Hello, I have gotten about 3 full Erbium Laser treatments and 2 partial. I have seen significant changes in a very deep acne scar on my cheek. Haven't seen much difference in the pigmented scarring. Overall I am not ecstatic about my results but other people have went out of their way to tell me how great my skin looks. I tried proactiv, murad, Zenmed, and clear light treatments. I still have mild acne but after the clearlight nowhere near what I had before. I am 23 and have had bad acne since I was 14. Micro dermabrasion worked rather well for me in my teens. I am still in recovery from my last laser treatment. Hoping this will be the last. At 300 dollars a pop it ain't cheap. I pray for all of you and hope someday we will all be able to hold our heads high scarred or not!!!!!

I have had 2 treatments of the SmoothBeam Laser at $500 per session. My acne wasn't really that bad to begin with but I did it anyway. Well, now I'm out $1000 and my face has never looked worse. I am now going to see a derm. when that hadn't even been necessary before and am considering going on Accutane because it's that bad. Does anyone have a postive story about SmoothBeam? I don't even want to leave the house.

I had CO2 laser resurfacing done nearly two years ago. It cost me $5,000.00 for the actual laser resurfacing and another $500.00 for the Obagi skin treatment I was told by the cosmetic surgeon that I needed to use prior to surgery. I have noticed MAYBE a 5% improvement in the quality of my skin since the treatment. I would not recommend this surgery.

I undertook a very expensive laser resurfacing for my face, back and stomach. I had no acne and only mild scaring but felt the need to endorse in perfecting myself. It was not worth it. I left with redness and soreness and scarring worse then it was before. So I did it again. Thinking that this time it couldnt get any worse. It did.

Had really nice skin until I was 18, Sr. In HS... I guess from the stress... Took first course of Accutane... 60 mg p/day for 6 mos, kicked the acne in the ash, but left me with all kinds of scars; deep, crater, ice- pick, redness, all on my once beautiful face... my next treatment was with accutane again for another six months not for the acne but for the scars... lesson learned... if you dont have acne dont take accutane for scars, its not the proper treatment. Think about it... scars are basically the result of your body's natural healing process, acctane only dries up the sabacious glands from producing additional oils...also take accutane with a natural fatty food, like whole milk or cheese it helps... next step microdermabrasion... my scars even though I have every type you could imagine range from deep to superficial... okay 6 microderm. treatment once a week... helped with the appearance but did nothing for the scar themselves, they are still there.... then I visited the folks at [link removed], in OC... Dr is a super nice guy and he didnt lie to me... Told me up front the range of results based on his experience... 60-70% although I dont feel that I have reached that yet its almost been a year since my last treatment... and I believe that my scars in the first place could have been cured w/ non - ablative procedured... I think i just needed a full blown dermabrasion..., so yeah i had basically all the "latest technology lasers, the smoothbeam, yag, diode laser... differnt one everytime, because i had different types of scars... Okay so lessons learned from the the last 6 years dealing w/ this... Its embarassing, you have to communicate with your doctor about the results.... you have to! after all thats what its all about.... second... I dont believe that Dr's are just there to rip people off, I believe that they get interested if the patient is interested... what that means.. do your homework, ask question.. grill him or her on their understanding you have the right.. thats why they get paid the big bucks... you cannot be ashamed to do this... if you are, then take a friend w/ you that will do the talking...if you go to LaserHQ, take me.. i know the doc... anyway i just hoped that i can help someone... aziz304@erau.edu

well, i just had another laser resurfacing. it cost 3500$. it was very expensive and worked a little but definatly not worth 3500$. what really ticks me off is my scarrring isn't as bad as many but still the laser didnt work. i have scarring on my cheeks like many of you out there and the scarring isn;'t deep at all. it's very close to the surface of the skin it seems. i'm going to the dermatolgist to talk about other options. i'm propably going to get a derm filler for a couple of depressed scars and get two exsiced. i plan on getting dermabrasion to spot treat myt cheeks. and get a couple of scars punched out.

I had CO2 laser done a year ago, to remove a few small faint scars on both cheeks. Now i have more scars and also darker skin in the area, it has faded but its still there. i am very upset and i regret doing it. i dont advise anyone to do laser resurfacing, its not worth it!!

I had SPOT DERMABRASION done on my ice pick scars combined with CO2 LASER RESURFACING done to my entire face. I was super excited when I got my bandages off (4 days after the procedure). My face appeared to be completely smooth. Once the swelling went down, however, I noticed little, if any, difference. The process wasn't that bad. I looked crapy for a while, but the pain was minimal. I just didn't leave my house for 2 weeks. Considering the down time, and the minimal results, I don't recommend it. PS: it has been about 5 weeks and I'm still a little bit red (but it can be covered easily with makeup).

If you have DISCOLORATION scars, the results will be better. I did notice about a 75% improvement on the few discoloration scars I had.

BUT... if you have ICE-PICK scarring, it's not so great. Even on my most shallow ice pick scars, I saw little to no difference (MAYBE 5-10%). On my moderate ice pick scars, I see absolutely no difference.

I am considering having Erbium Yag Resurfacing done on my face. I have acne scars and would love to get rid of them. Can anyone give me any advice on the procedure. Many thanks.

I had full-face CO2 laser resurfacing six weeks ago under Dr. Ali Lashgari at the Advanced Dematology & Cosmetic Surgery in Encinitas.

First, the ugly realities. The procedure costs about $3500 (and up). Second, at least in my case, it was very (!) painful because my face just didn't deaden effectively for whatever reason. So it felt as if someone were burning my face with lit cigarettes for an hour and a half. It was all I could do to get through it, and I have a high tolerance for pain. (Most people say they don't feel much, though. Odds are, you'll be one of those lucky ones.) Third, the first five days or so were a round-the-clock hell of creepy-crawly sensations and oozing sticky goo, all smothered under a thick coat of Aquaphor/Vaseline. I wanted to jump out of my skin. I hardly slept during this period and was literally counting the hours until I could get past that gross-out stage. Then it was a month of inconveniently red skin (having to dress like Katharine Hepburn just to go to the store, having people stare at me and try to figure out what had happened to my face, etc.)

And now? I'm in love with my new face. After 20 years of being too embarrassed to have my picture taken or stand close to people because I was so ashamed of the pockmarks and ice pick scars that ruined my looks, I now have skin that is almost perfectly smooth and healthy and fresh-looking. Younger looking, too! And it looks a little better all the time, thanks to the collagen production that has kicked in.

Would I go through the whole painful, repulsive ordeal again for the result? In a heartbeat. But I really, REALLY hated my acne scars (to the point of obsession). This is not a procedure to undergo if you can live with your skin, or if there is another less-intense method that would suffice in your case. My scarring was pretty bad, and Dr. Lashgari said that CO2 was the only thing that was going to get rid of most of it.

And, for the record, I found Dr. Lashgari and his staff to be excellent--really conscientious, thorough, professional, and sweet.