6 replies to this topic

[k4la]

Hello everyone!

I thought I could share my profractional experience with you! Im going to be as honest as possible...

So I got the Sciton profractional treatment done yesterday. It was at the intensity of 350 microns and was on my cheeks and chin. I'm 24 years old, had cystic acne a couple years ago, and was left with 2 ice-pick scars on both sides of my cheeks, and irregular skin texture on my chin from severe acne.

So, rewind to a couple weeks ago, I met with Dr. Beatrice Wang in Montreal, who is supposedly a state of the art derm with a good reputation in aesthetics, after being refered by another older, more old fashionned derm. She told me to start using some retin-a cream to peel off hyperpigmented scars and we discussed profractional for the irregularities in texture. After some research I booked, and requested 4 days off work.

So I showed up with my mom yesterday, the nice nurse applied a gel of lidocaine on my face and let it marinate for 45 minutes. My face felt very numb, and even im my mouth, felt like I had been to the dentist! I was like, oh great so I wont feel a thing..(!!)

So they take the cream off my face, tell me to lay down on the bed, and she starts the Sciton machine, which by the way costs like some hundreds of thousands! Very noisy and i was starting to get anxious at this point.

So the nurse starts. Whoever ever had a tattoo, imagine that, plus that the needle is burning hot, and on your face. One square and I was like WHOA! ''painless procedure''.... whoever said that did not get it done for real! The first part, my right cheek was the worse pain, and around the eyes was the most painful. By the time she did my chin and other cheek, I gues the adrenaline kicked in cause it was more bearable. All and all I would say I was on that bed for like 20 minutes, but the laser was hitting my skin for maybe 4 minutes.. I think I dont have a strong pain resistance, and apparently men can handle 500 microns without much pain because of the thickness of their skin.

If I am to get this procedure done again in the future, there is no way I am getting it done without taking at least a strong painkiller (codeine) and if possible a tranquilizer (valium). The Dr told me I coulve taken 1 gram of acetaminophen 1 hour prior, which I should of done.

So the nurse tells me, I will show you your reflexion... oh boy. Ok I dont remember if I laughed or cried, but I looked like a chipmunk who just hunted for 3 weeks and has about 5 pound of nuts in each cheek and just got beat up by a rhinoceros. There was bleeding, but nothing major. She put vaseline on my cheeks and 2 4x4 gauze pads, and a mask on top. I wrapped a scarf, and off we were in the waiting room while patients were staring at me! The bill? 600$ !

We ran in a cab, and then I had pain, nothing unbearable, just like imagine spending about 3 weeks on the beach in Dominican Republic, without sunscreen, in july. Hot, hot hot! My mom kindly went and got me :

Vaseline lotion, alot of 4x4 gauze, acetaminophen with a bit of codeine, some tongue depressors (to apply the vaseline)..you should also buy some ''Kling'' gauze roll if you want to be able to sleep with pads on your cheeks, otherwise you will have to sleep on your back only, with all the vaseline necessary to keep the skin from burning. And movies...foods, lots of vedgies and fruits and proteins for the healing process yall!

Now Im the day after. I slept OK, thanks to my The mummy dressing, waking up every couple hours, but the pain is 95% gone from how I felt post-tx, and Ive been taking some ibuprofen every 4 hours. I still look like chewbacca, my cheeks are big, my roomates are scared! BUT, Im glad I did it! The most annoying part right now is that I have to stay at home for 3 days because Im a very active person.. AND that I dont want my sexy boyfriend to see me like this..

Im going to meet up with the nurse for a follow-up next week.

So, there ya go guys, you can ask me anything because guess what! Im not going anywhere...lol.
Im in quarantaine!

[livluvlaf]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience about the procedure. Keep updating us with your progress.

ps - If you took before/after photos, would you mind sharing? Of course delete your eyes to protect your privacy.

I wish you a smooth recovery!

[Darkneon]

Hi k4la,

I have a couple of questions for you.

Where is the location where you got you procedure done?

Have you shopped around?

I'm basically in this situation now and I had 1 derm recommending MedIME and a doctor Opus Med. I wonder if you have heard good words about those?

More progress/pictures would be great

[k4la]

Hey guys! Whoa Im pleased someone cared about my post!

Unfortunately I did not take any before/after close-up pictures. I dont have a webcam or a digital camera.

It is now day 5 post treatment and my skin is peeling. I went to work yesterday and tried to cover myself up with makeup and had to tell some doctors I work with that I had this done, as I could see in their eyes that they were wondering if I got an allergic reaction or some skin rash or something. Everyone was very supportive.

I do not know of any other dermatologist that owns this Sciton machine besides the one that gave me the treatment. I would recommend her. She works in the Westmount square mall. You can google her; Dr Beatrice Wang. Go to rateMDs.com, check their rating. Call the secretaries, get their prices. I personally got a good impression of her and the nurse who did the tx. There is a door in the back that you can access easy and cabs are always there.

The machine that she uses is the real Sciton machine. I dont know if they can falsly advertise Profractional, but Ive seen it done on youtube with the fraxel machine. This guy thought he was getting the real thing and it wasen't.

Feel free to ask me any other question! Ill try to take a picture with my boyfriend's camera soon.

[angel0o]

Hi there,
I am supposed to get my treatment in a few days. Can you please tell me the nurse's name and also did u see any results after the treatment. How did ur skin looked like after 6th day. Were you able to cover it completely by then.

[A New Me]

I had Sciton Profractional Laser 5 days ago.

Had my entire face done. Right after procedure, my face was swollen and bloody. I didn't have to look in the mirror to see how bad I looked - the expression on my husbands face said it all!!!

The drive home was probably the worse... The temperature was 100 degrees outside and my face was literally on fire. I cranked the air conditioner on high and blasted my face the entire drive home. My worst fear at that moment was that my car would break down on the hot highway with my bloody hot face stranded and waiting for rescue.

Glad to say I made it home safe and sound! Oozed goop and blood all day on day 1.

Day 2: Woke up swollen eyes and a big black and blue mark under each eye. Bleeding stopped but face was swollen and tender.

Day 3: Had an emergency call - friend was locked out of her house and needed a ride. I didn't want to go out in public but had no choice. She didn't think I looked too bad so I went shopping after that and not a single person looked at me twice. No one screamed and ran so I figured I didn't look too bad!

Day 4: Skin looks nice and tight and is healing nicely BUT unfortunately 15 white heads popped up on my face. Forcing myself to quit the horrible habit of picking and popping my face. A big thanks to the person who posted www.stoppickingonme.com. Checked the site out and yep, I have a picking problem to conquer!

Day 5: Face still hot but tolerable. Living with the whiteheads that seem to be healing on their own. Going out to dinner with friends but refuse to smear make up on my clean and healing new skin!

[Panic!!]

Could anyone who has had this procedure done update us on


1) How bad their scarring was prior to their first session?

2) What percentage improvement they would estimate after each session?

3) If you think its worth the price


I have very shallow scarring and have booked an appt to get Profractional Erbium done, but I'm not completely convinced that its the best choice, so I might back out still since I have another consult to go to.

For the record the recent derm I saw said my scars were a 3-4/10 on a severity scale. So pretty minor, but definitely more annoying more than anything else to me.




Thx