Laser Resurfacing: Stories

I had one treatment with the Quadralase fractional CO2 laser. It has been one week since my treatment. I have moderately deep acne scars (rolling, ice pick, boxcar), uneven skin tone/texture, and rosacea. This particular laser does not help with rosacea, but I wanted to mention that the treatment did not aggravate my rosacea, which is a plus.

The treatment itself was very painful. I had a valium prior to treatment and a topical numbing cream, no narcotic pain relievers or injections, and the pain was significant. Luckily, the treatment did not take as long as I expected and once it was over the severe pain subsided quickly.

Post treatment pain was tolerable, and the maintenance of my face was only mildly inconvenient. I took a week off from work because I work outdoors and didn't want to risk the sun exposure. I expected my face to look monsterous - but it never did. Very mild redness no more than my rosacea, very little peeling, no oozing. My temples are sensitive and my skin was more brown there and they took longer to recover.

As for the results... I am disappointed. Considering the pain and cost of the treatment I expected greater benefit. I did not expect miracles, was told I would need a few treatments, and was told I would continue to improve for 6 months due to the collagen under my skin being stimulated. But even at this point I hoped the results would be more than almost negligible. But I'm not saying it's not worth it - as far as I'm concerned ANY improvement was worth it, and hopefully I will see further improvement. I do expect to repeat the treatment. The $850 cost is per treatment.

It is 9 days since treatment and I had a follow up with the doctor, who indicated I would not expect to see any improvement for 3 to 4 months, because the skin needs to be re-built and it takes that long for results to show. So I am more optimistic now than I was at the time of my original post. I would add, that I actually do notice a small amount of improvement already, even though it is not expected yet.