Mid 20s Acne Scarring One of Six Treaments

Interested in Fraxel for moderate acne scars. I am scheduled for 5 more Fraxel Restore sessions after this first. I purchased a package of six for the 1550 laser treatment. Jocelyn, my aesthetician, handled the procedure alone without the doctor present. She put the numbing gel on my face, waited 15 minutes and reapplied. After an hour she came back to begin, she cleaned my face and exfoliated it. I told her that I was pretty tough so she went about mid-level for this procedure. She told me what to expect- heat and a prickling feeling and it was that! The prickling/shocking did not bother me as much as the heat luckily the laser had cool air blowing from the top of it. It wasn't awful but I would not say that it is a comforting feeling. At the end of the session, Jocelyn provided me with a fan and allowed me to relax as long as needed. They gave me a skin care kit with cooling gel, moisturizers a no-rinse cleaner and 50 SPF sunscreen for delicate skin. My face was on fire! Not in a terribly painful way more so a really bad sunburn way, it also looked that way. I drove home with my AC fan on high directed at my face. To my surprise, after I got home the pain faded, from what Jocelyn had told me about the skin care kit I thought I'd be miserable all weekend having to apply cooling gel constantly. I did not. I haven't even opened the cooling gel.

Saturday, my face looked swollen and still red, I was surprised that I could go outside after this procedure. From what I had researched it seemed I would be held up all weekend. Jocelyn explained that this was for the skin discoloration treatment rather than my acne scarring treatment. I put on moisturizer and then the sunscreen, then a mineral foundation to run a few errands.

Sunday, my face had tons of small whiteheads all over, even in places I don't usually break out in. From what I read, this was the skins way of releasing toxins/bacteria and repairing itself. I used the rinse less cleanser, then after wiping it down with apple cider vinegar to clean and then a couple of moisturizers.

Monday, I was still broken out but not as badly. My skin had this terrible dry layer of skin with the laser pattern. Makeup covered the blotchy patches but didn't look that great over the dryness.

Tuesday-Wednesday were the same.

Thursday, I started noticing that a lot of the dead skin had come off towards the center of my face and that the largest of my scars had improved a little. My pores were also a lot smaller!

Friday, still some dry skin on the edges of my face. Breakouts to a minimal, OMGoodness my pores are smaller!



I'm excited to continue my treatment. Jocelyn told me that I would really start to notice after the fourth treatment. I'll post updates that I've noticed a lot of reviews here are lacking.

Richard Paul Greenberg, MD. PhD
Ageless Remedies SouthPark

Round two of six was on 2/24/17.
The dry skin went away a lot quicker this time and I purchased their in-house makeup (LUXE) in hopes to make it look better during recovery. It's doing a good job so far, I use it every day. I feel that I don't notice much change after this second procedure. The scar is still there but maybe not as deep?
Jocelyn let me know that the reason I broke out in whiteheads previously was because of the sunscreen she put on my face directly after the procedure the first time. She let me know that this doesn't happen to everyone. She didn't put it on this time afterward but I did the next day and still had a few whiteheads.
She went a little milder this time at 60, 8 passes. I felt like it didn't hurt as bad maybe because I knew what to expect this time.

Round three was a breeze, she went a little mild but it didn't hurt as bad and it recovered quite quickly. I'm not sure if this is because I knew what it would feel like going in or what. I noticed that right before the fourth that my scars were becoming less deep but they looked larger? Maybe because they were more shallow? One spot was dark but my esthetician let me know that this was because it was active blood vessels healing the scar and it that it was normal.
The fourth treatment was a bit more painful. I had to reschedule my appointment due to a vacation about two weeks later? I was a week away from my time of the month? Maybe for these reasons, it was more painful than I remembered?
All in all I'm really loving my results so far. (I went to work without makeup one day!)