Fraxel Laser: Stories

i had fraxel 3 days ago , i also have now more damage that before, wrinkled skin , holes and pits in face, scarring type creases in skin, worse discission of my life, my life is destroyed from this, my name is Mike Bauman live in kentucky and my life is ruined from this, went to inprove some scarring and was left worse, doctors says give it more time, but i know the damaged to be permenant, devastated to say the least, lost my relationship over this, self esteem, cant find work, out of time and money, will end this life with no hope at all, doctor sugar coats everything of course. they should out law this device for sure, where or what can i do, nop money to fight this?

I am sorry Cherry for misquoting in regards to Angela's death. I only wrote what I had read, and never knew about the aneurysms. I apologize for any misconceptions I may have caused.

Yes Angelas autopsy reads aneurysms..... it also states the scars and caveated holes in her face the length and depth of the holes and burn scars. Her corneas which we donated to the Lions bank and Life Net could not be used due to scars from burns to her eyes. So yes she did DIE from and anuerysm.... but Fraxels took her life and soul many years earlier. The spiral of health related results from fraxel will continue being studied to see what degree and impact they had on her death. As her Mother I am Happy God spared her anymore misery and pain that she was having. If God could give her back today..... with her mental health and physical pain and anguish and lonliness and quality of life AFTER fraxel.... I would tell God to keep her safely in his arms as I know she is home and whole! Clane

Now after 8 weeks of my first Fraxel, my skin looks and feels great. It has definitely improved its condition. I have no doubts that some people is having very bad reactions to this procedure, due to bad choice of settings of the equipment or handling before and after the procedure by the people providing the service or both things. But it could also be due to particular genetic characteristics of the patient that make their skin vulnerable to such a disaster result. In which case there is an URGENT need to open a research line to study each of those cases that went wrong. This is clearly responsability of the companies that make this equipments and I guess also the FDA is responsible for authorizing this procedures knowing that there is a certain percentage of patients with very bad results that endanger severely their health. Physicians and practitioners should develop a kind of "test" with the settings they intend to use on the patient on a small hidden area of skin to have a look of what the outcome will be. I know it sounds like a lot of work, time, effort and even money, but because of the multiple bad experiences,it is something that may worth to try. I am very happy with my results, I consider myself very lucky for having reacted the way I was expected to. But I am aware that things could have been so different and I would have prefered to be sure of the outcome before doing the whole procedure on my entire face. I think people affected by this procedure needs to gather their voices and proceed legally agains the companies that lauched this equipment, asking not only for a compensation of dammages but also for further studies of their cases to find out exactly what went wrong in order to find a way to prevent it in the near future.

Most women will not post pictures or their identity as once you have experienced damage to your face, it is deeply devastating and embarrassing. There is a guilt you carry for having done this "safe" procedure. We all need to forgive ourselves and remember we are victims, someone else did this to us, we should carry no guilt or shame. But that is easier said than done. Your life is destroyed as you have known it, and some never recover, living in isolation and in pain. So to put pictures out there for all the skeptics to see, just adds more excruciating pain to each individual. Yes, pictures would help a great deal, but we don't need to convince total strangers that the damage is real, we need to get doctors to admit what we are experiencing and stop this nationwide cover up.

Does anyone know how to post pictures? I think people could get more help and help other's see what they are talking about with pictures but don't see how to do it.

At 6 weeks after treatment my skin has gone back to a normal texture. The microdots or minilumps that I was worried about have gone and I am so happy. It really helped a lot to start using the tretinoin every night, I also added a bit of fluosinolone (spelling?) to the mix as I found that is recomended to decrease the slight inflamation produced by the hidroxiquinone and the tretinoin. My skin is very soft and smooth now. I will keep on the Obagi system to complete the 12 weeks or a bit more if there is still some product left. With my results so far I don´t see why I shouldn´t do a second Fraxel treatment, although it is going to be a year after the first one for sure, no earlier than that. I want to remark that I had my procedure done by a very professional dermatologist not in a beauty spa. My settings for Fraxel seemed to be the right ones, not too agressive, not to mild (check them in my original message), I will ask for the same settings next time.

Fraxel was the WORSE thing I could have done for my skin!!!! It made scars and cystic areas that I am still dealing with. I had 4 treatments; the nurse practitioner kept on saying; that I just needed more treatments. The doctor also; after the nurse had left that business. These practitioners do not know enough about dermatology to be doing such procedures. They are just in it to make the money. I have scars and cystic areas because of fraxel. Do not do Fraxel. See a Board Certified Dermatologist. I have researched what may help; but do not have the finances or time to do it.

As an update, I have started to add tretinoin 0.1% to the Obagi blender cream every night and in just one week there has been an improvement in the texture of the skin. There are still the tiny lumps specially around eyes, but they have some how shrinked. The rest of the face feels better. It could be due to the light inflammation produced by the tretinoin itself as there is also an increase in the pink color, so the skin is reacting to it. Hopefully this will help to smooth the skin permanently and make the lumps (micro-dots, same size as the micro-lessions produced by the laser) to vanish with more time to heal. I will keep posting to let know about progress.

I am here to say: Don't do Fraxel!! I just went thru all the postings regarding fraxel, took me nearly a whole day. I did 6 full face fraxel sessions for acne scarring a year and a half ago, still suffering from total HP, used HQ after, have done peels, use 30 sunblock every day, & not only do I look worse, its af I aged 5-10 yrs. (other posts have stated similiar exp) I am 36, mexican with naturally tan skin, now I have HP blotchy skin all over face especially around eyes. Wish I would have found this site before i even thought of doing the procedure!!! I dont think its docs fault, its the companies selling the equipment and the FDA so called approval!! I found many postings from an "Awalk" who sadly seems passed away late last year, but she had posted very valuable info regarding her adverse reactions and battle. Please, please, don't do Fraxel!!