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Thanks for the pms + messages. The funny thing is that being male, I find using makeup .. um, yeah. 
However, I did buy some foundation and I really did have to use it and it does make everything look SO much better. I can walk around without feeling I have to have a bag on my head because its so blotchy looking if not.
skin is not itchy today. 
I stopped using a bazillion and one product + vitamin C..etc on it. Just cleanse + redness relief solutions from clinque right now.
How would I rate repair? I'd say do it. Its ONE OFF, its fairly expensive but if you do it, you know for the downtime + repair/skin fix, its a good trade off. And if you're going to measure this vs fraxel restore (multiple sessions - a lot of dissatisfaction... same amount of money - maybe more) .. I might be moaning about the redness/patchiness but at least I'm not getting zapped again and again. Right now, I think my skin looks better - the patchiness just has to go away.
I actually thought about the whether or not I'd do it again? When I see my dermatologist again, I think I will definitley consider it. I will however insist that once the skin sloughs off, he has to do a candela/vbeam treatment for redness the next time though (that's for me). I've read online some dermatologists do complimentary vbeam post fraxel repair for the redness/pupura(spelling).
my nasal region was zapped at 35mg (?) - I read online that a setting of 20 is alright. The rest of my face was done a 15 and it didn't crust up. So it was quite an aggressive treatment. I think the picture earlier really shows how aggressive it was along the nose area. I notice that the laser/scrapper tracks of tinyish lines are still there on the face. Not very apparent but I see it. The fraxel laser head.. I'll take a photo of that a post that up later. You get to keep your own set.
Thanks for the pms + messages. The funny thing is that being male, I find using makeup .. um, yeah.
skin is not itchy today.
How would I rate repair? I'd say do it. Its ONE OFF, its fairly expensive but if you do it, you know for the downtime + repair/skin fix, its a good trade off. And if you're going to measure this vs fraxel restore (multiple sessions - a lot of dissatisfaction... same amount of money - maybe more) .. I might be moaning about the redness/patchiness but at least I'm not getting zapped again and again. Right now, I think my skin looks better - the patchiness just has to go away.
I actually thought about the whether or not I'd do it again? When I see my dermatologist again, I think I will definitley consider it. I will however insist that once the skin sloughs off, he has to do a candela/vbeam treatment for redness the next time though (that's for me). I've read online some dermatologists do complimentary vbeam post fraxel repair for the redness/pupura(spelling).
my nasal region was zapped at 35mg (?) - I read online that a setting of 20 is alright. The rest of my face was done a 15 and it didn't crust up. So it was quite an aggressive treatment. I think the picture earlier really shows how aggressive it was.
Thanks for the REPLY. I will take that as a thumbs up and since you will be getting better and better results over the next few months as the Red ness fades away I am hopefull y ou will be even more positive early 2009! I am a fraxel restore vet myself and you are right in that going on to my 4th and 5th Fraxel was getting very OLD and a pain in the ass In fact it took months for me to schedule around having 5 of these done and only to get a modest improvment with no tightning effects that one gets with Repair (I would love to lose those BAGS under my eyes and it seems Repair does a great job at this) . I think it would be much better to have just one (Or maybe a second treatment 6 months later) if it means True dramatic improvements
and judgeing from
And oh, I heal very well (from cuts..etc/TCA)...etc - whenever I get cuts/bumps/etc, it takes less than a week to resolve... and anyone interested should definitely block out 3 weeks off and then use makeup after
WEEK 1 = hell (face swelling/scabbing..etc)
WEEK 2 = Healing (peeling/quite pink/red)
WEEK 3+ = pink/blotch but coverage. I could have easily used makeup here.
+ COST COMMENT
I paid AUD $4000 for a full face. Your mileage may vary.
Sydney, I had Repair done in May and had nothing like the reaction you are seeing. Mine was done at the highest setting of 70mj and 60%. They tone down the setting on the nose and eyelids. At the end of the first week, I drove 1000 miles on vacation. The 2nd day was the worst for the swelling. I am planning on a 2nd procedure in January.
Not to hijack the thread, but I'm curious about your results Dudley.
What kind of scars did you have, how severe, and what kind of results did you get from the Repair?
Have you had any side effects (I've heard about the potential for waxy looking skin, etc)?
I might do Repair soon. I've had subscision and Restore on bad rolling scars and various other types of scarring. My results have been fair. My scars look better. I think they look softer and less jagged. So for that, I'm happy. But it doesn't look dramatically better, not that anything dramatic can really be expected when you have bad scarring.
I sent this message to someone:
Hello,
I went to see removed -went with him because his website had REAL patient photos. my nasal bring area has lots of tiny blood vessels (capillaries) so it is still redish (but nothing the clinique redness coverup can't fix)> as for my skin, I think its improved but my pores, well I don't think it did very much for that (My main concern) Skin is also very much dryer now than before. The downtime for me realistically was about 6-7 weeks - went back to work for 2 weeks with red face so that was quite difficult for me considering I am in a profession that requires a bit of visability. And whenever I got stressed, it just went hell red. Oh, hell, I think the thing for me is more to do with the fact that I'm already SO self conscious so it didn't help!!
However, I think the post op care was quite poor. The doctor has very poor table manners - sort of rude once the procedure was all done and paid for. I've been going back every 2 weeks to get a mole treated and everytime I raise the matter of the redness he's been abrasive and dismissive. I have no problems paying for a Vbeam to make the redness go away faster but he won't even listen to me. It was distressing to me that I seriously contempated going to another dermatologist to zap it clear, now... I'm just waiting for it to resolve. Its been this long. My skin is fine otherwise. Pores~ I might need to dig up photos and compare because I've stopeed worrying about it when I can. Whenever I went to the gym, ran - that patch on my nasal bridge got quite red. So I stopped working out. So I'm probably not going to see him again - the way I feel right now. That said, no real complications either. The redness/capillaries will resolve over time (from my research online).
I paid 4k for a full face. Definitley ask around and be comfortable before going in.
Let me know if you find anothe Fraxel Repair specialist in sydney. I might go in for a new consult. I don't know though. For me, i don't think it works as much for pores (again - might be because I stop caring/staring at my face) - but oh, the main problem I have is still very much here.
* I DID THIS FOR PORES. I DIDN'T REALLY HAVE DEEP ACNE SCARS. I no longer have to cover my face with makeup to leave the house.
Will review skin later tomorrow and post back impressions/review.
Sydney, I had Repair done in May and had nothing like the reaction you are seeing. Mine was done at the highest setting of 70mj and 60%. They tone down the setting on the nose and eyelids. At the end of the first week, I drove 1000 miles on vacation. The 2nd day was the worst for the swelling. I am planning on a 2nd procedure in January.
you went to 70mj and didn't crust up like me? I only had 30mj and crusted up like a lobster. I don't think that that's a complication do you? The laser is the laser. :S And asian skin is meant to take heat..etc better. (I don't tan, I go brown) I'm assuming your anglosaxon?
If you think you know me, please don't send this around and embarass me please. :S with my luck though, I expect this to happen so. I wrote this.. and I post this in the interest of helping others so please don't use this to embarass me. :S enough of a wreck as it is. I'm looking at some of the other day 33 (that's like 4 weeks later photos) and the splotchiness/redness skin horribleness is SO bad. The side shots and some of the other shots in different lighting are nasty. I don't know how I got through that. Urgh.
you can see from tonights photo that I lost a lot of the red splotches/pigment (mole) like marks on my face. Pores I don't think are much improved. I TCAed the "pigmenty mole" like marks on my upper lip as my skin was SO bad I though what the hell, just do it anyhow, and that's gone as well. Those above the lips aren't removed because of the fraxel.
anyone know what to do for pores? I'm contemplating dermarolling now or repair again. BUt the downtime for me. 6 weeks realistically? I really felt alright week 7ish. Even now, I get somewhat pink.
I think ur skin looks good. U look alot younger in the after photo. As far as pores(enlarged or scared) go, It's been my experience that anything that removes a layer of the skin (dermabrasion, chemical peel, Co2) can make it appear worse. U can only go down so far. And the scared pore probaly has a larger base then what is on the surface. Now that I started down the path of removing a top layer of my skin I feel I will probaly have to continue until I can't go any further, and hopefully they aren't to deep where they can't be taken care of.
As far as enlarged pores go, I've heard that there is not permant solution. Some lasers shrink them for awhile.
My advice is to not do anything that removes ur top layer at first. Use that as ur last resort. Start with subcision, needling, maybe TCA cross, fillers. I wished I had, but didn't find this site till I was in the healing stages of my dermabrasion.
I think ur skin looks good. U look alot younger in the after photo. As far as pores(enlarged or scared) go, It's been my experience that anything that removes a layer of the skin (dermabrasion, chemical peel, Co2) can make it appear worse. U can only go down so far. And the scared pore probaly has a larger base then what is on the surface. Now that I started down the path of removing a top layer of my skin I feel I will probaly have to continue until I can't go any further, and hopefully they aren't to deep where they can't be taken care of.
As far as enlarged pores go, I've heard that there is not permant solution. Some lasers shrink them for awhile.
My advice is to not do anything that removes ur top layer at first. Use that as ur last resort. Start with subcision, needling, maybe TCA cross, fillers. I wished I had, but didn't find this site till I was in the healing stages of my dermabrasion.
How can it be in your experience have you had all of said treatments done? It is not the removal of the top skin that does it it is the heat caused by treatments like TCA nad laser resurfacing that may cause enlarged pores.
The best treatment would be dermabrasion it will not reduce natural pore size but since it removes a top layer it will reduce the size of pores stretched by age and pimples i.e. scarred and enlarged pores. Of all treatments though it seemes the scariest dermabrasion has the lowest chance of pigmentation problems and prolonged redness which can last many many months after treatments like CO2.
When I was younger I accidently scrubbed to hard with a fine exfoliator and it looked like a semi dermabrasion was done on my cheeks on the sides of my nose. When I finally healed the pores were smaller. I can only imagine a real dermabrasion that goes deeper will give better results.
I think ur skin looks good. U look alot younger in the after photo. As far as pores(enlarged or scared) go, It's been my experience that anything that removes a layer of the skin (dermabrasion, chemical peel, Co2) can make it appear worse. U can only go down so far. And the scared pore probaly has a larger base then what is on the surface. Now that I started down the path of removing a top layer of my skin I feel I will probaly have to continue until I can't go any further, and hopefully they aren't to deep where they can't be taken care of.
As far as enlarged pores go, I've heard that there is not permant solution. Some lasers shrink them for awhile.
My advice is to not do anything that removes ur top layer at first. Use that as ur last resort. Start with subcision, needling, maybe TCA cross, fillers. I wished I had, but didn't find this site till I was in the healing stages of my dermabrasion.
How can it be in your experience have you had all of said treatments done? It is not the removal of the top skin that does it it is the heat caused by treatments like TCA nad laser resurfacing that may cause enlarged pores.
The best treatment would be dermabrasion it will not reduce natural pore size but since it removes a top layer it will reduce the size of pores stretched by age and pimples i.e. scarred and enlarged pores. Of all treatments though it seemes the scariest dermabrasion has the lowest chance of pigmentation problems and prolonged redness which can last many many months after treatments like CO2.
When I was younger I accidently scrubbed to hard with a fine exfoliator and it looked like a semi dermabrasion was done on my cheeks on the sides of my nose. When I finally healed the pores were smaller. I can only imagine a real dermabrasion that goes deeper will give better results.
Yeah, most. Started with the four layer Blue TCA chemical peel, then full face dermabrasion, then 5 fraxel #1, then a total fx (fractional C02), needling via dermaroller .75 & 1.5, just recently subcision last wed.
When I started I had rolling scars & 2 boxcars. Never noticed my pores. After the dermabrasion is when they became apparent. My daughter asked me a few times why my pores are so big. I was more worried about how much more my scars stood out. After the Fraxel is when I really started noticing how big my scarred pores where. Very, very noticable. when I wear makeup it looks worse.
When I was about 13 and just started to get 1 or 2 acne spots I took a srubber and tried to scrub my chin area. I had a scab for 2 weeks. When the healing was completed I had open pores in the crease of my chin. It didn't bother me too much because It was hidden in the crease and at the time my skin was beautiful.
What kind or scars do u have? Have u tried any treatments? Has any of them been helpful for u?
I think ur skin looks good. U look alot younger in the after photo. As far as pores(enlarged or scared) go, It's been my experience that anything that removes a layer of the skin (dermabrasion, chemical peel, Co2) can make it appear worse. U can only go down so far. And the scared pore probaly has a larger base then what is on the surface. Now that I started down the path of removing a top layer of my skin I feel I will probaly have to continue until I can't go any further, and hopefully they aren't to deep where they can't be taken care of.
As far as enlarged pores go, I've heard that there is not permant solution. Some lasers shrink them for awhile.
My advice is to not do anything that removes ur top layer at first. Use that as ur last resort. Start with subcision, needling, maybe TCA cross, fillers. I wished I had, but didn't find this site till I was in the healing stages of my dermabrasion.
How can it be in your experience have you had all of said treatments done? It is not the removal of the top skin that does it it is the heat caused by treatments like TCA nad laser resurfacing that may cause enlarged pores.
The best treatment would be dermabrasion it will not reduce natural pore size but since it removes a top layer it will reduce the size of pores stretched by age and pimples i.e. scarred and enlarged pores. Of all treatments though it seemes the scariest dermabrasion has the lowest chance of pigmentation problems and prolonged redness which can last many many months after treatments like CO2.
When I was younger I accidently scrubbed to hard with a fine exfoliator and it looked like a semi dermabrasion was done on my cheeks on the sides of my nose. When I finally healed the pores were smaller. I can only imagine a real dermabrasion that goes deeper will give better results.
Yeah, most. Started with the four layer Blue TCA chemical peel, then full face dermabrasion, then 5 fraxel #1, then a total fx (fractional C02), needling via dermaroller .75 & 1.5, just recently subcision last wed.
When I started I had rolling scars & 2 boxcars. Never noticed my pores. After the dermabrasion is when they became apparent. My daughter asked me a few times why my pores are so big. I was more worried about how much more my scars stood out. After the Fraxel is when I really started noticing how big my scarred pores where. Very, very noticable. when I wear makeup it looks worse.
When I was about 13 and just started to get 1 or 2 acne spots I took a srubber and tried to scrub my chin area. I had a scab for 2 weeks. When the healing was completed I had open pores in the crease of my chin. It didn't bother me too much because It was hidden in the crease and at the time my skin was beautiful.
What kind or scars do u have? Have u tried any treatments? Has any of them been helpful for u?
Within how much time? Those are some pretty strong treatments for a face to go through.
