I am doing Fraxel to finally get rid of the acne scars - So Far, So Good - San Jose, CA

I am doing Fraxel to finally get rid of the acne scars that I have on my face. I have very even skin tone but many shallow, barely visible acne scars, and then three areas of pretty deep acne scarring (only visible if the light hits my face to show them. Of course very visible to me at all times!). My dermatologist has recommended a series of six Fraxel treatments. I had my second Fraxel treatment today. It went much better than the first one! I am encouraged by the results so far and look forward to what will happen at the end of my series. The first treatment was EXTREMELY painful. It is the doctor's practice to give nerve block shots to ease the pain, but after reading a lot of comments about how easy the treatment was, I decided to forgo the numbing. I did have numbing cream applied about 1/2 hour before the treatment. My treatment was done with the second generation Fraxel laser. Blue dye was used. The treatment was very, very painful - I went through two childbirths with no medication, this was much worse! The nurse who gave me the treatment was wonderful. She took a lot of time to make sure I was alright (I was determined to get through it!). After the treatment, the areas of my face where the Fraxel was applied looked exactly what your skin looks like after it has been slapped hard - it was red and welted. The pain felt like a bad sunburn. I went home and took two Motrin, and 20 minutes later the pain was gone. I did not ice. I was red for the rest of the day. My redness was gone by the next morning. By the evening of the day after the treatment, I had started to peel. The peeling lasted for about two days. After that I developed a strange rash on my face - it felt rough, like sandpaper, although it looked ok. The rash took two weeks to go away completely. I did have a bronze, suntanned appearance for two weeks. I started wearing makeup about 3 days after my treatment. Today is four weeks afterwards. I still had some blotchy redness on my face, which the nurse thought might have resulted from my inconsistent use of sunscreen, as I was redded on the left side of my face more than the right (from sun exposure during driving). She thought the bumps might have come from acne. She gave me antibiotics to take, and hydroquinone cream to take away the redness. There was a noticeable improvement in my acne scars but it was not visible until just this week - that would be about 3 1/2 weeks after the treatment. Today's treatment was much easier. I did get the nerve blocks and the treatment was a breeze. My skin is not as red and swollen as it was last time. I am using something called Emu Oil and a lidocaine/aloe based sunburn gel on my skin. Also I have a moisturizer called "Private Nurse" that I bought at Sephora, it was recommended for after laser treatment. I took two Motrin right after I left the doctor's office, and had no pain afterwards. I will post again after the third treatment.