“Loving the results”
Fraxel Laser: Worth it
Pain: Uncomfortable
I had my first Fraxel done three weeks ago for my rolling acne scars and I can totally tell that I'm very happy with the results. Just like I had read on serious medical journals about independent studies conducted by career medical researchers, the improvement of my scars has been immediate and progressive: I'd rate the improvement so far in the 25% - 30% range (this is after discounting the effect of the swelling on the overall appearance of my acne scars). I'd definitely recommend this procedure to other people with the same type of acne scarring. My total cost is $2,950 for a total of 5 sessions.
Two things I'd like to suggest to other people considering Fraxel though are the following:
1) take opinions like the ones posted on these forums with a grain of salt, for they are the very subjective opinions of people who usually had too high expectations on any procedure and are consequently almost always disappointed with the results afterwards, regardless of any improvement. In fact, research shows that when it comes to opinions posted on most online forums about any topic, the percentage of disappointed people posting their opinions is significantly higher than the percentage of satisfied people doing the same;
2) I did a lot of research on this procedure for months before I decided to go ahead with it, and I've been following discussions in forums like this one ever since I started researching. What I've been noticing (and I can't understand why people would do this) is that a lot of the adverse opinions recently posted on here are the same ones that I read months ago -I mean, they are EXACTLY THE SAME ONES, being reposted again and again for I don't know what reason.
If you're someone considering this option, the best you can do, if you have access to medical databases, read about independent researches conducted by professionals on this topic, and try to contact people that had undergone this treatment at the hands of the dermatologists you're dealing with
Oct 10, 2007Comments and replies (1)
479 posts
11 Oct 2007
Thank you for posting. I'd like to address your comment: "they are EXACTLY THE SAME ONES, being reposted again and again for I don't know what reason." Can you point out (links) the posts you believe to be repetitive? We will investigate and validate to the best of our ability the authenticity of these posts. Additionally, you stated "research shows that when it comes to opinions posted on most online forums about any topic, the percentage of disappointed people posting their opinions is significantly higher than the percentage of satisfied people doing the same" We'd love to post a link to this research. Even though I am not familiar with the research you reference, I'll note that it may be irrelevant to RealSelf given the fact large numbers of RealSelf members have voted overwhelmingly positive for a number of cosmetic procedures such as Tummy tucks, blepharoplasty, and Botox. I do agree that a cause of patient dissatisfaction appears related to expectation management. But isn't that a legitimate consumer concern? Providers or firms seeing many negatives may need to adjust marketing messages or training to account for this. Thank you again for your posting.