Fraxel Laser: Stories

I was excited about making the commitment to do this series (5 treatments, 4K) with a leading dermatologist in Houston who specializes in this kind of treatment. Not only was it much more painful than I had anticipated (and I have a high pain tolerance!), the swelling was so bad that it affected my vision for a couple of days (swelling beneath my eyes) and overall, I was not fit to see another human being for 6 days. About 4 days into it the breakouts started - acne like I've never experienced ... tiny white pustules that are still a problem 3 months later. I'm afraid I will be on antibiotics the rest of my life and I'm not happy about it. The derm refunded $3K of the $4K I paid; was unsympathetic and wouldn't do anything to contact Fraxel or find out if others had this experience with the breakouts (and what should be done). I am 42 and have had a series of photo-facial treatments 3 years ago with none of these issues and my skin looked much better afterwards - though I would need to repeat the process and Fraxel seemed to be a much more "permanent" solution. My guess is that more people have problems with this than they let on and certainly the "no down time" is a joke!