SoCal8

Fraxel Re:store - Laguna Niguel, CA

I just posted some new pics, as it's now been 6 weeks post procedure. You can see for yourself if you think it's worth it. Not much difference if you ask me. I also made a note on the pics where I'm smiling with makeup on, regarding Botox. The Botox obviously helps reduce the "scrunching" under the eye, so I didn't want anyone to assume any improvements were only from the Fraxel.

I'm not sure of the exact settings (I'll ask next time I'm there), but she did say it was "the highest setting." And yes, they did do the actual eyeball. This is why I needed the metal shields (similar to a contact lens) in my eye.

I've looked at my "before" and "after" photos, and while I think it did reduce some of the pigmentation/freckles around the eye, I'm not seeing any significant tightening/wrinkle reduction yet. One other point to note - for me, it did cause some residual swelling under the eye. This took several weeks to go away, which I was not happy about. And I'm going on week 6 this week, and there is still some really mild redness. No one would probably notice it but me, but I can still tell, particularly on the bridge of my nose and the tops of my cheeks (where the most redness/blistering was in the after shots). I'm hoping this will continue to diminish over time.

So my opinion to date is mixed. No significant results, no huge drawbacks (other than downtime). I think I want to let it go a few more weeks before any more conclusions. But I did decide not to do my 2nd and 3rd at this time. They recommend 4-5 weeks between procedures, but given that it took me 2-3 weeks for the redness to go down (not 3-5 days!), there was no way I was going to have another procedure before I felt I was properly healed.

I've read all the reviews on this site as well as others, and I do think it works for some and not for others. There are many variables at play, including your skin type, how you heal, the exact equipment, the skill of the doctor/nurse, etc. Depending on the mix of those variables, I believe that's why the reviews are mixed.

I'll keep updating as time goes, and try to get some recent pics up soon.

It's been a little over two weeks since the treatment, and it definitely took the redness much longer to go down than I thought. For me, that 1-3 was baloney - it was definitely a solid two weeks. Although I do believe I had the highest setting possible. I think it's still too early to see any significant results, but I'll update my pics soon. I can say that I did see lots of the little freckles on my eyelids are now gone, but I'd like to let it go a couple more weeks before making any conclusions.