It is now June 2010, about 6 months since i had 2...
it is now June 2010, about 6 months since i had 2 fraxel restore treatments. i dont see any results. i won't be doing anymore treatments.
I did a lot of reading about Fraxel:restore and...
I did a lot of reading about Fraxel:restore and decided to do one treatment (that's all I could afford) at a medi spa because they had the best deal. I have fine lines and wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, and acne scars that i wanted treated.
On 10/30/09 I had my appointment. They put numbing cream on my face for an hour and then wiped it off and lasered me. I told the technician that I wanted an aggressive treatment. After a series of passes, she asked me if she could turn the energy up because my skin was reacting very well and wasn't even red. I of course said yes because i want more bang for my buck. She also had a wand that blew out cold air that felt really good on my skin. She put it on 18 energy, 10 density and did 8 passes.
It is very painful, felt untolerable at times, but i told myself "no pain, no gain" and tried to focus on how great I would look afterwards. I took a vicodin an hour before treatment because I had read about how painful the treatment is. I am glad I did. Right now, (30 minutes after the treatment ended) my face still feels hot under my skin, but is very tolerable. My skin is slightly pink and my face is swollen. Right after the treatment it took me a few tries to open my eyes.... they were a little watery and obviously, swollen.
So far I am very pleased with the way my skin reacted and a little disappointed that the technician didn't put it on the highest settings.... but then, she said she didn't want to risk me getting hyperpigmentation... so .... i can live with that. I will post more in the future about how my skin is recovering. please ask me any questions.
Thursday, November 19, 2009. I just had my...
Thursday, November 19, 2009. I just had my second treatment of Fraxel Restore with Nurse Shannon. I am very pleased with the treatment process. It was very different from the treatment i received from Doctor Kristen 3 weeks prior. With Shannon I felt like i was at a spa and felt like a million bucks, whereas, with the doctor I felt like she was more robotic and not as easy to talk to.
I told Shannon about the scars on my chin and jaw area and told her that i wanted an aggressive treatment. She talked to me throughout the procedure to tell me what she was doing and afterwards i asked her to write down the settings that she had the machine on because she used different settings for different areas. This is what she did:
10/8/6 around my eyes; 35/8/6 on my forehead and nose; 40/8/6 on the side of my face and my chin area; and 15/6/6 around my mouth. She did a few extra passes on my scars and even did a few passes on my neck because i had a scar there.
this is what the numbers mean: x/y/z; x= mjoules; y= treatment level; z= density/pass
The pain was not as bad in some areas, the eyes were the worst! I took 800 ibuprofen 90 minutes beforehand. Shannon did a really good job keeping the cool air on the areas that needed it.
it is 45 minutes after my treatment and my face is still burning and is more red than after my first treatment, but i like it because i know that my skin is going to look so fabulous in a few months. Nurse Shannon recommended that i use hydrocortisone about 5 times a day for the first few days and sleep with my head raised on a couple pillows. I will write more about my progress at a later date.