156 replies to this topic

[jjp007]

Man with so many lasers out there it is easy to get confused.

Fraxl 1 and 2 are considered non ablative lasers.


Pretty much anything with CO2 in the name would mean ablative.


I'm looking into the new ablative Fraxel repair. This sounds promising. I don't mind the week of downtime if the results are equal to 5 Fraxel 2's.

LOL look what I found on Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/COHERENT-LUMENIS-ULTRA...0QQcmdZViewItem

[FROMBCN]

Day 6

Some of the tiny dots I had on chin and cheeks have been flaking off. They were on the less scarred parts where I only got a pass and the dots were quite appart from each other.

The thicker crust on cheeks and temples is still there. Family say it's been receeding each day, but I don't notice much difference (probably because I keep looking at it every 5 min!!!!) This morning I noticed that it was starting to clear around the edges. Still, it looks as if it's going to be there for a few more days. Not sure what the final downtime is going to be, but I'm afraid it'll be a bit longer than anticipated.

[marmaga]

Day 6

Some of the tiny dots I had on chin and cheeks have been flaking off. They were on the less scarred parts where I only got a pass and the dots were quite appart from each other.

The thicker crust on cheeks and temples is still there. Family say it's been receeding each day, but I don't notice much difference (probably because I keep looking at it every 5 min!!!!) This morning I noticed that it was starting to clear around the edges. Still, it looks as if it's going to be there for a few more days. Not sure what the final downtime is going to be, but I'm afraid it'll be a bit longer than anticipated.

HI FROMBCN

I would like to know where you had your treatment done (I am from Barcelona too). It was expensive?. I understand you had Total fx (Active+Deep). It's that true?.

Thanks a lot and good luck.

[anonymous007]

Hello everyone. I just had the frctionalized CO2 (activeFX-deepFX) combination treatment yesterday. As Tampa Girl had stated earlier it sure did hurt. They did one pass with the deepFX first and then did a second pass with the activeFX. Right now I'm bright red, brown and blotchy. I took beforehand pics a couple of weeks ago. Took some pictures a couple hours after the procedure and a couple more this mornning. Once I have another week of pics I will post them for you guys! Here's to hoping for some improvement.

[Golfer09]

Hello everyone. I just had the frctionalized CO2 (activeFX-deepFX) combination treatment yesterday. As Tampa Girl had stated earlier it sure did hurt. They did one pass with the deepFX first and then did a second pass with the activeFX. Right now I'm bright red, brown and blotchy. I took beforehand pics a couple of weeks ago. Took some pictures a couple hours after the procedure and a couple more this mornning. Once I have another week of pics I will post them for you guys! Here's to hoping for some improvement.

What type of scars do you have? I am going next week to have the Fraxel Re:Pair done, which is supposed to be even stronger and go even deeper than the Active/Deep FX. I have shallow ice pick scars, boxcar scars and a bunch of scarred pores around my mouth. I hope that this new laser will help out.

[anonymous007]

Hello everyone. I just had the frctionalized CO2 (activeFX-deepFX) combination treatment yesterday. As Tampa Girl had stated earlier it sure did hurt. They did one pass with the deepFX first and then did a second pass with the activeFX. Right now I'm bright red, brown and blotchy. I took beforehand pics a couple of weeks ago. Took some pictures a couple hours after the procedure and a couple more this mornning. Once I have another week of pics I will post them for you guys! Here's to hoping for some improvement.

What type of scars do you have? I am going next week to have the Fraxel Re:Pair done, which is supposed to be even stronger and go even deeper than the Active/Deep FX. I have shallow ice pick scars, boxcar scars and a bunch of scarred pores around my mouth. I hope that this new laser will help out.

I belive they're primarily rolling scars with a couple of ice picks as well.

[Golfer09]

I belive they're primarily rolling scars with a couple of ice picks as well.
[/quote]


I hope that the Fraxel Re:pair gives me some help with my scars. These new fractional co2 laser seem more promising than just the fractional laser without the co2. I was going to do the series of Fraxel II, but it just doesn't seem like the way to go. Please keep me informed on your progress. I notice that alot of people on here that get good results don't come back to this forum to share.

[anonymous007]

I hope that the Fraxel Re:pair gives me some help with my scars. These new fractional co2 laser seem more promising than just the fractional laser without the co2. I was going to do the series of Fraxel II, but it just doesn't seem like the way to go. Please keep me informed on your progress. I notice that alot of people on here that get good results don't come back to this forum to share.
[/quote]

If I get good results I will definately share with all of you. The doc did say will take a while to see the total effectiveness.

[doodlebug]

SouthpoleSP67
I got mine done at The Vein Center by Dr. Hunt. I got it free cause I volunteered to be a guinea pig because he had just gotten the laser and needed some test cases. I wasn't worried cause the Luminus Dr. was right there the whole time. It is supposed to cost about $2500 in tampa. - Tampagirl

Hi Tampagirl - Thanks for all your helpful posts! Your pics show good improvement, IMO but did you see any apparent enlargement in pore size after the laser? I had deep dermabrasion several decades ago(!) on my cheek & it did leave (or just reveal) larger orange-peel like pores that had not been apparent before. Now I'd like to try laser but am cautious in my dotage! Thanks again!

[jjp007]

Thanks to everyone who is sharing their experiences. I too am looking into having this done, Fraxel repair so I can't wait to hear how people are reacting to this new laser. Speedy healing to everyone and just remember to be patient, it takes a long time for the collagen to build.

[SouthpoleSP67]

Did my treatment today. Will post results in my thread.Thanks to both of u for sharing your experiences.

BTW how bad did u guys bleed after your procedure? I seem to be bleeding enough to talk about it, and none of u guys have even really mentioned bleeding. I mean its not intense or seeping out like a normal cut, but more like oozing out.

Furthermore, how are your guys results today? Both procedures' results, while less than the initial thought after considering the amount of swelling there is, are still supposed to increase up to 6 months after treatment.

[creative303]

Heya what setting on deepfx did you guys go? Did you guys ask them about the settings or you let the doctor handle the settings? I assume the highest setting is probably best for treating acne scar..

[anonymous007]

Did my treatment today. Will post results in my thread.Thanks to both of u for sharing your experiences.

BTW how bad did u guys bleed after your procedure? I seem to be bleeding enough to talk about it, and none of u guys have even really mentioned bleeding. I mean its not intense or seeping out like a normal cut, but more like oozing out.

Furthermore, how are your guys results today? Both procedures' results, while less than the initial thought after considering the amount of swelling there is, are still supposed to increase up to 6 months after treatment.

I definately bled some and there was some weeping/oozing the first day. It gets better really fast...at least for me it did. It's been 4 days now. All of the old brown skin peeled off today. I had my follow up with the doc this morning and he said I could gently brush the rest of the dry skin off without damaging my new skin. He also mentioned that I'm healing really well and pretty fast too. I got home exfoliated the rest of the dry stuff off. The new skin looks great! I'm not going to jump to any grand conclusions now because I'm aware there's swelling and additionally the doc said it would take 4-6 months to see the true results but...I am very pleased so far. Once I'm confident the swelling is totally gone I will post some pics for you guys. The downtime hasn't been bad at all. I expect I could go to work tomorrow if I wanted to but the pink skin would probably still be noticeable to the coworkers. If I were a girl I could imagine that some makeup would do the trick no problem. I can't shave for another couple of days either so I probably wouldn't to go in there looking like a caveman or something.

[anonymous007]

Heya what setting on deepfx did you guys go? Did you guys ask them about the settings or you let the doctor handle the settings? I assume the highest setting is probably best for treating acne scar..

I never asked them the actual levels but he mentioned that he was cranking it up on the deepfx to treat the acne scarring. That probably doesn't provide much help but I'm assuming the highest tolerable setting would give you the best result. As a side note I think this procedure is probably more painful for the guys. Once they moved the laser down to the beard line then it really got intense.

[SouthpoleSP67]

I asked my doctor a lot about settings considering how big of an issue it was concerning the fraxel lasers (not including their newest re:pair laser). He said he would keep in the middle going a little more intense in the scarred region but still not even close to the highest intensity.

When I was considering going in for Fraxel in the summer, I was planning on being adamant on the highest settings, but since it is a newer laser and technology, I didnt mind. Plus, the laser already goes pretty deep into the dermis, so higher settings (referring to the DeepFX) could actually do more damage than good.

BTW bleeding has already subsided for the most part. Still a bunch of red dots, but through the mess you can definitely see where the improvement will be. It looks very promising already.

Welp, 6 more days to go til I can probably truly see my skin (with swelling of course).

Goodnight guys

[katiekat]

I asked my doctor a lot about settings considering how big of an issue it was concerning the fraxel lasers (not including their newest re:pair laser). He said he would keep in the middle going a little more intense in the scarred region but still not even close to the highest intensity.

When I was considering going in for Fraxel in the summer, I was planning on being adamant on the highest settings, but since it is a newer laser and technology, I didnt mind. Plus, the laser already goes pretty deep into the dermis, so higher settings (referring to the DeepFX) could actually do more damage than good.

BTW bleeding has already subsided for the most part. Still a bunch of red dots, but through the mess you can definitely see where the improvement will be. It looks very promising already.

Welp, 6 more days to go til I can probably truly see my skin (with swelling of course).

Goodnight guys

Thanks for keeping us updated. I go in for my april 10th. She's going to do one side wait 3-4 months and do that side again. Then wait 3-4 months and do the other side in the same manner. She's been all over the state to help train other dr's on the machine. Even the dr that heads up the Universisty of Michigan laser dept. She has what she describes as a dounut shape piece that she will use to go around of the scar with first and then continue with the rest of the procedure. This whole processe will take about a yr to complete.

[SouthpoleSP67]

Strange. what's her reasoning for doing a side at a time? You will look retarded. Half your face will be totally different from the other half for a long while...

[Weedman]

Great improvement, you really seemed to do very well with a single session.

But what is the difference between this and fraxel? arent they the same thing, like they use a lot of dots of co2 laser instead of a big beam?

[SouthpoleSP67]

Hey guys,

Well, it has now been 2 days since my TotalFX treatment. Pain and bleeding is pretty much non-existent. My face, on the other hand, still looks like a mess. I've had a couple TCA peels before and I say it looks like a more severe version of this. My skin is super tight and it appears as if it will start peeling tomorrow or the day after.

In terms of after care, I am still just putting Aquaphor on the treated regions and just trying to eat healthy so I don't hinder the healing process in anyway.

I will post again tomorrow.

Goodnight.

AJ

[Golfer09]

Im glad to see that the fractional CO2 laser are being used alot more. I go in a few weeks to get the Fraxel Re:Pair done. My doc wants me to be using Retin A for a few weeks with a derma roller prior to the procedure. I am also getting subcision done on a few before the laser. I am just getting my cheeks lasered so I can't wait to get going on it.