Fraxel Laser: Stories

no one really notices it but I do want to say there are probably better treatments for sun damage than lasers. I won't be doing it again! BTW I am having facial rejuvenation surgery on my face and neck in two weeks so that should be a big change.

Please Keep us updated. Jaylyn only has the pitting around her eyes. It has been well over a year and it has not diminished with a retinoid. If you find something that works, please let us know! I hope you have a full recovery!!

I'm 58 years young and I'm having my first treatment tomorrow. I've weighed the pros and cons and have decided to do the Fraxel treatment. I'm having three treatments 4-6 weeks apart.
Please don't e-mail me with negative reviews. Positive attracts positive, negative attracts negative. I'm guilty of being a polyanna, I wear the title proundly.
I wish everyone health and happiness and thanks for the reviews.
Wish me luck!
Thanks,
Babs2

So glad to hear you are doing so well! I had my last treatment a little over a week ago. Glad it is all over and now on to the healing and resoration phase. Thanks for the update! I often wonder how people are doing so it is nice to hear a follow-up story every now and then.

Take care!

Thanka Gerb, Yes I did delete my acct but for some reason it didn't take and I am getting emails so decided to stay and keep MY report updated.

Like you, I don't see anything wrong with the gals that are posting pictures. Maybe if they were older and had cancer scars or sundamage like we do they'd be thrilled with the results lol. I can't imagine doing this in my 20's.

I am getting more and more comments about my skin. I have friends that haven't seen me in a while say "your skin looks great!" You can't imagine how good that makes me feel. After the first treatment I did have the face "collapse" at the 4th week, but since the doc said it would happen I was ready for it. Now after the second treatment it has not happened and many of the brown spots are gone. The overal texture is smoother and appears tighter.

I don't understand the people that are complaining they have to wear sunscreen afterwards. For good skin care you should always wear it as sun if the number 1 thing that causes damage. It's the reason I keep getting CANCERS.

So, those contemplating this treatment I would suggest:

1. Get an experienced doc. Mine has done hundreds. He is the top fraxel doc in the area. I also looked at the licensing board to see if he had any claims against him. He had a clean record.

2. Educate yourself on skin care, before, during and after treatment. The first month I was using salylic acid after treatment and this was too stong. Those little bumps you see some people complain about are dermatitis and a sign of irritated skin. Baby your sking with vitamen C serum and a GOOD non acidic moisturerizer. For makeup use a minerlized make up. WEAR SUNSCREEN under makeup. Use an UVA/B high SPF made for your face. You can't do too much moisturizing, at least twice a day.
Also I wear a hat in hot sun. Not because of the fraxel but I am babying my skin and try to undo all the damage I inflicted on it over the years.

3. Tell your doc if you have concerns. I am using conservative settings now because I have sensitive skin. Also I am reading some people getting high numbers of passes per session-- I'm only getting 4.

4. Be patient. This is not an overnight process. If you had fraxel done and then didn't take care of your skin, I can see how hard it would be on you skin to recover. Don't blame the procedure.

I'm getting my 3rd treatment in 2 weeks. Went 5 weeks in between this time because of lack of time.

One more thing. I don't think this is miracle treatment. It will be an improvemnt that people may notice but aren't really sure what you did. Ultimately I did it for myself becuase I was looking pretty haggard. My skin looks a lot fresher now.

And please evil fraxel and those other fraxel nazis please do not post on my thread. This thread isn't about you, it's about MY experience. You've already been warned by adim.

I hope you don't let these people and their comments cause you to delete your account.

I have pondered a while as to why they feel the need to rain on everyone's parade. They posted to my blog too. I can't figure it out no matter how hard I think about it.

If you have a negative experience, just post that; no need to look on the blogs and post something to everyone who is going through the process.

I'm not posting smileys on their posts.

There are SO many variables to this treatment until I can't begin to list them here. Age, heredity, on and on...no one person will have exactly the same results as someone else.

I had my second treatment a week ago and so far so good.

I look at some of these people's pics and don't see anything wrong with them to begin with so I guess if it made it worse, it is horrible to them.

My skin is so damaged that any improvement is a lot.

I am enjoying reading your experience and thanks for posting.

deleting my account so I don't have to listen to this. Obviously you guys either had a bad person doing your fraxel, are hysterical, or didn't take care of your skin afterwards. Yes I will enjoy my beautiful skin while you guys stay home, surf the net and complain all day. Oh, and I suppose you are gearing up for a class action. Good luck with that.

There is nothing in that study that is surprsing. You need to read it carefully and see if of the reasons why you had a negative experience. My doc is very conservative with settings (as the article mentioned side effects due to high settings) and the article was primarily geared to high settings on ABLATIVE or CO2 lasers. Is that what you had? I did look into it and decided it was too agressive for my skin. I saw nothing of fat loss, causing wrinkles or other claims.

btw, i also thought the posts were too rambling and incoherent when i read them over a year ago. at that time there weren't as many bad reviews out yet either so i also thought to just trust my doctor.

i now understand why they were rambling because the emotional devastation that you have to endure from the damage is nothing you can imagine... not until it happens to you.

i'm just looking out for you and your safety. if you can imagine that.

i honestly would prefer to be selfish. wish this never happened to me. not have to write these reviews.

were you able to read that study?

since you're online, i hope you can access that link. Fraxel is very new, so many studies haven't been done yet. the pdf is available for download if you can find the link on that page.

also due to FDA's 501(k) expedited medical device approval process, its own clinical trials aren't required to be as rigorous as that for drugs. the 501(k) approval procedure doesn't even require testing on humans before approval! (look up all you can about the process if you're interested)

i also read the negative reviews here on this site and also, read them with a grain of salt and went ahead and did the Fraxel.

i have regretted it since, that i didn't take the negative postings more seriously. so this is all i can do now to help prevent the same thing from happening to other people.

please, why don't you just wait a few months, 6 months, a year, until you do your next procedure. you don't need any more lasers. T.T

Well I youtubed as well as googled. I didn't see any of the damage of what you speak of, except one person on here who has since "passed." Afer reading many of those posts I came to the conclusion there were other issues besides fraxel. Some of those posts were rambling and made no sense so I took them with a grain of salt.

yea I have read them, and I also read about how you complained about using sunscreen. You should be using it anyway, with or without fraxel. I have had cancer from the sun. Do you think I would knowingly make it worse? I am going on two MDs medical advice which I'm sorry holds more weight than a randowm poster who obviously has an agenda. Where are all these studies you speak of...DNA damage, increased cancer, etc. If you post links to these studies I would like to read them rather than sometimes hysterical posts on boards. Two of my precancers are GONE btw.

please do not post a good review after only a week! it distorts the reality of this laser and its long term side effects.

good luck on your healing.

yes I'm not looking forward to mine either! The laser was set at 2/3rds power (whatever that is)and then the last pass she turned it down. I probably could have endured one more pass but maybe they just wait and see how the skin reacts the first time. I have blotchy skin and am getting the treatments for fine lines and just all over improvement since I sadly neglected it with sun damage. Today is day 12 I swear it isn't swollen and I go see an improvement! Next treatment is May 7th but I may move it up a few days.

Hi Kaytee,
your experience was quite similar to mine but I had major swelling on day 2 around the chin - it was quite scary actually. The pain - yes, it was so painful. I had 6 passes and when 5 and 6 happened I was in a lot of pain - I just wanted a gigantic fan blowing all over. My face also felt like it was on fire for a good couple of hours. Felt better after the 3rd. I'm not looking forward to the next 2 treatments (I'm only having 3 in total). Looking forward to reading about your next session.