do about your skin from now on. Explains how long the redness last for and how long before you can apply any products.
Why did you get the procedure done if you have beautiful skin already?
Anyway it will heal, just do not touch it.
At all.
No ice packs or creams or anything for atleast 2 days and then i think it said moisturiser only after 48 hrs but no strong creams or anything for a week or two at all.
Get a fan if you have one and sit infront of it to let your face cool but nothing else.
If you irritate your skin or pick at it you may actually get scarring.
Its been about 2 or 3 weeks since my treatment and at first i thought it worked a little but i've noticed a really gradual improvement in my pore size and my scarring has slowly been fading.
But that's what it did to me, I don't know apparently others had different results and because i had a good experience I must have been employed to say this. And my comment has been reported as abuse because i'm telling the truth and it offends people.
Anyway I suggest you relax and whatever you do, do not touch your face, after two days just dab it very gently with a wet cloth, but be careful as it is still sensitive.
I'm sorry to hear you had plans, i know it didnt look pretty at first. I was fortunate enough to get it done before the long weekend so i didnt leave the house.
I suggest you relax and let the body do the hard work. It'll heal itself don't worry.

Hi all - I am really dissappointed to hear these comments. I had pixel laser done yesterday (at a clearskin clinic) and was not made aware of how aweful the pain would be. I nearly fainted from the extreme burning sensation and its still stinging today. It also stinks like burning flesh, so maybe they had it too high. I had pretty good skin and now I am worried it wont ever return back to normal. I am hoping I dont look like this forever. I am really worried and scared as I thought it would go down a lot more than it has. I had things on this weekend that I needed to go to and am upset that I wasnt explained in more detail about the side effects. Almost to the 24 hour mark, and looking like a nightmare... not sure if I can put some cold packs on as its still burning.

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Interesting that you spend your time to write so much after your treatment was done and you specially chose my post to comment on. Keep going. They might promote you. It's been over a year and the burnt mark is still on my face. I recommend no one to do this treatment.

Hi,
As I said it is unfortunate that this has happened to you but as you say it is unusual and unfortunately people who were a little bit concerned about the procedure may have looked at this and turned their back on it all together.
The reason I was even reading your post was to see other people's results and healing process.
I am 19 years of age and I do not work for any clinic. I am working and studying full time and no I'm not trying to advertise anything but just express how genuinely happy I am with that clinic. As I said I recommend it to everyone as I have had many great experiences with it. If you don't believe me, I can post a picture of my skin healing up nicely as we speak, no problems, everything is going just as the lady in the clinic told me it would.
My current boss actually goes there and she was the one who has told me about them, so I thought I'll give it a go since I'm not big on that kind of stuff.
My beliefs are mainly to take care of your health and well being naturally through consuming an adequate amount of nutrients to fuel the body and therefore attain a glow. But as I am under a lot of pressure at work and studying I've become extremely stressed and my health as well as my skin therefore got worse so I decided to try the treatment the clinic offered wondering whether I could do anything about my skin.
Originally I went there for laser hair removal and also was satisfied, which is why I wanted to try treating my skin there too.
The lady who I see every time I go there has ALWAYS been helpful, she pretty much told me to cut the crap and keep it simple. I told her a list of things I wanted to work on and she has managed to help me with all of them except for my recently obtained blemishes.
As my skin is still quite young, it is not a rare case but it's is extremely embarrassing as many people would know, so it was me hassling her (not the other way around) to try something a bit more intense.
I also have a bit of scarring left from previous years which is nothing i can't hide but I would prefer not to. So this treatment is perfect.
As I also mentioned she got it done 2 days before me and showed me what it would sort of look like but on a bigger scale.
So yes it's sad to hear about your experience and I do hope it all works out for you. I'm glad you are taking the step to express your feelings and opinions on this, I just don't want people to assume that if one thing has happened to one person it will happen to everyone. This is why i wanted to post a positive review on this as I have had a great experience with the clinic and have never been pushed into buying any product or treatment. And whenever I thought something sounded really good, the lady told me it wouldn't benefit my condition and I should just stick to what i'm doing now as I would be wasting my money if i didn't! She makes me feel very comfortable going there and she's always laid back unlike some clinics that treat me like an idiot because of my age.

I mean if i said any more I would as you say sound like I work in advertising.

Hi,

I did a lot of research before I chose the clinic for my treatment and that´s how I found out about the place. I did try to stop the treatment. However, I was persuaded to continue. Dr Philippa McCaffery genuinely tried to help me and but my experience would have been better if I wasn´t talked into persisting on the treatment. Although my case might be unsual things like that do happen and people should be aware. That´s why websites like this one exist. I have a hunch that you are not a real customer but someone that works for the clinic. Your post sounds very much like advertising.

Just wanted to add that i only paid $99 to get half a face done (just got the t-zone done as that was my major concern).
They had a special where you save, i think close to $240 for a limited time. That discount is only for your first treatment though but the lady said my skin is in good condition anyway besides that so i don't need any more.
So fresh new skin for $99 sounds pretty good to me!

Hi, Sorry to hear that about your treatment. I would just like to say that i had the same treatment done and have become a regular customer of Clear Skin Care Clinic in Cremorne. I recommend anyone to go there as i have always been treated extremely well and can not relate to your statement about their disrespectful customer service as mine has ALWAYS been exceptional. I have not just gotten the fractional skin resurfacing but also laser hair removal (which i must say is amazing!) as well as little things like microdermabrasion. The doctor that was treating me suggested fractional skin resurfacing as a treatment for my recently obtained acne and the scarring i have left from teenage years. I use their products and unlike other clinics she doesn't try to sell me stuff and tells me whether some creams will be of no use to me at all. And she herself got the treatment (fractional skin resurfacing done) 2 days before i got mine done and it was fine!! I don't know what people expect when they get these things done. Of course there will be pain but that is your own sacrifice for vanity. As well as there is ALWAYS risk of procedures not turning out as planned and that is different for every individual. They do tell you this and take you through the pros and cons. NOBODY can guarantee that it will turn out exactly as you want it. It frustrates me when people undergo procedures such as this knowing the risks and then complain, yes i understand it is very unfortunate that it didnt turn out well and i am very sorry to hear that ( i too would hate for something of such to happen) but it was your choice to undergo this and it is you who will have to suffer the consequences good or bad. In this case if you are concerned about the outcome please do the research first and get to know what you are signing yourself up to. It saddens me to think that a one off bad experience will damage people's view of this clinic as i have many many MANY friends and colleagues that go there and are 100% satisfied with their service and treatments. I do wish all the best for you and hope you achieve your desired results. Kind Regards.

Pitoca,
It is awful to hear that you have been scarred permanently due to this treatment. I was never told that there were dangers associated with this treatment and if you were not told you may have grounds for compensation, especially if the clinic is not rectifying the damage they caused. You should look into contacting a solicitor. In the mean time, you could always go to a reputable cosmetic dermatologist, I have been told of numerous good doctors in the Northbridge/Lower North shore area- however it does come at a price! Thank you again for saving me from a potentially similar outcome!

Hi Catcam, I'm happy I could help. I still have 3 scars on my face. It's been a year now. I've been calling Clearskincare for 3 weeks to make them rectify the situation and they are avoiding me. They said Philippa McCaffery, the CEO, would call me back and she never did. I want to lodge a a formal complaint about this clinic. They permanently damaged my face. Any suggestions of the best way to approach this situation?

Thank you

Pitoca, Thanks for your review, after I read your experience I cancelled my pixel appointment with Clear skincare straight away. It is just too risky to take the chance. After reading about their treatment of you after they caused the burn scar I was appalled! Thanks to you I have dodged a bullet! :)