28 Yr Old with Acne Scars

Between lifeguarding and extensive amounts of hiking growing up, my skin texture was uneven with large pores by my late 20s. I also struggled with cystic acne that left mild scarring along my jaw line. I saw three different clinics for recommendations, the first recommended Infini, the second Fractura (a treatment similar to Infini), and the third recommended either Infini or Fraxel Dual. After some research I settled on Infini for the better price and fairly good reviews.

I just had my first treatment today 03 July (four passes) and am getting just my cheeks/jawline treated. The first pass with the laser wasn't pleasant but was tolerable, feels and sounds like a staple gun going into your face. They used numbing cream prior which helped substantially. The last three passes weren't comfortable but you seem to get used to the sensation. I bought three treatments as they were offering a discount for the package and I expect to need all three. My face felt hot and sunburned for about an hour after the treatment then felt completely fine. They sent me home with a lotion to be used twice a day.
My next treatment is mid August and I will provide photos of the results along the way.

I had my second Infini today (same settings as last time, 4 laser passes). After my first treatment my cheeks were red for a few hours and slightly puffy for about 2-3 days (not really noticeable to friends but I could tell!). My skin had the "sandpaper" texture for about a week then looked completely normal. After the numbing cream wore off the first day, it felt like a bad sunburn for about 12-24 hrs after. I was exceedingly careful not to touch my face any more than I had to a few days after the treatment to avoid complications. I bought a generic cetaphil gentle cleaner and used it to wash my face and applied the thick cream the provider gave me twice a day for about 5 days. After I switched to my normal routine with retina. I avoided makeup for a few days (not necessary but I wanted to be safe) and found that when i did apply foundation it did a good job of covering the 'sandpaper' look but you could still slightly tell the texture of my cheeks were rough. It's been about 5 weeks now since my first treatment and I can say the deep acne scars look less severe but overall you can't see much difference (you aren't supposed to be able to see results after the first Infini treatment apparently). I had a white, very old scar on my upper lip I had them treat as well (forgot to put a photo of it up in my initial post) and I was very happy that the edges around the scar faded noticeably. Infini isn't supposed to completely erase this old scar, just make it look less severe. I have my third and last Infini in about 4 weeks and will provide updates on results from my second Infini prior.

I went in today for my last Infini but after discussing with the dermatologist she recommended we switch to Fraxel for the last treatment. She has had good results combining the two treatments (Infini and Fraxel) and thought fraxel would really help me get the results I was looking for. Infini certainly helped with the scaring and overall texture..but not enough to warrant $1700 in my opinion. When I looked in the mirror this morning I could still see the scars along my jawbone (again, after two Infini treatments). I'm not expecting the scars to be completely gone, but for that amount of money I was hoping for more improvement. The Fraxel Dual is more expensive (they switched it for me free of charge though which was very generous) but could make more of an impact on the deeper scar tissue..we'll have to wait and see!
Fraxel takes three quick passes with the laser and is not pleasant as the pain continues to build as the laser goes over the same tissue. With Infini the pain gets less as the needle is adjusted to not go as deep in later passes. Fraxel is slightly uncomfortable (stings quite a bit in some places) but not terribly painful..I'd say the first pass of Infini is worse. Face is very hot, red, and a bit puffy after and the downtime is more than Infini. With Infini, I had about 5-7 days of 'sandpapery' skin that was fairly noticeable after makeup, fraxel should be ~3 days of red and puffy and some sandpaper after.

I'll put an update in a few weeks with the final results (unless I have to get another treatment!).