Fraxel Laser: Stories

Hello ,I Had my first Fraxel Dual at a Plastic Sugerons office on Tuesday April 12th. Took a dose of zanax 1mg to help keep me calm since I cant take valuim. I was taken to a room to be prep. Numbing cream was put on my face and I waited about 1hr. The gal came in explained what was going to happen. Then bam! Oh man that smarted. I didnt like it at all, but was sorta prepared for it since I was told ahead of time.It isnt exstremly painful but it doesnt feel good we wont lie. Every time it went across my face I would shake all over, like I just climbed out of an ice coverd lake. The cold air may have been a factor coming from the laser. Not sure what was causing this affect? It took about 30 min since I needed her to stop ever so often, so I could catch my breath.I took a vixodin on the way home. I was given some Sin Arnica tablets to take every 6hrs to help with swelling along with Benidril and a balm ointment for my face. The first night I iced every 25 min and woke up every 4hrs to continue through the night. I took Ibeprofen 400 for inflamation every 6hrs which helped. I slept sitting up as directed. Right after the laser my face felt very hot and stayed that way for the first 2 hours. I had started to swell. The next day I was very swollen and went back to icing every 25min on again off again.It is now the 4th day and the swelling is starting to go down.I have little brown specks on my face and my eyes are still swollen. The spots will go away I was told they are not permanate.I do not see a big differance yet but will keep ya posted. The staff was very straight up, called me to check on me and were really great. I have another one in 30days since that is the amount of time you should wait for the cycle on your skin"I was told." and will be ready for it this next time. I will be taking the Pain pill befor I go out the door!I hope that works. I still have some lines and wrinkles but need to give it some time. Not sure how many one has to get for this kind of a thing to see results? Hopefully it is only three. I dont think I would like to many of these. But if you want to look better I guess it is better than going under the knife.

What about today? Does your skin still look good? Are your results still good?

Does anyone know if it's worth it to go for a second fraxel treatment for acne scars? I had my first one in Oct and most of the people I told said my skin looks the same.

Best Result!

The purpose of resurfacing is to encourage new healthy cell growth..Ablative resurfacing kills and removes the cells..This beam creates a micro hole kills cells but damages the surrounding cells...They can still multiply but mutated....DNA damage premature aging...Cancer ect... If you want to do it by all means have at it nobody is stopping you..But don't say you weren't warned or fully informed down the road...Like many others here Ask your doctor for a study that disproves this one from unbiased doctors...That is Doctors who don't work for the companies manufactering it.. New is not always better..With any question of damage it should not be approved so broadly for something elective and only used on the worst cases... But hey the FDA is on top of it.LOL.. I would love to have Reliant market some of my dogs poo. Women and doctors would be rubbing it allover their faces And I could retire to the Hamptons....

Kathy The fact that retinoinds did that to your face would make the fraxel a contraindication for you.... I bet the doctor who was prescribing it didn't ask about previous reactions to products ect medical history ect... Did they examine your skin closely thru the magnifying glasses...? Fraxel does the same thing it creates an immune response to make you skin hyper exfoliate/turnover...Its based on normal transdermal elimination...Anyone who has immune issues that would create abnormal trandermal elimination have the potential for disastrous results.. This could be anything from dry skin/acne to diabetes ect.. Knowing that you would be a great candidate for the Skin medica Tns recovery serum and the eye cream...They have growth factors that do not irritate... I think you would see the same result or better than fraxel after a few weeks of using it...Check out reviews from sites...I like skincarerx to read reviews from customers.... Also the coffee berry cream during the day is amazing for redness irritation... better than cortisone based prescription the doc gave me with no steroid side effects It was voted Allures best night creamand is loaded with antioxidants...My new doc told me to use it during the day..... I like the original version better than the newer one The scary thing about these new medical devices is there was recently a case in the Supreme Court that makes it almost impossible for a person to sue a device company if it is defective or malfunctions ect...When it has FDA approval Combine that with the fact the Pharma companies lobby and give more money than any other industry.. Second in line is the banking/insurance industry.... The $168 million thrown at lobbyists amounted to a 32 percent jump over 2006, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity, which was based on data obtained from the Senate Office of Public Records. In all, the group says that drugmakers have spent more than $1 billion lobbying the federal government over the past decade. “As the biggest lobby on the Hill, the pharmaceutical industry wields tremendous influence that impacts everything from prescriptions to patents,” Bill Buzenberg, the group’s director, says in a statement. “The central point is that their massive spending has been highly successful, largely producing the political results the drug industry wants. http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/06/pharma-sets-spending-record-lobbying-congress/ http://projects.publicintegrity.org/rx/report.aspx?aid=723 Combine that with the corruption in the FDA and you have a free for all of what the manufacters can claim and do.... This is probably why they feel they can lie to the doctors to sell the devices...They know they are exempt from liability... Glad you found this site before you believed all the media hype they advertise... They sell it to doctors based on profit margins encouraging them to delegate to staff.. It's terrifying and we are only seeing the beginning of the fall-out it will be worse than the mortgage mess.. The most deadly form of skin cancer melenoma increased 50% in women but not in men since the 80's... Non-melenoma skin cancer,,Basal and Squamas cell has tripled in women under 40 Why? we are doing much more to care for our skin and spend less time than most men outdoors golfing fishing ect... Most makeup has at least a 15 spf.. Greed and politics control every aspect of our lives..The more you know the safer you are.. One thing I like about the transparency Obama is trying to bring to government.... Regardless of all the other issues.. With transparency it's very hard for corruption to stay unexposed.... Scientist at the FDA sent Obama’s transition team a letter exposing the FDA corruption and officials approving unsafe devices...Begging for Reform in the medical device division specifically.. To get to the bottom of anything all you have to do is follow the money... Who makes it and who they lobby or donate to.. Advertising money--controls the media to a degree Lobby money--controls the government, laws, FDA ect The only way to know the real truth is to FOLLOW THE MONEY and POLITICS.. It could save your life....

Retinoids wrecked my face once and I swear if I had any pictures of how badly it tore up my skin you would be impressed. I looked like I had rosesea for years after I quit using it. That memory is what makes me give pause and listen. No one knows why this happened to you but until they know, I am afraid to do it. I am going to use the money to redo my master bath and my closet. When they iron out the kinks in the patient selection process and/or whatever else is going wrong, I will jump on board. Plus I can't put my husband through it. He is so sad and worried. I have never seen him like this about anything else. I am out.

ThatCaGirl I have seen your pictures and they show me exactly what I want to see. You were pretty before and you look even more beautiful now. I have seen Awalks pictures and read her story and it terrifies me. Messing with a pretty face is scary business. My husband had read part of Awalk's story and saw the photos and he looked at me today as we were making the bed and he said, "Go look in the mirror and ask yourself if you want to risk ruining that face?" He sounded heartbroken. I called my doctor and postponed my procedure. I gave the patient coordinator this site and told her that is why I am spooked. I wondered if Awalk ever asked a dermatologist if he didn't know anything about her what he would assume was wrong. Please forgive me but it looks to me like the skin of a meth addict. Please don't think that I am at all implying that you take drugs. My heart is broken for you and I know that is not the problem. I just wonder if how they would treat you if they just based it on what it looks like. I wonder if meth skin is somehow like yours in a way that could lead to a treatment. Stranger things have been connected for medical advancement. ThatCaGirl, your pictures are beautiful and you got the results that I am seeking. I am so torn because like both ThatCaGirl and Awalk, my before pictures are good.

I would love to know your results. I have very large pores and years of sun damage. Is Fraxel worth it? Does it really make a difference in the pore size? Here in Texas 4 or 5 treaments is close to $5000...yikes

Yes - I understand and agree. That's exactly why I'm taking progression pics to get an objective view of the improvement or lack thereof. It is my understanding that the collagen takes up to 6 months to regenerate before you can see a result. So far, I wouldn't say my face looks $600 better. I'm not impressed by the results to date. I'd say that a strong salicylic peel gives better short-term results.

Thanks for the effort and the photos posted. Just keep in mind there is a swelling after laser procedures that hides pores and other imperfections TEMPORARILY. The actual result should be evaluated when the swelling is down and sometimes even months after the procedure to give the skin time to produce collagen if any. Photos a week after the procedure have swelling going on, notice how the pores 'disappeared' 2-3 days after the procedure. Do you really think skin can produce that much collagen in 2 days? I don't think so. My prediction is that in a month the pores will be back cause the swelling will disappear and stop covering them up.

So to translate, this abstract basically says that the "TUNEL method" of measuring cellular damage caused by laser devices is effective. But it doesn't say anything about long-term scarring - which is what (I think) you are trying to warn us about. We all appreciate you trying to be helpful but this data doesn't bear any relation to delayed scarring.

I just had my 2nd Fraxel treatment yesterday! Everything went smooth, no pain but a little more tingly/prickly feeling this time because the setting was a little higher. The doc. has the latest Fraxel out there. I have swelling this morning and my face is red and tight but other than that, I feel good and plan to go back to work tommorow. Note: I have heard of another laser called the Co2 laser that can be more damaging but I didn't opt for that procedure!

Thanks for including photos. It's very clear that your skin texture is much improved from your Fraxel treatment. Also, your under eye area looks very good.

I was told today that there are several types of lasers used to treat acne scarring, the Fraxel laser does not have radiation! I did not have a Co2 laser used on my face. Thanks for sharing your experiences though.

The above articles read "Many infrared (IR) laser systems are being used in tactical military ground and airborne applications". I did not find anything regarding Fraxel Laser. How do you know the laser mentioned in those articles is the same used in Fraxel? Specially applied like Fraxel and with the same potence? I would like more clarification on your research for Fraxel damaging the skin 12 months after it's application. Thanks

My intent is not to be confrontational only to make sure that others had the opportunity to be fully informed...I could not find info online before my Fraxel and had the best Plastic surgeon whom I trust and have seen for 8 years for botox and resty. If you want to move forward and your doctor told you no risk of scarring ask him to guarantee it in writing or give you a percentage of time it occurs… Does he know…What are the long term implications results?? What did your consent say????Did they give it to you at your consult so you could take it home and read it...Or wait till you had taken pain meds or are on the table?? The fact is there is not enough research..The Air Force ect. is doing studies to determine the effects of this wavelength because there aren’t any….Just read the other posts..I'm not the only one.... http://www.stormingmedia.us/14/1460/A146074.html?searchTerms=infrared~laser~~damage~ http://www.stormingmedia.us/search.html?q=infrared+laser+dna+damage+&search.x=10&search.y=5

ThatCAGirl delayed onset scarring is far from a phenomenon all scarring is delayed.. As far as medical substantiation You only need to google radiation ulcer they develop years after Radiation.. This is infrared radiation....But please if you can find a study that shows the 1550 pulsed wavelength is safe from someone who isn't financially biased I would love to see it.. I have nothing to gain other than an clear conscience in sharing my experience maybe another will be spared. Isn't that why we are here to share unbiased reviews that a doctor or company who has a financial interest simply cannot do....

Hmmmm... delayed onset scarring is a phenomenon I have never heard of. If you have medical substantiation of this, please send a link.

I was never told by any doc. including my dermatologist about scarring afterwards! I guess I'm willing to take that chance!

Do keep us updated! I was given pain meds, so my first procedure went very well. The only time I felt a little discomfort was around my mouth. As far as the pimples, I was warned about them, nothing you can really do about them, they will go away in a week or so. I'm having my 2nd treatment this week.