Sciton Contour TRL Resurfacing for Acne Scars, Fine Lines - North Carolina

Pros: hopeful that I will be satisfied with the results but am not going to make that judgement at this point. Healing is faster than I would have thought possible right after the procedure was done.

Cons: absolute shock to the body, fairly severe pain for first 48 hours, unexpected nerve damage but this appears to be improving, downtime I had resurfacing performed on 4/10 so I am now 9 days post-op. I think it will take some time for me to determine if I would recommend or do this again but I can say that I have come along way since the procedure.

I had a full facial micro peel and full face deep pro factional treatment for moderate rolling acne scars primarily but was also hoping to get improvement in fine lines, peri-oral lines and evening of slight hyperpigmentation. I am 49 years old. I did have anesthesia and was unaware of any pain during the procedure but when I awoke, I was shaking uncontrollably with chills and pretty miserable. This was no doubt due to the laser as I had an eyelift in the same facility the week before so I was in same OR and Recovery room. I had both procedures in Plastic Surgeon's accredited surgical facility. They brought in an Anestheologist and had all life saving equipment on hand. But having the procedures done separately allowed me to compare the difference in the shock and trauma of the two. The laser was much more of a shock to my body and is something I would urge people to consider seriously. Once home and taking pain medication I was more comfortable but the first two days were fairly miserable. It has been a cool week and I insisted on sleeping with windows open for two days which resulted in the room temperature hovering around 55 degrees but with my body bundled up, this worked well to sooth my face. One issue that I had was that there must have been some nerve damage as I could not bear ice packs that were recommended. And this was nerve pain! And it did concern me but this has continued to improve but I still have some twinges that I assume will eventually disappear.

Also about 5 days after surgery, I noticed that I was not able to sustain a smile. A better way to describe it was that when I tried to smile my mouth would quiver. I could feel this and see it in the mirror but this has resolved. The initial days were frightening but the improvement is amazingly quick considering the damage that is done. The Aquaphor was certainly both irritating and necessary. I kept it up for 6 days until my post-op appointment when the Doctor said that I had done great with it and could stop using it. I found that washing it off 3 or 4 times a day with a dilute vinegar solution (1 teaspoon in1 cup water). helped dissolve the old Aquaphor so that I could apply a fresh coat which felt better.

I did sleep with head elevate and did not experience significant swelling. I had many of the initial side effects that others have described. Initially i appeared to be burned so bad that I wondered if I could ever recover. I had redness, hypo pigmentation, ability to see lines created by the laser and could see the grid patterns near my eyes. Although i had no actual bleeding. All of these have gotten much better and at 7 days out, although my skin is still not "normal", I could go out with Jane Iredell makeup purchased from the surgeon and did not feel freakish.

As for the results: I am going to comment on my impressions today (9 days out). Maybe I have some skin tightening. My acne scars are still visible and if they are improved it is only slightly. In retrospect,I wish I had tried subscission first and possibly fractional CO2 treatment instead. I do hope to get some collagen remodeling and understand that this will take months to see the final results. My skin coloration is more even. General skin appearance is probably slightly improved. On each cheek I have some depression under the cheekbone that were not there before treatment. I am hoping this is due to tightness that will relax. I am massaging that area to try to encourage some relaxation. I will comment again in a few weeks but at the moment, I can't say in good faith that I recommend this or do it again but I do believe that I am still healing and that I haven't seen the final result. Finally I read it takes months for the skin to have the right amount of dead cells clinging to it to look fairly normal and that you will go through several shiny to dry to flaky cycles before you get there and that seems to be the case for me at this point. Hope to give positive updates as my healing continue.