Results Take Time, but One Year After 6 Treatments I'm So Happy!

I've been dealing with moderate and very stubborn hormonal acne for almost two decades, and in that time I've spent tens of thousands of dollars and tried just about everything (prescription medications, extremely restrictive elimination diets, lasers like Isolaz, blue light therapy, supplements like zinc and spearmint, facials, expensive home tools like the useless $5000 Lyma laser and LED masks, heat therapy, Agnes RF microneedling which made everything worse, peels, monthly facials, plus every topical treatment you can imagine). Certain ingredients or treatments helped somewhat, but I could never prevent the acne entirely, especially on my chin and jawline where I would develop about 6-8 cysts every month. I was very excited when I read that Aviclear was coming out, and started my first series of three treatments in summer of 2022. After my first session, I saw some modest improvements in my skin, followed by a lot of purging after the next two. Three months after my last of the three-treatment series, I had seen some improvement but I was still breaking out often enough that I was quite discouraged. I decided to give it one more go to see if a total of six treatments would make a bigger difference than the prescribed three. I asked Cutera, and they said many patients see better results with additional sessions. I signed up for a second series which ended in February of 2023. It's now late July, and my skin has been nearly 100% clear for about 3 months. The only other change I have made was getting blood work which showed my vitamin D levels are very low. I have lean PCOS, and read that for many women supplementing low vitamin D can help with hormonal acne. I don't know how much of my new-found clarity is due to the vitamin D and how much is Aviclear, but I think both made a huge difference. My chin went from always having 2-3 spots to being 99% clear. I've also found that when I get clogged pores, they're easily extracted at my facials and they never lead to the acne that would sometimes happen after a facial. I know some reviewers are pretty disappointed with their Aviclear progress, and I would suggest considering a second set of treatments if that's possible, and waiting a full year from the time of the final treatment to fully assess. It definitely took some time for me, but I'm so glad that I had it done. I went to different providers for each set - the first charged $3,000 for the set of three, and the second charged $3,600 (I think - I got a promotional rate when they first offered it so I paid around $2,400). After all the money, time, stress and self hatred that my skin cost me for so much of my life, the price I paid for Aviclear feels extremely worth it. I'd definitely suggest starting with a vitamin D test though, to see if that makes a difference!



One other note: I found the treatments to be pretty uncomfortable, especially above my upper lip where I could feel it in my teeth! Many providers claim it causes only "mild discomfort" - for me that was very much not the case, and I have a pretty high pain tolerance (I get Fraxel 4 times a year and have done RF microneedling and lasers like Halo with no problems). I would consider nitrous if your clinic has it available, since numbing creams can't be used for this particular laser.I received compensation from Cutera in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.