“Fraxel Restore Caused "Lines"”

Madison ~ Don't do it. Why would you take the chance of this damage happening to you? I honestly don't think it's who does the treatment, but who GETS the treatment. Some people don't have a problem with Fraxel, while others have a lot of damage. I am two months post treatment and I see more and more damage each week. I just think it doesn't agree with some people. In any case, I had it done by the owner of Estitika in Mequon WI.

beann~~i know what you mean. I mean i dont want to risk anything bad happening but at the same time i want improvement of my depressed scar near my chin. I hate it eventhough my friends say that barely notice it. I think there just being nice seeing as though there my friends. I am frustrated cuz i do want some kind of improvement and at the same time im scared of the scar becoming worse. One doc told me about a fat transfer but that still may involve laser to resurface. I dont know what do do!

Madison ~ Maybe you should talk to your derm about the Obagi Nu-derm system. I just started it two days ago, and am looking forward to the results. It consists of 6 different products; 4 used in the am and 3 used in the pm. It is an 18-week system that is supossed to rid your face of old yucky skin and reveal new fresh skin. I have read many many reviews and I'd say 99.8% of people have wonderful results. (Most people said that you look kinda bad during the first 3 or 4 weeks as you go through the process though.) Many say that it has helped their scars. I'm not sure how bad your scar is, but I think this is worth trying. It's about $400 for a 4-month supply, but it's still less expensive then any laser treatment. As I understand it,(and I plan to confirm this with my derm), after the initial 18 weeks you use the products a lot less often, so it's not going to be $400 every 4 months. If you end up trying it, let me know. We can keep eachother posted as to our progress. Oh yeah - I've also read that some people do a Obagi Blue peel during this treatment. Talk to your derm. Best wishes! B

Fraxel does come with its complications. for me , it aged me 5 years within a matter of HOURS. Other people have had even worse complications. But obagi maay be safer, but is alot and I MEAN ALOT less effective (if at all) Heres my advice to people using hyrdoquinone, if you use it on your eyes, you could develop ALOT of swelling and depth in your fine lines. Also use it too much, and you can blotch your skin, possibly permanently

Well, the thing is your doc is probably gonna want to do your entire face instead of just the area of the scar. They generally claim that doing just one patch can - leave patches. Well, my reasoning is, if a treatment leaves patches at all, its simply not worthwhile and something is damaging with it.

Hi Beann, sorry you had such a bad experience. I just had Fraxel face, neck & chest a few days ago..., before I read this. I can see the small lines you are talking about already. Do you have any before @ after pics of your skin? What did the Dr say when you went back?

Honest ~ Why do you wish you never got it done? What problems are you having?

Honest.....do you have any updates?

dontdofraxel ~ please tell me how your treatment turned out.

Oh sorry. Please disregaurd my last post. I read your messages.

You know what i dont understand? outside this website, most third party websites all around and surgeons all over the world, give it an EXCELLENT SAFETY profile. Last year almost 200 THOUSAND, (200,000) fraxel treatments were performed, so if 50% of them cause these complications, the fda surely would ban it . And people saying they wouldnt ban it for money, well consider this, accutane is alot more profitable then fraxel, but it was no secret by the fda that it has tonnes of side effects they even listed SUICIDE as one of them. I dont think fraxel has that much immunity, i mean think about it, if 50 % of the patients you treat come back with complications, would you want that machine in your office? would you tell your colleagues to get it? how would fraxel be on the market? BUT MY Advice to people is this there is a 40% chance you will get a complication (research the types you can get) 20% chance you wont notice a difference 30% chance you will get mediocre results, and 10% you will get exceptional results decide if its worth it

Listen, these companies FAKE patient reviews all the time. The medical industry is so awful that they even fake bad feedback on competitors to detroy them, and fake good feedback on their own products whether it is true or not. Therefore, with good or bad reviews, its really hard to know the truth unless you know a few more other people - actually know them - that have bad experiences too. And since any patient can end up with bad results without making a treatment necessarily bad in general I think Fraxel indeed is a treatment that give massive bad results on many people. Both me and a friend had our skins completely ruined by Fraxel. We had gone together for treatments. I first noticed it on her how terribly aged her skin was within a year and realized we both had the same condition, after Fraxel. I remember about a year ago when Fraxel's popularity was horrendous with only 15-20% positive reviews from patients. Suddenly out of the blue it went up to some 70-80%; all fake. The company themself had added fake reviews all over the place.

It's the Fraxel- I have the weirdly misshapen pores too!

You have to get pretty close to see the lines. What freaked me out the most is when I caught sight of them one day while in my car. They are very noticable to me in the sun light. I can see them pretty clearly in the rear-view mirror while sitting normally in my seat. So, that's a good foot-and-a-half to two-foot distance. Your's sound just like mine. They're like small lines that are made up of pores. Kinda like connect the dots. Yes, they are all going in a specific direction. I would say that some of mine are even longer than 2mm. I know for a fact that I did not have all this damage prior to Fraxel; the lines or the sagging. I may have had some of the lines/pores around my nose and my upper lip, but no where near what i have now. Especially, not on my cheeks. Since all of this has happened, I have noticed the same lines on other people too. Not to the extent of mine, but the same kind of lines. I am thinking that maybe, just maybe, our skin is severely dehydrated. I'm not saying all the damage is due to dehydration, but maybe some of it is. I believe that the Fraxel caused it to dry out way down deep. I have seen three plastic surgeons, one derm, and two estiticians and they all said that my skin is pretty dry. Never had that problem before. It's also like all the deweyness is gone. I do have a little bit of hope, however. I started the Obagi NuDerm treatment 5 weeks ago. I am seeing some improvement. It's an eighteen week treatment, so I'm just barely getting my feet wet. If it helps me alot, I will be sure to let you know. It may be able to help you too. I'm not expecting my skin to ever be the same as it was, but hopefully a bit better. Then, next step, mini-facelift. What a horrile mess. :(

What a damn shame! I hope the Obagi helps you. In my case, it's hard for me to tell what's Fraxel and what's time. My first Fraxel was in October, and my third (and last) was in January. I think overall, I look older--more tired, the skin under my eyes is hollowed out more (that may be aging, I'm about to turn 42, and I have aged more rapidly, post 40). Definitely more red/dry, especially under the eyes. It's never been like that before. I'm hoping it's just temporary damage, but who knows--maybe the after-effects of the treatments look and feel like sunburn because they ARE burns, and it's super-deep permanent damage. Hard to tell. I def. have those tiny, tiny diagonal lines on my face. Mine are all, I'd say, about 1-1.5 mm long, and only visible up close. But of course with makeup on, it sinks into the lines and accentuates them. UGH! I'm so pissed I did this. I had no idea the consequences could be so dire. The only upside for me is that my husband doesn't think I look any different, and no one else has made a negative remark.

I know what you mean . . . Everyone thinks it's in my head and I don't look any different. B.S.! My 11-year-old son could see the lines when I pointed them out to him. I know my skin wasn't this bad before Fraxel. It's not a coincidence that it all started one month post treatment. I'll admit that there are people out there my age with worse skin then me (probably due to really bad acne or some kind of trama), but there are lots of people 20 years older than me that have better skin. It just sucks that this happened unecessarily and my skin will never be the same again. I used to love to play volleyball. I don't do it any more becasue none of my v-ball friends have seen me since this happened and I'm embarrassed to go. It's weird because some days I feel like it's getting better and other days it looks worse. Do you feel this way?

Bombshell ~ I just realized that we're conversing on two different threads. Let's keep eachother posted on any improvement and/or (hopefully not) further damage. Take Care. B

Sounds exactly like mine as well, especially in the sunlight, my nose looks like a shriveled raisin or something. I haven't had the fraxel done, mine occured after having IPL done numerous times to rid spider veins on my face, especially in the nose area. I only reply to this because I always wonder if my skin is severely dehydrated/burned from it as well. The only thing is when I try to moisturize it makes the pores/scars look larger and seems to irritate the skin around it.