Too Intense for my Sensitive, Fair, and Thin Skin, Left with Scarring.

I had some acne scarring and wrinkling around my mouth, so I decided to add on a perioral CO2 laser treatment to my SMAS mini lift. I was awake for the whole thing, it didn't hurt at all. It was gruesome afterwards, just one big raw and oozing bloody mess. When the scabs finally fell off over a week later, that area was bright deep red, like a terrible sunburn. I used steroid cream on the advice of my surgeon, which helped, interspersed with a thick occlusion cream, but then I started to suddenly get pimples. One, then a dozen, and then the whole area was suddenly infected. I had to go on a course of antibiotics. That helped, but the skin was still extremely red at the 3 and 6 month points, and I still had frequent breakouts. My doctor was extremely nice and always available, but I don't think he knew what to do. I tried an acid peel, didn't help. After the red finally faded, I was left with a whitish-purple discoloration in the treated area, like a big scar. I have been doing IPL treatments to fade out the borders where the difference is most apparent, and those have helped more than anything. That area is still more prone to acne and infection, and ingrown hairs. As I mentioned before, it is like scar tissue instead of regular skin. I have seen the results on other patients and they are so much less intense. I don't know if my doctor went deeper on me or if my skin is just thinner and more fragile, but if I had to choose again, I would get a much less intense treatment. This was way too much on my skin. The area is smooth and wrinkle free, but the discoloration and the scarring were not worth it. I can literally still see the laser dot pattern on the treated area.