“Fraxel Repair - Illinois”

I am 50 years old; dark/olive skin. I had moderate acne scars, some pits, discoloration, huge pores on nose and cheeks, milia, blackheads that could not be removed; rough looking skin. I used retin-a, accutane, antibiotics; pretty much everything. Thought I would try fraxel repair. The procedure took 20 minutes and I had a local with a lot of drugs a couple hours before. It took one week to feel better and I had to stay inside. I should have planned on two weeks of vacation, but went back to work a week later. It took about three weeks for extreme swelling and redness to subside. I looked strange for about six weeks (redness/broze color). It took two months for severe itching to subside; itching was pretty bad at night. I took benadryl (it was the only thing that worked)and often felt I needed it during the day, but I work as a trial prosecutor and it made me quite drowsy. The procedure took 20 minutes, and the pain was unbearable around the mouth/chin area (five minutes of the procedure). If I did it again, I would have general anesthesia and it would have been nice to know before the procedure that I needed to eat as much benadryl as possible during the first two months. I still have some dark areas but it is fading with help from obagi clear and retin-a. There are still some faint dark marks from the laser on my forehead, but they are fading. I have a few pitted acne scars left, have some large pores on my nose and milia near the eye area. I look ten years younger now, but didn't care about that so much as the damage from acne/oily skin. Overall, My skin looks great and it was worth the pain, itching and cost. I would say there was a 75 percent improvement.