Fraxel Re:store in Washington, DC

At three months post, I think I am finally ready to say it was not worth it. I am happy to report that the orange peel texture is gone from the area of my face that had the bumps. But what I thought had been an improvement to the crow's feet turned out to be residual swelling that went awy, and the fine lines/crow's feet have returned.

I see no damage to my skin at this point. However, I also see no improvement. I realize one typically needs more than one session for the full results, but for three thousand dollars and the hellish recovery period, I expect to see SOME improvement, even if slight. I see no improvement in texture, fine lines, and redness or brown spots. I have started a course of IPL (not at my derm) and after one session (with no down time and at 1/7 of the cost!) I see more of an improvement than I did with the fraxel.

Ok, so here we are two weeks + 1 day post (I had it on the 11th). The grid pattern is gone, and it was maybe yesterday that I finally felt confident that the marks on my chin/jawline/corner-of-mouth area were going away for good. So at this point, I would finally say worth it, though just barely. Do I see an improvement? Definitely. Do I see $2750 worth of improvement? No. I do see a big improvement in my crow's feet, but don't see an improvement in the rest of my face and see no improvement at all in my decollete.

I am relived that that red marks and orange peel quality I saw in my skin are gone! My only warning to people getting this for this first time is not to assume that you will be one of the people who has 2-3 days of downtime. Again, maybe you will, but I think it's risky to count on it. I did not feel truly comfortable returning to normal social activities and work until a full week after, and now at just over two weeks I would feel comfortable going to an important event or out on a date.

Would I do it again? Meh, I don't know. Maybe, though I would take a lot more time off of work and get my doc to give me antibiotics beforehand to prevent the horrendous breakout I experienced. I don't think I've seen nearly $3,00 worth of improvement, so I will have to discuss with the doc how much more of an improvement I can expect to see with a second treatment.

The area that was broken out is still peeling (I just read another "fraxel side/after effects" article that stated the peeling would last 3-5 days, my whole face is still peeling at day 7). I could deal with peeling; HOWEVER, the area that was broken out (which was perfectly smooth before the treatment, I did not have acne scars) now seems to have an orange peel texture. This has me REALLY worried.