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*Treatment results may vary
Look, I've been through other painful things, and...
Look, I've been through other painful things, and other cosmetic procedures ad nauseum. The results from Fraxel, more so than any other treatment have given back to me the best return on investment of all the different treatments I've had. I spent 400 dollars per treatment for five treatments for a total cost of $2000 to use the laser on only about 33% of my face. This was fine by me since it was only specific areas that had the scarring. Do not worry about only doing part of your face, there will be no noticeable "conclusion" left on your face by the laser near the "border" of where the laser was and wasn't used. At least this was not the case for me.
My doctor managed my expectations well and told me based on my scarring they told me to expect 75% improvement.
My scarring was pretty bad in my opinion. You could see scarring up and down the sides of my cheeks from any reasonable distance. By that I mean it was noticeable 10 feet away or more which is probably the maximum you can discern this type of scarring given the constraints of a normal set of eyes with 20/20 vision. This scarring was not visible by a human eye by distances of 15 feet or greater. I'm just trying to give a rough outline of how bad it was. My scarring ranged from really bad in two particular "ice-picked" locations (and by really bad I mean it was as though 10 years ago someone just stuck a knife in my skin and gouged out a hole about the size of a zit) to moderate/medium scaring everywhere else. The remaining 33 percent of my skin that I ended up treating was all medium scaring, and this is really messed up and awesome at the same time, but I'm hard pressed on how to describe the medium scarring before treatment because I simply do not recall what it looked like. Think "not as bad as a deep ice picking scar or a deep knife gouging scar" but as bad as it could be without going that far. These were still "ice pick" scars in this medium scarring but they were not nearly as deep as the two in particular I discussed above.
As for pain, it's not that bad. Not bad enough to mention considering the results. I have been through it all too: zoom whitening pain horror stories, the worst pain that I think I’ve read about on here was zoom and I’ve been there. THE PAIN IS NEGLIGIABLE considering the results. Honestly I've had Zoom, and it was "pretty" bad. Compared to Zoom, pain wise, this is like going for walk in the park in ideal weather conditions. I'm going to take it further. Compared to Zoom this is like getting a nice massage or routine facial and being mildly upset by a particularly strained muscle during the massage, or perhaps some sort of redness after a facial. Seriously, if pain were a problem I would just deal with it. The actual laser is on like 35 minutes total if you do your entire face for five treatments. I don't know what else to say. It wasn’t that bad and I don't think it should have any weight in your decision on whether to get this or not.
So I go in for month 3 of treatment and there is 90 percent improvement. If I had that last ten percent my skin could be described as "excellent, and no signs of any sun damage, any abrasions ever, and otherwise like that of a baby's" except I'm 25 and perfect skin is not possible at that age. So it took 2 treatments to get 90 percent. I had the third and fourth and will have the last one in about 3 weeks (maybe I might not go because it might be pointless and not fruitful anymore). Since those first two treatments and 90 percent improvement I've had two additional treatments I estimate took my skin from 90 percent to 96 percent. It looks like there was nothing there. You would have no idea where someone "once stuck a knife and gouged a hole." You would not be able to tell me. All the medium scarring is completely gone and was gone after the first two treatments. All that's left is skin that at worst looks a little old for 25. 35 years old with sun damage is a good estimate.
That's it. If you don't want a stretch mark or an acne scar, you no longer have to live with it. Again my skin at the worst was limited to two instances zit sized deep scarring and medium ice-picked scars everywhere else. I didn't have tons of very deep scarring. But those two instances of the deep scarring are gone. I have very light skin (I have red hair) and I don't do well in sun, which I now completely avoid. I took care of the acne about 2 years ago with accutane with {edited - doctor information above}. I can't emphasize enough that I am not {edited - doctor information above} writing about myself to promote what I do. If you respond to this I will email you in person and talk to you about it if you leave your address.
I've also tried microdermabrasions. Don't waste your money on procedures that don't give you as good of return on investment of your money, like fraxel. That's all I got.
My doctor managed my expectations well and told me based on my scarring they told me to expect 75% improvement.
My scarring was pretty bad in my opinion. You could see scarring up and down the sides of my cheeks from any reasonable distance. By that I mean it was noticeable 10 feet away or more which is probably the maximum you can discern this type of scarring given the constraints of a normal set of eyes with 20/20 vision. This scarring was not visible by a human eye by distances of 15 feet or greater. I'm just trying to give a rough outline of how bad it was. My scarring ranged from really bad in two particular "ice-picked" locations (and by really bad I mean it was as though 10 years ago someone just stuck a knife in my skin and gouged out a hole about the size of a zit) to moderate/medium scaring everywhere else. The remaining 33 percent of my skin that I ended up treating was all medium scaring, and this is really messed up and awesome at the same time, but I'm hard pressed on how to describe the medium scarring before treatment because I simply do not recall what it looked like. Think "not as bad as a deep ice picking scar or a deep knife gouging scar" but as bad as it could be without going that far. These were still "ice pick" scars in this medium scarring but they were not nearly as deep as the two in particular I discussed above.
As for pain, it's not that bad. Not bad enough to mention considering the results. I have been through it all too: zoom whitening pain horror stories, the worst pain that I think I’ve read about on here was zoom and I’ve been there. THE PAIN IS NEGLIGIABLE considering the results. Honestly I've had Zoom, and it was "pretty" bad. Compared to Zoom, pain wise, this is like going for walk in the park in ideal weather conditions. I'm going to take it further. Compared to Zoom this is like getting a nice massage or routine facial and being mildly upset by a particularly strained muscle during the massage, or perhaps some sort of redness after a facial. Seriously, if pain were a problem I would just deal with it. The actual laser is on like 35 minutes total if you do your entire face for five treatments. I don't know what else to say. It wasn’t that bad and I don't think it should have any weight in your decision on whether to get this or not.
So I go in for month 3 of treatment and there is 90 percent improvement. If I had that last ten percent my skin could be described as "excellent, and no signs of any sun damage, any abrasions ever, and otherwise like that of a baby's" except I'm 25 and perfect skin is not possible at that age. So it took 2 treatments to get 90 percent. I had the third and fourth and will have the last one in about 3 weeks (maybe I might not go because it might be pointless and not fruitful anymore). Since those first two treatments and 90 percent improvement I've had two additional treatments I estimate took my skin from 90 percent to 96 percent. It looks like there was nothing there. You would have no idea where someone "once stuck a knife and gouged a hole." You would not be able to tell me. All the medium scarring is completely gone and was gone after the first two treatments. All that's left is skin that at worst looks a little old for 25. 35 years old with sun damage is a good estimate.
That's it. If you don't want a stretch mark or an acne scar, you no longer have to live with it. Again my skin at the worst was limited to two instances zit sized deep scarring and medium ice-picked scars everywhere else. I didn't have tons of very deep scarring. But those two instances of the deep scarring are gone. I have very light skin (I have red hair) and I don't do well in sun, which I now completely avoid. I took care of the acne about 2 years ago with accutane with {edited - doctor information above}. I can't emphasize enough that I am not {edited - doctor information above} writing about myself to promote what I do. If you respond to this I will email you in person and talk to you about it if you leave your address.
I've also tried microdermabrasions. Don't waste your money on procedures that don't give you as good of return on investment of your money, like fraxel. That's all I got.
Provider Review
Dermatologic Surgeon, Board Certified in Dermatology
275 Parkway Dr., Lincolnshire, Illinois