Fraxel Restore- Active Members

Any Fraxel Restore people who are still active here? I know Bellydance isn't here anymore, but I'm hoping somebody else still is.

Particularly South East Asian or people with Fitzpatrick skin type III-IV. I'd like to know what maximum level of restore you've had without experiencing hyperpigmentation?

I've documented mine (4 treatments) in my signature..but I'm thinking of bumping up maybe just to level 7 for spot treatments on some of my stubborn chicken pox scars (many have shrunk a good 50-80%) and discoloration maybe about 75-100%). This is from four months ago.

if you know which one I should focus on...energy depth (I'm up to 70mj for spot treatment, which I was told the highest they could get), or maybe reduce the depth, but increase the level to have more exposure (Dudley mentioned something about going up in 3% increments). For spot treatments the nurse used smaller tip, which suprisingly made it less painful.

Some thoughts on all our scar treatment journey

Not to sound judgmental on those who have spent thousands in treatments, pills, creams, etc. I can sympathize with you to a certain level being an acne sufferer myself (and recently lots of chicken pox scars on my face and body).

Maybe I've spent about $2000+ approximately about six years ago for my smooth beam, copper peptide, Murad, TCA, Lactic, Glycolic, proactive and every other big and famous thing around that time.

Right now I've spent almost $1500 on 2 Fraxels as well as other stuff like hydroquinone, etc..

Would I want my face to be 'perfect' sure....but sometimes I scratch my head when I hear people spend upwards of $7000-1000 on more invasive treatments...and once I look at their pictures they have a much better skin than me, but then they say they don't notice improvement at all. I had this conversation with my nurse too about other patients who've had six Fraxel and she said she could still see the scars, while the nurse said she saw improvements.

I guess this is not even a rant...but more about another reminder on keeping our expectations in check. That's all.

Just felt like saying this today...as I'm recovering from my 2nd Fraxel....and preparing for the 3rd in six weeks.

Fraxel Restore for chicken pox scar

OK I've posted this in the Emo forum, but thought I posted this here too:

I had my first Fraxel restore treatment on June 11th and it went succesfully, then I got a very bad case of chicken pox only within a week after I finished my treatment. I ended up with quite a few scars anywhere from my forehead, nose, jaw to middle of both of my cheeks...areas that looked good before, now are occupied with scars. All the scabs on my face have falled off....but aside from very deep (maybe up to 2 mm?) scars, I have about 30-40 blotches/red marks all over my face. A good portion of summer has passed (along with parties, etc..) now I'm trying to at least get rid of the blotchiness and let Fraxel hopefully minimize the actual scars.

I'm very frustrated of why this actually happened to me..(but that's probably for a different post)...right now, for marks, I'm trying to use a very gentle papaya mask exfoliator (I've used this before, it was great- from zia natural), and for moisturizers I'm using Gold Bond restore moisturizer with Vit A,E/C and also apply hydroquinone 4% to hopefully bleach the marks a little bit.

Originally I was planning on only doing 4 Fraxels....now maybe I have to up it to 6-8....including a couple full face treatments (my whole forehead was free of scars, now maybe I have about 10+ including the eyebrow area...all much bigger and deeper and make even my biggest acne scars look like a joke).


Any comforting thoughts, comments on how to improve and deal with this? I've been out working since last Thursday and it's not contagious..but I dont want to miss the rest of this summer....I was housebound for maybe about 2 1/2 weeks (including hospital stay) that was horrible enough.


I don't think Fraxel can fully eliminate the scarring...but because the pox scars are new, I'm happy with 50-75% improvements (since some people say they go away almost by themselves in a year or so).

Mishap after Fraxel.....

I just have to get this out there....many of us here are not strangers when it comes to quest for great looking skin....and many have voiced concerns, over their marks, scars, treatments that don't work, etc...so here's my story:

After debating for a long time, waiting for years for the price to go down, I finally got my Fraxel June 11th....I was happy with the results and was very hopeful that it was going to be a road to a great looking skin.

Not longer than a week later, I ended up with a very bad case of chicken pox...with about 50+ blisters, scabs all over my face. Now not only I ended up with lots of big blotchy marks, quite a few of them have left me with crater like scars, etc even in the areas that previously looked pretty good....

I truly don't know why things land ironies ike this happen...and trying to understand it...but at least I hope some of you can wish me a good recovery and maybe in 3-4 Fraxel treatments that I was planning on doing anyway, it'll improve the condition.

Thanks for listening.

Smoothbeam VS Fraxel

OK, Fraxel (Restore) and Smoothbeam experts...I have some tech specification for us to compare and see if anybody have any thoughts as how much more effective Fraxel (Restore) is compare to Smoothbeam. I don't know if anybody has even done smoothbeam within this past year since it's a seven year old technology...but it'd be cool to have those people with both experience to exchange thoughts on this:

Fraxel Restore
Laser type: Erbium
Wavelength: 1550nm
Pulse Energy (Fluence): 4-70mj (Per MTZ)
Pulse Repetition Rate: Up to 3000 MTZ/second
Laser wand treatment: 7mm to 15 mm (Large tip attachment)
Operating current: <6A @100 Volt <3A@200 Volt

Smoothbeam
Laser type: Diode
Wavelength: 1450nm
Pulse Energy (Fluence): 8-25 mj (per Cm2)
Pulse Repetition Rate: 210ms
Laser wand treatment: 4mm (for closer/spot treatment), 6mm (Larger tip attachement for wider coverage)

I'm trying to somewhat change the wording a little bit (without hopefully altering their meaning) since both obviously use different terminology.

Maybe some of the physicians in this forum can do a little math....or explain what MTZ means and/or whether 3000MTZ is better than 210ms?

I was a little suprised to see that Smoothbeam's wavelength is actually that high as I thought it was no more than 500 nm (maybe I read it wrong as somebody said that the penetration didn't go below .450 mm).

Anyhow...thoughts? Comments?