Thrilled With My Sciton Erbium Laser Treatment

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Three And A Half Weeks

  • 11 Feb 2018
  • 25 days post
It's now been three and a half weeks since my micro laser peel and Profractional treatment, and I continue to do well and be happy. As the swelling has gone down a few of the lines have returned, but they are by and large much less than they were before my treatment. The static wrinkles, at rest, are much improved. The dynamic wrinkles you can see when I move my face aren't much changed, but that is to be expected and is not a problem for me. The overall texture of my skin, especially around my mouth where I had pretty awful skin damage/wrinkles/textural issues, is much, much better. Many of my friends have commented on my dramatic improvement and on the fact that I suddenly look much younger. I continue to have some redness and pinkness around my lips, where he went a lot deeper, and I do wear concealer to reduce the look of this. I believe it can take up to a couple of months for this to fade completely. My skin otherwise looks normal and healthy, with none of the unnaturally smooth, waxy skin associated with more aggressive lasers. At the three month mark I plan on going in for another treatment, this time hopefully even more aggressive, around my mouth and under my eyes only to treat the lingering deep lip lines and hopefully tighten up my under eyes a bit (I was too nervous to have the eye shields put in for my first treatment, which I regret because he was not able to treat too near my lash line.) I will add this: in my case my doctor was very honest and realistic about what the recovery would be like and that it would be time-consuming and distressing for a few days. So, I went in mentally prepared. However, I see a lot of places advertising laser treatment as "a few days" downtime and claiming you will look and feel like you've had a "sunburn." I feel this is misleading and could lead to patients being shocked at how they will actually look and feel post-treatment. It was much more like having been burned by a grease fire or something in terms of appearance. There was almost no pain, but my face was swollen and bled/weeped for a few days. I had to wash it multiple times a day and apply heavy, greasy ointment afterwards. My appearance shocked my loved ones even though I tried to prepare them ahead of time. So, it is definitely not a "weekend" procedure, and you need to be prepared to stay indoors and look pretty scary for a bit. The results have been more than worth it, but I am glad I knew what to expect. Here are a few pics in natural light at the three week mark.

Almost Two Months Out

  • 12 Mar 2018
  • 2 months post
It's been almost two months and I continue to do well. My wrinkles and skin texture are much improved, though I have a bit of hyperpigmentation on my upper lip, forehead, and jawline for which I am now using Tri-Luma. Several people have commented on my changed appearance, and I feel way more confident in my skin. I am going back in a few months for a "touch up" treatment, even more aggressive, around my mouth as well as under eye resurfacing using the same laser but with coagulation to tighten the skin. I'm adding a few new pictures, in less flattering light, that show the improvement but also the areas I would still like to work on.

Going Back For More!

  • 24 Apr 2018
  • 3 months post
I am now three months post my microlaser peel and Profractional. This combo worked very well on my deep wrinkles (softening them and making them more shallow) and skin tone, but after healing I found that my upper lip still had one stubborn wrinkle. The first treatment also did not seem very effective for dealing with the deeper textural issues. So, tomorrow, I go back for round two. This time, instead of doing a microlaser peel (mine was 40 microns) and Profractional, we will be doing deep laser resurfacing (300+ microns) around my mouth and a lighter peel with coagulation and Profractional under my eyes and on my cheeks to treat my under eye wrinkles, lax skin, and a few minor acne scars. Obviously this is a much more aggressive treatment and I am a bit nervous, but I feel confident that all will go well and that I will heal up great.I will of course post pics and a review once I am done with this laser session.

Provider Review

Michael M. Kim, MD
Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon
2525 NW Lovejoy St., Portland, Oregon
Overall rating
  • 31 Jan 2018

I've had a great experience with Dr. Kim. Despite only being in my 30s, some overly aggressive hair removal treatments done years ago, along with sun and no longer being 22, caused me to have some pretty deep lines around my upper lip along with "pebbly" looking skin and some small pockmark-type scars. I also had the usual sun damage to my face which included fine lines and brown spots. After doing my research I was leaning towards having fractional CO2 laser, as I was told it was the "best" and that erbium would not be as good. When I met Dr. Kim (after finding him on Realself) however he explained that he used the Sciton erbium laser with great results. I am very glad I listened to him. I had a pretty deep "micro laser" peel to my whole face, with a second pass around my lips, as well as Profractional XC done only around my mouth area. This was done under oral sedation along with topical anesthetic and nerve blocks around my mouth. While not exactly my idea of fun, the procedure itself was very comfortable and, except for the 20 minutes or so right after, I had very little pain. The day after treatment my face was very red, bloody, and swollen. I scared my husband and friends a bit, but it didn't hurt, it just felt very tight and dry. I had to wash my face several times a day and apply the greasy laser balm, which got in my hair and on everything. This was the worst part for me. I looked pretty bad for several days,and then all at once I started to peel and rapidly improved. The area around my mouth took the longest to heal since we had been more aggressive here. Two weeks later and my skin looks great, mostly, though I still have residual pinkness around my mouth that is daily becoming less. My fine lines are almost all gone as are my sun spots.I am glad I chose erbium laser, since the healing time and redness are less than with CO2. My upper lip lines are not totally gone but are much improved, and my chin especially looks much, much better than it did. My husband and friends are a bit shocked in fact by how much better I look. I will almost certainly be having a second treatment in a few months, this time only around the mouth and under my eyes, for even more improvement. The possibility of this was discussed with me ahead of time. Dr. Kim was very easy to talk to, and his entire office was nothing but helpful. I am so happy I underwent this procedure and wish I had done it years ago because I wasted a lot of time using less invasive stuff with little to no result. I will definitely be back to him for more treatment and have already recommended him to a friend who was impressed with the improvements in my skin. One more thing: I have seen a lot of people on here complain about laser "grids" and "track marks." I brought this up with Dr. Kim before my procedure as being a serious concern of mine. He told me that the Profractional could be set on a "random" pattern to help keep this from happening. Sure enough, after treatment I had to look very hard to find where the Profractional had fired into my skin, and what I could see looked like isolated speckles versus a stamped grid. Two weeks later and it's 95% undetectable.