24 replies to this topic

[AlexWong]

DRaGZ, on 24 May 2012 - 05:13 PM, said:

AlexWong, on 24 May 2012 - 03:42 PM, said:

Your skin looks so much better. How many treatments have you had in total? Also, I don't know much about lasers but was it ablative or non ablative. I just want to clarify. (But I did read that the Mixto was ablative and the Lux was non ablative). Sorry, but I just want to know in detail. Thanks.

"Ablative" simply means that some actual skin is removed (literally vaporized away). "Non-ablative," obviously means that it does not.

These days, both ablative and non-ablative procedures generally refer to fractionated lasers, in which columns of skin are affected instead of entire patches. Here's an easy chart that illustrates what this means:


The two examples at the left are older models of laser (though full ablative CO2 resurfacing is still done in some places). The two examples on the right are the lasers that most doctors use today, mainly because they have much less downtime than the traditional lasers and because they penetrate deeper.

I had two Lux 1540s done, which are non-ablative, and one Mixto, which is ablative.

Hi there, thanks for replying. It sounds like it was worth it. I am also Asian, but Filipino (Philippines). I hope it's okay if you can just enlighten me with a few details regarding your procedure.

1. What were the settings on each laser?

2. How many times can you have these procedures? I understand that 30% improvement is considered a success, but hypothetically speaking, is money were not an issue how many times can you have a laser procedure done to raise the likelihood of improvement?

Thanks, so much. By the way, I'm really happy that you were able to treat your scars. It gives everyone here hope.

[DRaGZ]

I don't know what the settings were. I asked beforehand what his settings would be, but he told me that he would change the settings around as he saw fit. So, in patches of skin without scars (but with, say, red spots or sun damage) he would use a low setting, but over scarred areas he would use higher settings and do multiple passes.

More important than the settings, I think, was his technique. This is his technique as he described it to me:

1. Made a single pass around the entire face.
2. Used a sculpting head on the laser to shave down the edges of more prominent scars.
3. Used a precision head on the laser to stimulate extra growth in specifically pockmarked areas.
4. Did another pass over more heavily scarred areas.
5. Did subcision on rolling scars.

And he did all this while using a side light, so he could see exactly where all of my scars were at all times.

As far as the research is considered, you can have these lasers done...as many times as you want. As long as you don't have them performed very close to each other. The minimum time needed per procedure, as I understand it, is two months, but if you're going to do it a LOT, somewhere down the line, you're probably going to want to rest your skin a little more.

Edited by DRaGZ, Yesterday, 01:08 PM.

[collegeboy84]

Your skin looks much improved bro.

[LZOMG]

wow nice results, especailly your right side looks scar free,
did your results stick after swelling went down? and have you had to deal with any hyperpigmentation?

[DRaGZ]

LZOMG, on 25 May 2012 - 10:28 PM, said:

wow nice results, especailly your right side looks scar free,
did your results stick after swelling went down? and have you had to deal with any hyperpigmentation?

Technically my left, since it's reflected in a mirror.

Yes, they are still more or less the same. In fact, my right side actually looks better, it looks like some of the healing that Dr. Rahimi said would happen is starting to slowly happen (slow being the key word, here).

I am still planning to post updated pictures on the 28th, but I got this weird...line of zits on the left side of my face this morning which came outta nowhere, hoping that'll clear up before then, haha.

I'm honestly more self conscious about the acne than the scars.

Oh, and there is veeeeery minor hyper-pigmentation. I was treating with kojic acid for two weeks before the procedure and had been doing microdermabrasions, which Dr. Rahimi said would help prevent hyper-pigmentation. I've honestly had less hyper-pigmentation from this ABLATIVE procedures than from the two non-ablative procedures I had done before.

Edited by DRaGZ, Today, 01:12 AM.