I had my fourth treatment last week, and although I know I won't see the final results for months, there has already been a significant improvement. I had acne scars, most significantly around my mouth and chin, and also some lesser scaring on my cheeks. Although there has been an overall difference, the biggest and happiest improvement is around my mouth. I'm not seeing, nor was I expecting, perfection, however now the skin over my entire face appears uniform instead of the very obvious lumpiness I used to have. By the way, the price I listed included four face treatments and two neck treatments so it was a bit more than it would have been had I only done the face.
I will update my post in a few months to review the (hopefully) continued improvement.
Updated on 10 Aug 2014:
Three weeks after my fourth Fraxel Repair and no significant improvements. I don't notice any difference at all in the fine lines on my upper lip or between my eyebrows. The place I've seen the most improvement is in the orange peel texture of my cheeks, next is the bad acne scarring around my mouth. At this point I'd say the Fraxel Repair is somewhat of a blunt instrument, good for really back texture and scarring, not so effective for the finer lines. I'll continue to monitor and hope for continued improvement. I'd say I've had about a 20% improvement in those two areas, nothing in the others. At this point, ROI would not be worth it but I'm staying optimistic.
Updated on 28 Aug 2014:
Slight worsening, returning to pre-treatment state.
Updated on 8 Sep 2014:
No changes. The only improvement that seems to be maintaining is to my cheeks. Other than that, the worst scarring around my mouth has at least not worsened further. Unless there is some remarkable change in the next two months, I will have to say this was not worth the expense or the time. I wish I had not let the doctor talk me out of the Repair.
Updated on 1 Oct 2014:
I was out of town for three weeks and thought when I got back home I might hopefully see some improvement. Unfortunately, no. In fact I was a little shocked, I forgot how bad it was since I wasn't in my usual light. Here's a photo taken a week ago so you can see how my skin is. This is pretty much how it was when I first went to Dr. Potozkin and was told I didn't need the Fraxel Repair that I requested. He assured me the Restore was all I needed. You can see the results, that cost me $5,000. Very much not worth it and I find it hard to believe this will magically resolve in another month.
Updated on 16 Nov 2014:
It has been enough time since my last treatment to see full results, however there is still no improvement, in fact my skin continues to revert to its pre-treatment condition aside from my upper lip, which is now worse than before. Why Dr. Potozkin insisted this treatment was appropriate for me I can't imagine unless he needed to pay for the Restore laser.
I would also like to advise anyone engaging on any course of treatment to insist on the pricing and payment schedule IN WRITING in advance. When I was pushed into this treatment they told me I had to pay for the first two treatments at the first visit and the final two visits at the second visit. I said I didn't want to pay for a treatment four months in advance, so they agreed to allow me to pay for the third and fourth when I came in for it. But at the second visit they told me I had to pay and at the third, and again at the fourth. I tried to explain to them that I'd paid for two visits at the fist and so the fourth was already paid for but they refused to listen. Frankly I was in so much pain from the procedure that I wasn't able to argue. When I got home I called them again and they reluctantly agreed to review my payments to date. They called me back and agreed they'd overcharged me by over a thousand dollars and wouldn't put the charge through. I never received anything in writing from them regarding the payment except for a post-it note. If I hadn't been keeping track of what I paid them I would have been out over $6,000 instead of the $5,000 I wasted.
This was a huge waste of my time and money in every way. I have absolutely no faith in the expertise or integrity of this office.
