I had a fractora treatment done to help reduce the appearance of acne scars left on my cheeks from years of battling teenage acne. My scarring wasn't awful but noticeable if you were to stare at my face for a little bit and very noticeable to me, so I finally decided to do something to fix it. Went in to Cultura which I had heard was a great clinic in the area and seemed to have good reviews. Upon arriving I was told that Fractora would be the best thing for my skin, and it would be able to take care of the acne scarring in 2 treatments AND help with the little bit of leftover PIH I had. I was estatic and decided to give it a go. Even though my cheeks were my only concern, they told me that doing a full-face treatment would be best and that it would help my pore use and overall skin appearance. (After a lot of summers in the sun my skin could've used a little rejuvenation!) I payed for 2 treatments upfront (big mistake) and scheduled my first procedure, 2/21/17. At $750 a treatment, it wasn't the most expensive but also not cheap! The procedure itself hurt but it wasn't unbearable. I could smell my skin burning but was told that was normal. Experienced a ton of redness and some swelling post treatment but that faded after a couple of hours. All was well until I woke the next morning to AWFUL scabbing all over my face. I was told by the drs that I would only need 3-5 days for downtime and that I would only experience "micro scabbing". Well idk what their idea of micro is but what I experienced was anything but!! Even though I followed my after care instructions to the T, didn't pick at my scabs and let them fall off naturally, I was left with horrendous PIH and the scabs even left actual scarring behind too. I'm absolutely devastated and cry when I look in the mirror these days. My pores seem larger (or maybe they're just the holes left behind from the Fractora machine?) my entire face just looks 15+ years older. My dark spots are SO dark- like a purple- and for someone as fair skinned as I am, they're so obvious that makeup doesn't even cover them up. The emotional trauma I experienced from this is awful and I don't even like leaving the house these days. I know with things like this it usually requires more than one treatment, but after the awful experience I had from the first one I doubt Ill ever get another. In the end it damaged my skin more than it helped it. I'll be giving monthly updates on my skin journey from here on out. My dermatologist suggested I start with a .25 microneedling device and follow with a pure,organic vitamin C serum to help fade this scarring and even out the pitted scars. Updated on 24 Apr 2017: My skin is still a total mess, and it's all thanks to Fractora. It's become so sensitive that nearly anything I put on it makes it red and inflamed. I'm dealing with so much facial redness in addition to the scarring and red PIE marks the fractora left behind. I was prescribed Desonide cream to help the redness and it's been 10 days, no improvement whatsoever. Still getting breakouts in places I never did before, resulting in more ugly red spots. My face overall is just a huge mess and it's so depressing...I hate even leaving the house honestly. No changes whatsoever in my acne scarring pre fractora. This was literally a waste of money and it's caused me so much emotional distress. I urge anyone looking into getting this treatment to research more thourougly than I did when it comes to the drs preforming it. Even with the research I did, it still turned out horribly. I'm now spending hundreds more in creams and facial products to try and reverse the damage fractora caused me. Updated on 7 May 2017: Not much to update on. Pics below. Still evident scarring and a TON of PIE that is simply refusing to go away/fade even slightly. With summer coming I'm growing more upset and desperate. I've found another very highly accredited clinic and have looked into laser genesis since it's so mild to try and combat the damage the fractora has done. I will update after I begin that treatment course, if I do decide to go through with it. Updated on 26 Jun 2017: My skin is healing but it is a sloooow process. I see no difference whatsoever in my original scarring so the only thing fractora did was create horrible uneven skin tone (and it left new scarring too). Worst money I've ever spent. I still have a ton of red marks (luckily they've faded into a red and the deep purple color is gone). At this rate I'm estimating a good 8-12 months for these spots to be almost completely gone. Really, really sucks but it is what it is. I still break out occasionally (more than I ever did before but I'm not sure if the fractora has anything to do with it). Still have some track marks from the machine and at this point I'm starting to worry if they're permanent. Some pics to update you, though I DO HAVE LIGHT MAKEUP ON, so my scarring is more red/apparent than what these pics show. Don't have any recent ones w/o makeup. I'll try to add some later. Updated on 8 Jul 2017: A couple weeks later, here is a pic of the scarring/marks without makeup. This is right after I wake up; as the day progresses they look darker (the more active I am the more blood flow is there). This is the "best" that they can look. Concealer helps hide them but doesn't do the trick completely. Hoping that in a few more months time they've faded enough to where concealer will completely cover them.
