Fraxel Laser: Stories

I am nine months post my fourth Fraxel and my face is covered with tiny holes left by the laser, and they seem to getting more prominent as the months go by.The only place where the skin is smooth and normal is around my eyes, where you can see the line of dots following where Fraxel has touched me.
I also have developed a brown blotch in the outside corner of my right eye, I have small brown spots also appearing under both eyes in a line that seems to follow the fraxel. Also a dark area is forming on my upperlip, it kind of looks like a shadow under my skin as someone else mentioned on this site, and is getting also more prominent.

These are not from the sun as I never go outside longer than five minutes when I ride my bike to work or drive to shops and I wear physical sun block everyday. I wash my face first thing in the morning and put sunblock on straight away, even if I'm inside the house all day.

More so I am so pissed off about these bloody holes tattooed all over my face, they are so visible in my bathroom mirror, where the natural light comes from the side. Five months ago the holes were only visible if the sun light came in but now they are visible even on a overcast day. They are hard to see inside with normal lights on, as I suspect they are too soft but daylight reveals the horror. My skin is so porous it looks like I have the skin that has aged ten years, and it is getting worse. I truly believe this laser has accelerated my skin ageing and basically gave me more damage that sun would do in a decade. Ironically I have always shied away from sun, never tanned and always used sunblocks religiously because of the fact that I would always burn so easily.

I am 30 year old and have suffered from acne since I was 18 years old. It left me with scars on the cheeks and for years I struggled with it. I was so embarrassed of my skin. I finally decided to seek more information about laser treatments and googled about Fraxel, how it works and more importantly, is it safe? I finally went to a consultation in Sydney ( Facial Rejuvenation Clinic) to find out more about this procedure. I had the consultation with the doctors assistant, who basically gave me the sales pitch of how wonderful amazing Fraxel is and how safe it is!

I remember being very anxious of any possibility of negative effects on my skin, and asked few times about the safety and possible adverse effects. Her answer to this was that Fraxel is very safe, there might be a slight chance of hyperpigmentation that usually resolves itsel in time and that it just might not work that well on my scars. Not once was I told about the adverse effects such as texture change, fat loss, sagging skin etc. About these I only learned when I was googling skin damage after Fraxel to try and find answer to my own problems and was horrified of the amount of damage this laser causes.

I eventually sent pictures of my skin to the clinic and later met the doctor who armed himself with the assistant who did my treatments and then began the over half an hour arguing on his behalf. I went there to discuss my concerns but he just argued everything I had to say. He first of course claimed he couldn't see any holes, and tried to explain me how it is impossible to Fraxel to cause any holes. Then he contradicted himself first telling me Fraxel works by creating tiny microholes that then coagulates repairing the skin, but when I later asked if it is possible these microholes did not close properly, he then told me Fraxel doesn't cause any holes it only heats the skin.

All this time he kept arguing me, getting cranky and simply ignoring any concerns that I tried to bring across. He knew exactly what I was talking about and did his best to make me feel silly and paranoid and mocked me when I pointed out that my boyfriend also sees the holes in my skin, not just me, saying oh so your boyfriend said something about your skin and now you are just upset. What a douchebag!
I also said to him many times to open the pictures I sent him so I sould show him what I mean, as the light in his office didn't show my skin texture that well. Bizarrely he kept ignoring those request he clearly didn't wan't to open them. I told him that the reason I am so pissed off is that I was never told about this possibility and they should tell people he actually got a bit cranky and said that they don't have to tell people because it's rare!

I asked if it could be possible my skin just heals poorly as scars and blemishes stay behind for long time( once I burned my thigh in the sun and over six months later the line form my shorts was still visible, my partner saw it too pointing it out to me one time in the shower.) I didn't even manage to finish my sentence when he attacked me saying there is nothing wrong whatsoever the way my skin heals it healed from the Fraxel fine and that was the end of it.

I am waiting to see an actual dermatologist to get some help and an opinion what might be going inside my skin, I am fearing the damage is ongoing. I drink water and dring vegetable juices to try and help my skin but I fear it is all in vain. Hate looking at the mirror it is horrible. Never wanted to be a bloody model just wanted a skin I don't have to cover up. Funny before Fraxel I was happy with my face apart the cheek scars but now it is the entire face that is horrible. I can quarantee that if I would've known there might be chance of any ill effect I would have left my skin as it were and waited a better solution to come along.

I'm not surprised if we are all their guinea pigs in these clinical trials, who says they won't want to try something a new setting, a few more passes to just test how the skin reacts and then leave you deal with the effects while the doctors race to there little medical conferences with your file in their hand..