Live and Learn!! Atlanta, GA

I am 54 and have always had good skin. I used retin-A through the years with good results. Since I intend to have a face lift in a year, I was doing this to get my skin in optimal shape beforehand. Also, I was starting to develop lines above my upper lip and had a couple of faint scars that I wanted taken care of. I opted for the full Pearl fractional and the laser. They gave me a valium, but it was an extremely painful procedure. It sounded like a jack hammer digging down into my face and would inflict a deep burning pain deep into my skin. I have a high tolerance for pain (natural childbirth), but this was pretty hard to endure. He did two passes over my upper lip area.
Dr. Stong said I would look like raw burger meat when he was finished and he was absolutely right! My face bruised and swelled to the point that I was unrecognizable. I had to put a vinegar solution on my face several times a day and then apply ointment. I did it on a Thursday and returned to work Tuesday. I wish I could have stayed at home longer, because my face was still beet red and raw and I had to keep the ointment on. Needless to say, everyone was shocked when they saw me.
When I went back to Dr. Stong, I told him I was concerned about my pore size and the grid marks left on my skin and especially across the top of my forehead. He said they would disappear and that my skin would continue to improve and that optimal results would occur around/by 6 months. I went back 7 months post- op and showed him that I still had grid marks on my forehead. Also, I don't know if it's pores or tiny holes left by the fractional procedure, but they never went away. The lines above my lip are not as noticeable, but still there. He said he thought my skin looked fine and that "my perception is my reality". He did not offer to do a follow-up procedure or different laser procedure to rectify the results. He asked what skin care products I use and said he did not approve of my products and that he would get his skin care consultant to talk with me about their line of skin products. Since I had pretty good skin before, I was doing this as a preliminary procedure to make sure my skin was in optimal condition before undergoing a face lift in a year or two.
Please be very careful when deciding to undergo this procedure. It is expensive, painful, a lot of down time and your skin may not respond well. (I forgot to mention that with this harsh treatment of the skin, I ended up with a lot of broken little capillaries on my face that were not there before. That has definitely aged me!) I just wish I had heeded all the reviews of dissatisfied patients. There's got to be a better procedure than this!