Vic A. Narurkar, MD (in memoriam)

I am 56 year old male. I run 5.0 miles 4 days a week. I had love handles that would not go away no matter how I altered my diet or increased my exercise routine . After two hours of treatment per love handle they are gone. It was painless, comfortable a completely enjoyable experience. I would recommend this procedure to anyone

I waited a few months to write this review be fair to Dr Narukar. I went to Dr Narurkar for a scar on my cheek in July as he seemed to be an expert in lasers and highly regarded by his colleagues. Boy do I regret going to him. I had a surgical scar revision done 3 and a half months before I saw Dr Narurkar but went to see him as I had 2 big bumps on the scar that I wanted to get rid of. I was hoping he could make the scar look better by helping flatten the bumps but he made it way worse not better.
I showed Dr Naurkar the bumps and he recommended fraxel restore. I told him I was only bothered with the bump on the top of the scar and the bump at the very bottom of the scar, but he said it would be the same price if he worked on the whole scar. I wish I could turn back time now but I told him yes you can work on the full scar, just use a low setting on the middle of the scar as I am happy with that and then a higher setting on the top and bottom where the bumps were.
I didn't notice any long term problem at first, apart from severe redness but I knew eventually this would go away. Then I noticed after a week that I had a big indentation in the middle of my scar, and the big bump was still there on the top and bottom. I also had a huge new hole at the bottom underneath my scar and I am not exaggerating when I say huge. My whole scar looked like it doubled in size. The new indentation in the middle made my scar line look way wider, angry red and obvious where makeup could no longer cover it at all due to the new shadowing problem caused by the indentation. I had specifically told him which areas that were raised but in my case he totally got the areas wrong and the middle part of the scar indented and left the bumps there. I was shocked, in disbelief and very distraught as I knew that he had really messed me up for the rest of my life. I went back to him on my follow up and told him but he was kind of dismissive and said oh it will get better let it heal. It will fill in by itself. It's been almost 4 months now and it hasn't filled at all. I didn’t expect wonders but I at least expected that he wouldn’t make me worse than I was before I saw him. His actions were careless and will have lifelong consequences that I have to live with every day for the rest of my life.

I went to the best doctor I could find. He is one of the first to use and helped develop the Fraxel Dual. He perscribed me antibiotics so I did not break out in Acne. He gave me the Clinique Medical line to use before and after the procedure. I too researched the procedure online. I did not find any information regarding the risks. Unless you know to specifically look for this information, you are risking your face totally blind of the consequences. I had a Fraxel Dual Restore on March 1, 2010 and at first I was happy with my results. It did clear up my pigmentation issues and help with my old acne scars.

My overall textue was and still is improved. And I did not break out in acne or have complications immediately after the procedure like some. BUT, and this is a huge but, my face is now sagging. My skin tone is totally destroyed. I traded one problem (pigmentation/scars)for another (saggy/loose skin). I aged 5 years overnight. I stated to see the "weirdness" about 3 months after the procedure- jowls which I never had before, loss of fat around my eyes, sagging cheeks. I caught my reflection in my rearview mirror one day and realized I look COMPLETELY different. I look much older.

My cheeks have sagged down about 1/4 of an inch causing the entirety of my face to sag. I have nasolabial folds which I never had before. I have since spent a bundle on Juvederm (eyes, nasolabial folds, and jowls) to try and correct the damage. It has helped some, but I still look much older. It has caused me a great deal of anxiety and depression.

The bottom line is this procedure is a HUGE risk. Really look in the mirror again and assess if the issues you are trying to resolve are worth risking the tone of your skin. I am only 28 years old. I have more or less accepted how I look now, but I am really afraid of how my skin will fair in the future. If I look in a mirror, put my thumbs on my temples and pull up 1/2 an inch I can see my old face. But I will never get that face back. I would NEVER have gotten this procedure if I knew facial sagging (not to mention the many other horrific effects others on this site have experienced)was a possible outcome.

I fault the FDA for not looking out for our health and livelyhood like they are supposed. I fault every executive of Solta and I think they should be forced to have a full series of Fraxel treatments. I fault my doctor for not making me aware of the risks. In researching this procedure after seeing my own negative results I realize every doctor out there must be away of Awalk and others who have suffered so unnecessarily. This procedure without a doubt has catastrophic consequences. Do no do it. You will regret it.

I went for a consultation on April 18 with Dr. Narurkar for my acne scars. There was a few of $175 for the consultation that will be applied to the procedure if I proceed to get treatment with him.

He said my scarring is medium and would do a fraxel on my cheek & temples and clear and brilliant on the remainder on my face to even it out.

I wanted to proceed so he advised I buy two products which will help prevent pigmentation. I prep my skin with Phloretin CF and Advance Pigmentation Corrector because I have olive skin tone. Both products cost about $350+.

Since I've been using these two products I have been breaking out with cystic acne.

I've been seeing my esthetician for 3 years and my cystic acne has been under control. However these products seem to trigger my cystic acne to sprout. I stopped using the Phloretin which they refunded me for that.

I did a test site on my temples on May 23 to see how my skin reacts to the laser.

On July 10, I did a whole face fraxel. They numbed my skin for 1 hour. It took 20 mins to do the fraxel. The fraxel was bearable.

I researched for months about Fraxel: Repair hoping to find a physician in the San Francisco Bay Area who does it under I.V. sedation. I had no luck, so I decided to go ahead and endure the pain. It has been less than 72 hours since I had my lower face (upper lip and chin) and around the eyes done with Fraxel: repair 600 micron. My skin is very red, looks burnt, itchy and stings. I have been taking half Vicodin every 8 hours. Hopefully, I can sleep tonight. The procedure and recovery are painful. So far I have experienced pain and fear. I am hoping for satisfactory results because the downtime and discomfort are extensive.

Updated on 10 Aug 2013:
In a follow-up appointment my doctor assured me everything is fine and some pain is expected. The swelling has gone down but the stinging remains. I constantly apply a moisturizer from SkinMedica and most of the treated area has peeled off. I can see recovery starting and I am looking forward to the results. My doctor is very conservative and used very low intensity around the eyes. I will keep you posted in a couple of days.

Updated on 12 Aug 2013:
Still a little swollen, the stinging persists and my face feels stretching. The chin and upper lip recover easier because the skin is thicker than the cheek area. Heat is coming from within, there is a lot of redness, scabbing and the sand paper feeling. Healing is slow, the SkinMedica cream miraculous but expensive. My doctor gave me two tubes, no charge.

Updated on 15 Aug 2013:
Scabbing is 90% gone. I am very red like a bad sunburn but no more stinging. My skin is mostly smooth but I can't talk about real results yet because I am still swollen. The SkinMedica was great for me. The redness is so intense it will pop thru the make up especially when I get a little warm. I am going out tomorrow night after 10 days of house sitting!! I will update in a week or so.

Updated on 22 Aug 2013:
The chin area and upper lip recover much faster. Around the eyes and nasal folds looks burnt and a kind of raw. Make-up will cover it temporarily but the redness comes thru. During the day I still look "damaged" but at night is not noticeable. I cannot comment on results yet and probably not for at least another 2-3 weeks.