Fraxel Repair: Took the Plunge - New York, NY

Had Fraxel Repair done 11/12/11 and I am doing okay. :-) Grateful the procedure went well and the week is over. I am 40 years old with a mix of ice pick, box and rolling scars. Been on Accutane twice. Accutane saved me. I was very lucky I did not experience any side effects. Last time on Accutane was 12 years ago.

The actual procedure was cake. :-) My amazing Nurse Nicole from PA was incredible because I went to my treatment feeling a lot of emotions...excited, nervous, vulnerable...etc. This was big for me since I never did anything like this before. I was given a nice cocktail of antibiotics, predisone, valum and valtrex. Every step was explained to me throughout the process. Then Nicole covered my face with a numbing gel. A little while later the Doctor came in and gave me nerve blockers which made me very happy. Just shoot me up I don't care. The more the merrier. I don't like pain. In fact I felt nothing. No pain :-). After the actual laser procedure...my Doctor told me I did very well and told me to come back in three days for follow up. Nurse Nicole applied wet gauze and then put some ointment on me and then finally a lovely white cotton mask to cover the entire face. The mask is hilarious.

Followed the post laser instructions...antibiotics and valtrex for the next 6 days. Also, I got one more dose of predisone for the second day to help with the swelling. Distilled water- soaks, aquaphor. When I got home and removed the mask all I had was a little swelling, some pin point bleeding. Not bad. The second day was much more swelling, more pin point bleeding, redness. No pain. In fact I didn't take any tylenol- did not need.

On the third day went back for follow up and told my doctor I was concerned that I looked okay. I just thought I was going to look like a truck had hit me. She explained she went as aggressive as she could with my skin color. I am Greek not olive but rather medium. For a greek I am light. Natural beige foundation is my color. She mentioned a Fitzpatrick level but cannot recall. I guess I wanted to see results and felt like...the procedure didn't do much. I still see my acne scars but maybe there is about a 20% improvement. Not sure...have to wait for the micro swelling, redness to go down. My nurse took several photos of me pre-procedure. I am hoping they will take new photos at next appointment end of December so I can see if there is any improvement. Improvement in scars, overall skin.

I keep reading improvements are seen 3-6 months after treatment because the collagen is repairing itself.

All in all, my doctor told me I will be happy with the results. She is confident so I will stay optimistic. In addition to the meds I also took my multi and extra vitamin C and drank lots of water. The one thing I should have had and did not was a humidifier. If you plan to do this during the cold months or even in the summer with AC running please get a humidifier. Your skin will love you for it. During the healing period it is important to keep your skin moist. Looking forward to my follow up end of December. Happy Holidays!

3 months post fraxel and i do not see any improvement. wanted to wait three months before I decided if it was worth it or not. Note, for a least a month I was breaking out a lot. had several painful cysts which I was not happy with. Spoke to somebody at the office and she said she had noticed people who had Acne in the past and then had fraxel repair started breaking out again. People who never had acne because they have dry skin and did fraxel repair for wrinkles did not break out. She thinks the fraxel woke up the dormant oil glands in my skin and poof new blemishes. The doctor that did the fraxel repair said I was going to be pleased with the results. Not pleased yet. Its been three months...maybe collagen underneath takes longer? not sure.