163 replies to this topic

[waitingforacure]

in the future when i do get Sublative Rejuv or Fraxel repair i will tell the doctor to turn it up to the max regardless of the pain and the risk of watever else. at this point i really had enough of these deep acne scars and i would do anything...Im sincerely hoping that this treatment is the right treatment for our annnoying acne scars cause i dont want to result in having permament fillers all over my face....

[chanelwy]

I am sorry I have no idea about treatment levels or depth of penetration. But i could ask them about this the next time.

[waitingforacure]

Hey Chanelwy! i havent heard from you for a while..How are you doing?? Are you satisfied with your results? anyways i hope your doing well and your getting the results u expected!

[chanelwy]

Hello all, here to update again. Thank you Steve for your good wishes.

I postponed my 2nd treatment b/c i went away for vacation for a week. I did the 2nd treatment last week. I asked about the depth of penetration into the skin, and they told me for Matrix RF it's 2400 (whatever the unit for this is. I forgot..lol), and for fraxel, its 1500. So it reaches deeper than fraxel.

2nd treatment - started from the most aggressive level, the rest was pretty much the same as the 1st treatment. Not too much pain, not bad at all. scabs were formed on day 2, started falling off on day 4, mostly gone by day 7.

I think the overall tone of my skin has improved. My complexion is brighter. For scars, i haven't really seen any great improvement yet. But my mom says it's working, that my scars are shallower. I guess i should still wait a few weeks to see actually results. I am still very hopeful. At least, it didn't get worse, and my overall tone is much better.

By the way, hydroquinone serum gave me breakouts. So they switched me to phyto+(from SkinCeuticals) for prepping, and that worked fine for me.

Feel free to ask questions guys. I'll update again in a month or so. Hopefully i'll see great results...

Good luck everybody, and Happy New Year.

[tennispro2018]

thnx for sharing ur experience. Sounds like this is a good treatment since it goes deeper than fraxel but not exactly sure which fraxel ur refering to. I am also thinking about getting it but i have very deep acne scars so still debating if i should get the ematrix or the fraxel repair. good luck with ur treatments and hopefully u get the results u desire..

[Cotton]

Chanelwy, please keep us posted. I was actually suppose to get ematrix today, but I changed my appointment back to the Pixel CO2. My doctor said that is does go real deep, but it's RF waves that penetrate the skin, not total ablation. I still feel like with my deep scarring, I need ablation. I will try this next year, but if you get good results, that's encouraging. I think I am going to get one more Pixel CO2 treatment, and then in the fall, get Total FX, and then next year, try ematrix. Then I will be done with my skin no matter what the condition is!!!

[chanelwy]

total ablation sounds like its gon work..Good luck Cotton.

I was interested in CO2 as well, but since i have olive skin tone and very prone to scarring, i was afraid that it was going cause more scars on me.

Let me know how your results are. Hopefully we'll all find something that work for us.

Best of luck.

[sanjoseskin]

Hey guys. I am going to be a lab rat here and get myself the Sublative Rejuvenation treatment.

You can find out more here.
http://www.matrixskin.com/

I'll do 3 treatment (whole face) with a complimentary re-firm treatment. for $2500. Quite pricey. But I've heard that it works better than Fraxel.

Thank god they have financing options.

I'll give you updates once I have them. The first treatment is gonna be in late November, and I gotta prepare my skin with hydroquinone serum. (another 100 bucks)

I'll let you know. Hopefully, this is gonna be money well spent.

eMatrix is kinda similar to Thermage. They both use radio frequency waves. When Thermage was first released it was not known that fat atrophy could occur, because it doesn't show up immediately. Several years later patients complained of sunken faces. It is now well documented that thermage can cause fat atrophy. My point is, they both use the same technology more or less, I would not make myself the ginnea pig if i were you. You don't want 2 yrs down the line to suddenly start losing fat in your face. These companies are quick to release new products with minimal research, only enough to get fda approval. Same thing happend with co2 lasers. when first released it was unknown that hypopigmentation was so prevalent. only yrs after, and countless patients later, do we now know that hypopigmentation is a huge problem with co2.

Just my opinion though.

[Ozay]

eMatrix is kinda similar to Thermage. They both use radio frequency waves. When Thermage was first released it was not known that fat atrophy could occur, because it doesn't show up immediately. Several years later patients complained of sunken faces. It is now well documented that thermage can cause fat atrophy. My point is, they both use the same technology more or less, I would not make myself the ginnea pig if i were you. You don't want 2 yrs down the line to suddenly start losing fat in your face. These companies are quick to release new products with minimal research, only enough to get fda approval. Same thing happend with co2 lasers. when first released it was unknown that hypopigmentation was so prevalent. only yrs after, and countless patients later, do we now know that hypopigmentation is a huge problem with co2.

Just my opinion though.

Good point dude,

It's so easy for people to be duped into the next wave of new technology, so I'd be very cautious. However, I still hope that eMatrix will be a safer version of Thermage and give people results. I might try this if more evidence becomes available of how well it works and for how long. Seems to me tho that stem cell is what's really gonna give acne scar sufferers the solution to all their problems...I'm so tired of false hope and deceit, I think we all deserve to live happier lives without the constant worries of these scars. Trust me if I find a solution to my acne scars you'd all be the first to know. Peace

[DudleyDoRight]

Hello all, here to update again. Thank you Steve for your good wishes.

I postponed my 2nd treatment b/c i went away for vacation for a week. I did the 2nd treatment last week. I asked about the depth of penetration into the skin, and they told me for Matrix RF it's 2400 (whatever the unit for this is. I forgot..lol), and for fraxel, its 1500. So it reaches deeper than fraxel.

That measurement is in microns and designated with the symbol for mu, which looks like a u with a front leg. 2400 microns = 2.4mm.

[Ozay]

Any new updates? I'm considering eMatrix as an option but need a little more to go on rather than what docs say.

[*unknown*]

Any updates chanelwy?
I hope you got the results you wanted

[sassy74]

I'm going in for my consultation tomorrow afternoon. I'm glad to read that I may have scabbing post-procedure, as this will determine the best time for me to have it done. We're wrapping up our school year here and I don't want to go strolling into my kids' school looking like I was sprayed in the face w/ buckshot!!

Since it's been 6 months since your procedure, do you have any further updates to share?

How are your scars appearing now?

I have ice-pick/depressed scarring, mostly on my right cheek (who knew acne could prefer one side over the other!!) clustered in an area about the size of a quarter, right above my smile line. Needless to say, there is NO way to disguise it w/ my hair or anything else. The scars only slightly disappear when I smile really large (they fold into my dimples) . However, if I walked around 24/7 grinning like the Cheshire cat, people would think I need psychiatric help as opposed to acne treatment!!

Thank you for sharing your experiences w/ us. It so kind of everyone to be so willing to open up about this extremely vulnerable aspect of our lives.
God Bless!

[TryingHard]

Hey everyone, just thought I would jump in here. I had my first ematrix Thursday morning, and I am scheduled for two more, one month apart. Today I am still red, little swollen, and the grid marks are still visible. I am curious as to how long it will take for my skin to get back to normal. In the past I have had Mixto profractional, and YAG Coolglide. I was not sure I wanted another erbium laser, but considered Sciton profractional. I picked ematrix instead because I like the less downtime and not the intensity of raw skin. So far I am happy that this laser seems powerful as I was worried I was wasting my time and money on something too gentle. It was not painless. She started with a low C on my face and high B on my neck (I decided to have my neck done while I was there). The C was too painful on my neck. Next time she will use numbing cream so I will have to go in 45 minutes earlier.

So I don't feel I can go out today. I did run errands but I wouldn't do anything social because although I could wear make up I don't think it would look right and the grid marks would still be noticeable. My neck especially is obvious...looks like an allergic reaction because it's not solid in color but patchy red marks.

I will keep updating until this heals and after the next two treatments to let you know if I thought it was worth it. At this point I do not regret it.

[*unknown*]

Heal well TryingHard, and thanks for sharing
keep us updated.. and all the best

Edited by *unknown*, 04 June 2010 - 04:47 PM.

[sassy74]

I'm having my Matrix RF on June 21st. My gal said that she always uses numbing cream prior to the treatment. Did you not have any cream at all? She also told me to discontinue my use of Tretinoin cream a week before the procedure. Were those your instructions as well?

I'm hopeful for good results and I'm anxious to hear about your experiences as well. I appreciate you sharing and wish you all the best!!

[TryingHard]

Nope I had no cream lol. It was not horrible but it will be much better with it! They did not tell me to stop tretenoid (sp) or RetinA, but I did note that I had used it 3 days prior and she said that was ok. But I am not suppose to use it for a couple weeks after each treatment, and since I am doing them a month apart I will just stop using it for the summer. Good luck with your treatment:) Let's keep updating.

[TryingHard]

Oh she said the reason for not using the cream is because the machine would have a difficult time making the "pulses". It will not give off a pulse if it does not have level ground on the skin, and the oily base of the numbing cream made it difficult on the sensor. She said they use a water-based one and it's much better. It has to be completely dry as well. So make sure yours is water-based:) You probably already know C is the highest level, and she admitted a and b a practically worthless.

[sassy74]

Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to ask if the cream is water based and make sure it's wiped off completely prior to the treatment.

Thanks again for the tip about C level. I was going to request that level anyways. BTW, what type of scarring do you have?

I have some shallow icepicks (which I've been told are not deep enough for excision and one doctor described as mild, not sure if it's mild in my mind though!) and scarred pores, but they're all clustered together which makes it look bad

[TryingHard]

Hey, I think I have shallow ice pick, some deeper than others. In some lighting you can't tell, in others you can see my whole cheeks are scarred. I heard someone once say the "orange peel" effect and that seems to describe my skin. I did post pics, a while back, but there are two that were posted in summer/fall 2008 in the scar gallery.

Today, day 5, I still have the grid marks from the machine but I have read that is normal, and my skin always takes longer to heal in general, like with tattoos and everything. I don't have to wear make up though. I would say for me, I would plan on no social events for 3 days. Next time I am going for high C!