Fraxel Dual for Seattle Man
Fraxel across entire lower face
I had Fraxel done on my entire face, although, I originally only saw the need on my cheeks. As a 40+ year old man, I'm starting to see the effects of sun tanning in my teens and burns when I was a kid. The process started by the technician applying goop that is meant to reduce pain. Turns out that I'm sensitive to the numbing cream and I got very red even before the laser session.
My derm ended up doing the actual procedure. She started with my forehead, running the applicator over my skin (kinda like a vacuum cleaner extension). The first thing I noticed was that it burned more than expected. Once she hit areas that had hair folicles, I went into a "oh my god" that hurts mode. When I got zapped on the upper lip, I began to involuntarily cry. Afterwards my face felt like it was torn off. 3 advils helped reduce the pain to a tolerable hot burn.
For about a week afterwards everyone asked me if I had gone on vacation (my face looked tanned). Then it peeled off in about a 2 day process that wasn't so obvious or embarrassing. For about 6 months I thought I could see improvements. Now its about 11 months post-procedure and honestly, I really can't tell any difference. I'm told that I need to get more than 1 procedure to get the results, but at the cost and pain I'm simply not interested in that route. I'll probably go with a chemical peel for my next shot at improving skin tone.
Seattle Man's provider
Replies (7)
Haha, ok that made me laugh too. I like the sound of your wife!
However, to help you see you are not alone in thinking Fraxel was pretty uncomfortable you might want to check out the review posted by community member [RS bleep], click here to see her review. :)
I had a microdermabrasion procedure done. I'm a female and can endure A LOT of pain.... High threshold! Still, this pain was something else.... It felt like small cuts all over my face!! I was told it was because I had been on Retin-A in the past and my skin was more sensitive.... I also had some scarring which I was informed was due to my olive complexion.... So I'm with you.... After dishing out $$$ and going through that, I am looking into other options......
I'm actually thinking about doing fraxel again.....
Replies (2)
Wow, I'm surprised to hear you are considering it again. Will you be asking for something other than the numbing cream this time, or just trying to push through it?
I agree that 2-3 treatments are necessary. IPL needs about 3, fraxel even moreso.
Since you mentioned that you're a guy and that the areas of your face with hair follicles were more sensitive, I'm curious if your doctor mentioned if that extra sensitivity was specific to men, since you guys have coarser facial hair, or do you think it was just because the forehead isn't as sensitive an area?
P.S. Love the goopy face picture!