What Do You Know About Fractora and Does It Do Everything They Say It Does? Any Down Sides to the Procedure?

There are always risks and benefits of any procedure.  Fractora is a radiofrequency energy device that delivers its energy via needles through the skin.  It is best used for wrinkles, skin texture issues, and acne scars.  The main issues with Fractora can be downtime (based on type of needles used), comfort (some patients do not tolerate RF needling well), hyperpigmentation (typically transient in nature).  Patients usually best respond to multiple treatments over a period of time.

Fractora is a radio frequency micro needling device targeted at photo rejuvenation of the skin. It is one of many devices in a large armamentarium available for this purpose, and The best advice for you will be based on your individual goals, needs and anatomy.
Energy-based devices like lasers, IPL, radio frequency, microfocused ultrasound and even coolsculpting cryolipolysis are all different tools in our toolbox. When seeking the best options for you, you want to make sure that you are working with somebody who has a full toolbox, and you are not just getting the recommendation for a few device options that they have to choose from. If you need screw tightened, you don’t want somebody trying to use a hammer to do it!
I keep 10+ devices on hand in my practice, which provides a very broad range and May serve as a good metric when speaking with somebody and considering your device options.
To ensure you are receiving the highest level of care, seek out a modernly trained, new-school dermatologic surgeon, oculoplastic surgeon, facial plastic surgeon or plastic surgeon who is board certified and fellowship trained in one of these “core four” cosmetic specialties. Membership in organizations like the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery help to identify a highly trained surgeon.
Cameron Chesnut
#realself100 Physician

Thank you for your question. Fractora uses RF to deliver energy to the skin layers, and below to generate heat and initiate skin change and collagen remodeling and stimulation. There are many RF devices on the market, and this one , like many others has a following. Like most products, the claims are overstated, and the results vary widely depending on the level of sun damage. Thus, I recommend you see a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, and determine if the Fractora is your best option, or if surgery is a better option, or something else. The issues will be whether there is muscle issues that only surgery can fix, or if it just skin issues, then is CO2 an option, or is there something else to consider. I hope this helps.

Fractora is a really good skin tightening, skin resurfacing and acne / acne scar treatment. I have used Fractora for some time and have experienced lovely results. Depending on the depth of treatment needed several sessions may be required. Scars will improve and skin can be tightened, it helps wrinkles too. 
The down time is a lot less that the more invasive Co2 fractional laser treatments, and the results are the same if not better in my patients. Down time is dependent on the intensity of treatment and you would expect to have a few days of redness, followed by some scabbing and healing where the skin will feel a bit rough. After that the healing and tightening continue as collagen and elastin are stimulated. Results last for up to 2 years. (although the aging process will be continuing in the background too). 

I am the first physician in Nevada to have Fractora by Invasix. I've had it for about a month, and truly, LOVE IT. I have done about 10 patients so far, varying in reasons for treatment from fine lines and wrinkles, to severe wrinkles, to tremendous acne scarring, to light acne scarring. So far the results are great. I have my technicians do the very low setting procedures with just a topical numbing cream, and I do the higher settings after blocking the patients with lidocaine. The treatments done on low settings will need to be done probably 3-5 times (a series), the higher setting ones, hopefully will need 1-2 treatments for full effects. The best part about these procedures is that there are different treatment tips for treating different depths and sizes, so it's customizable, as well as the strength of the radio frequency going in. This allows us to treat darker skinned patients better, safer, and more effectively than we can with other machines. Down sides would be definitely a few days of redness, some swelling, and some pain, but again, that depends on which treatment settings are being used - if you are good to do more treatments and have less downtime, that's fine and you'll recover much faster, but some people want the max they can do and take a few days to recover. I've tried many other fractional and ablative laser treatments over the years, and comparably to those, Fractora is by far the best and yielding the best results I've seen.