Just Had Fraxel and IPL

I would love to know your age and how this is working for you. I am 42 and am on the verge of scheduling appts for Fraxel. I have had a consultation and just talked with the nurse today. Some of these comments make me very worried because I live on a tight budget and do not have $3400 for the 4 treatments. It's going to really set me back to finance it. I've lived with acne/acne scarring, large pores and oily skin for almost 30 yrs now. and now wrinkles and crow feet.I just for once in my life would like to feel good about my self and can smile in the sunshine w/o worrying how i look.

Dear Debbie, First of all thank you for choosing me, I am touched. I have done great research on the topic of lasers. I can tell you that the best one for acne, by the comments and researchers I read, is the Fraxel. Also the CO2 or Erbium. It must be an ablative laser. The advantage with the Fraxel is that you will be affected for 3 to 7 days... where you will need to apply make-up and the recovery is about two weeks. Each treatment will increase in intensity. I pay 1000$ per treament. Just had my second yesterday... and I am a nice little pumkin... I received 8 passes with various intensity on the chin, cheeks, nose and eyes, forhead, neck etc... I am getting 2 frazel and 3 IPL. I do not have acne scares but do have a bit of open pores and slight wrinkles. I read in the numerous research that you will need at least 4 to 6 treatments and if I were you I would ask for a 5th one as a bonus.. negociate a bit... If you have deep acne scars, you will need at least 5. You might be lucky in negociating who knows? The IPL only treats superficially and unifies the skin tone.It is also recommended for the pores, but not as good as Fraxel. The C02 is very intrusive, at least two to three weeks out of the office and terribly red for 2 to 3 months.. and you must hide from the sun for 6 months at least. What happens with Fraxel is that you need recovery time (few days) and you must wait about 4 months before you see the results. Your collagene will be stimulated as well to fade light wrinkles but not deep ones and neither for very very deep acne scars, it will help but not totally. Your skin will tighten a bit as well. It is preferable to do the treatment 7 to 8 weeks apart and pay as you go. Given your financial situation, it is crucial you pay as you go. For the pain, I take a serax or clonazanpen or xanax before I step in the office (45 minutes before). So you are relaxed, than I receive a 5mg or 10 mg activan and a percocet, plus they apply Lidocaine one whole hour before the procedure. If they do your eyes they will put a metal shell in your eye and freeze your eye with a drop (it is instantenious). The procedure with all those little pills makes it tolerable and not so bad at all. Please you owe it to yourself to prepare. It is a laser after all so prepare with proper medication, you will do just fine. Ask your doctor for fucidine, it is a antibiotic creme. I use it the day of and the following week to prevent little breakouts... I also use cicaplast from LaRochePosay, excellent hydratation so desperately needed my your skin after. Do not use vaseline or too tight hydratants. What you are doing also is preventing the aging process a little. I can also suggest one or two IPL laser treatment at the end of your Frazel or in between to even out your skin tone about 3 weeks apart. I know it is much cheaper and can be done after you last treatment or in between. IPL is very good for pores as well and you can do this treatment after your initial big treatments as a maintenance. Once a year is good as well but twice is better... it is much better than any cremes or facials out there. Also you can start drinking a bit more water and your daily care is crucial as well twice daily and in your case three times daily: cleaning your face with a delicate milk or what your dermatologist refers you, lotion or astringent, hydration and sunscreen. If you have oily skin just go for the eye hydration, lip hydration and for the rest of your face try to find a sunscreen that is good for your skin condition not to block the pores. Is it a Frazel II laser??? Are they doing your eyes too? I know this is a hard decision. But being informed is key and trusting your dermatologist. I hope he is or she is the one performing the procedure. Let me know if you need any further info... I also heard about the Erbium Yag.. but have not had time to further my research. Rest assured that you are a woman that cares about her looks and that is normal. Trying to feel better by giving yourself the best treatment out there is an excellent approach. It is the rollroyce of lasers. You will get the results you seek I am sure. Let me know about your decision. I hope you can also get the Retinol .05% after you have completed all of your treatments and your skin is not sensitive anylonger, it will help reduce the pores as well... And alternate it with a very light night creme, one night retinol the other your light night creme.... and vitamine C creme as well, stay away from rich cremes and all the commercial fluff of creme commercials... Looks is not all but as women, let's be honest... a little help can make us feel better. I hope you will be able to find the money without stressing yourself too too much... I am wishing you a new year 2008 of health, love and PEACE... All the best, Kindly, Josephine

I also had the CO2 laser a few years back. It was PAINFUL after waking up from the procedure! I only had it around my eyes since that was the only place I had light wrinkling. It took all the wrinkles away...the results were wonderful, but the pain & redness was practically unbareable!!! It burned if water touched my face for at least two weeks after the laser (CO2), and the area was a bright, deep red for MONTHS after the procedure. I had to keep makeup on the treated area any time I went out so no one could see the redness. After about three months, the redness started to fade. I would say it was gone completely in about six months. However, the wrinkles are gone...I love the results. I am now considering the Fraxel laser for the rest of my face & neck. I am only 33 (was 28 when I had the CO2) so there is just minimal lose skin & some fine lines between the brows. The skin on my neck seems to be the most lose area (genetics I guess). First, the doctor recommended me to try prescription skin care, then try Fraxel.

I've had five fractional laser treatments and about to have a sixth. Not sure about the benefits which seem to be minimal. Making the choice to go for this treatment because I was informed that it would treat fine lines, open pores and pigmentation as well as neck and chest area. The results, reduced fine lines and slight firming of skin but little difference to open pores and I think the pigmentation is either unchanged of worse. As the cumulative cost of 6 individual treatments I'm not sure it is worth it compared to one treatment with CO2. Each time I have fractional laser I have 36 hour downtime so this is adding up to quite a few days which would have been = to the downtime for erbium or co2. The big difference was that I was told that other lasers are not used on the neck area and I feel that is looks a bit odd to have non matching face and neck so the improvement has to cover the total area.

I hear all these wonderful comments from relatively young people, I am 61 and would love to hear comments from people in this age group. At least 50 and up. Thank You Paula