“No fraxel - give me old-fashioned dermabrasion any day!”

I am trying to educate women out there about Fraxel. There are tons of name products on the market now and for the most part I don’t believe they work. This is my opinion as a consumer. I have used Fraxel in 2007 and I have used dermabrasion 30 years ago and there is nothing wrong with these old techniques. Anything with a name attached to it is marketing and designed to make money. Patients will inevitably come second.

I tried Fraxel treatments for acne facial scarring. This is important to know because the majority of positive recommendations I received for Fraxel came from people who used it for skin discolorations like melasma, NOT scars. Like I said, I have heard positive reports from these people but cannot say the same about Fraxel for acne.

After each treatment (six total) I saw mild improvements in the texture of my skin and the acne pits seemed less apparent. Over time, however, (usually less than a month) I would revert back to my former self. My personal opinion on this is that the Fraxel laser doesn’t go deep enough to promote a long-lasting effect on the deep scars caused by acne. I am not a doctor, but I don’t expect doctors to tell you this anyway, whether it’s true or not.

I don’t recommend Fraxel for this reason. Like I said, if you’re one of the people who heard about its effect on skin discoloration, I think it might be worth looking into further. But based on what I went through and, let’s face it, what I paid for the results I didn’t get, I don’t recommend it. I would rather go through the pain and recovery of dermabrasion and know I am getting results.