These look like a common reaction that is in the acne family. After the laser treatment, small oil glands or follicles can get blocked causing the bumps. There would be ways to “fine tune” your before and after care to minimize this reaction, but it might come up every time you get a resurfacing treatment.
The most common side effects after a Fraxel treatment are pain, swelling, and redness. All of these things should be short-lived, so we really think of them as part of the procedure. As your skin heals from these is where your body does all the work! Once you get over the side effects, you start to see improvement in sunspots, surface scarring, skin tone, texture, and fine lines. We go over a few other, less common possible reactions. Trust me, my patients think the downtime is worth it!
Fraxel is an excellent option for acne scarring on the face. It’s the best option for patients that have no active acne, mild scarring, and don’t want downtime. The best way to be sure of your needs is to see a physician that can treat acne AND can work on your scarring. As an example, we treat patients every day with the simplest topical treatments all the way up to the strongest treatment – Accutane. We also perform other in-office treatments for scarring such as chemical peels, subcision, injectable fillers, and stronger lasers, such as the CO2. Good luck!
Fraxel is a brand of lasers made by Solta Medical. The name is very well recognized but there are actually a few different types of Fraxel lasers. We have the Fraxel Dual, which is one of their newest systems. It utilizes two different wavelengths to target different goals for our patients. The price for the Fraxel laser depends on the areas treated. Our range is between $400-650 for one treatment. Many patients repeat their treatments over time.The “Restore” is an older version of the “Dual” and the “Repair” is a stronger, ablative laser similar to the CO2RE that we have in our office. These ablative lasers work better, but with more downtime and are typically more expensive. Hope that helps!
We like our patients to keep exercising after treatment, but we want them to hold off for 24 hours. Although it would be possible to move the filler, the bigger risk is bruising from pumping a lot of blood while your heart rate is up. We do discourage pressing on the areas that were treated as this definitely could affect how the fillers appear.
