Sorry to all those who have emailed me with specific questions in recent months. I have my preferences on this site setup to where I am emailed when personal messages are sent. For whatever reason I stopped receiving those emails. I have been insanely busy with work and school so I don't often log on to manually check.
Anyways, with Spring semester just ending and Summer school beginning in a little over two weeks, I will take this opportunity to have another laser treatment done. Beginning tomorrow, 5/21/14, I go in for fraxel repair. I had a few different options, namely DeepFX or Repair, and again opted for the Repair. Doc recommends the repair as it is apparently better at treating larger areas. The doc also points out that I have "textural" issues now as opposed to big scars. DeepFX is nice for treating specific areas while leaving the surrounding tissue untreated. Repair is nice for hitting an entire area.
Beyond all that, I am not really sure what else to say. I think everything that could be said has been said on this 16 page thread.
I guess I could say... I am excited. 
L8r.
Post-op 16 days since my last fraxel repair. This treatment was probably the most aggressive repair I have had yet @ 60% coverage on the cheek/temple area.
I took a bunch of photos though after looking through them all carefully on my laptop they don't really show much scarring. My scars are quite difficult to catch on camera now as they are more like big pores at this point aside from a few tiny boxcar scars.
I never like to judge results a near 16 days out but I personally already see small results. People often ask, what kind of results? 50%? 75%? Nope, much less than that. I feel like when its all said and done, the results are like 15%. And that 15% is going with very aggressive coverage. I also feel that as the scars get smaller you get diminishing returns. Anyways, 15% with each treatment is more than satisfying for me.
Anybody who plans on having laser treatments done should realize even the most aggressive treatments are not a one-and-done procedure. Its all about expectations. I believe most doctors are much too conservative to go with aggressive treatments like the ones I have had done. Due to this, most people see results in the 5% range.
16 days out I am still very red. Not INSANE redness like the 100% ablative CO2 laser I had done, but a very sun-burnt red. It looked a bit weird as I only had the cheeks and temples done. My eyes/forehead/chin/nose area untouched which kind of makes the redness look more pronounced. That was until I discovered... FAKE BAKE FLAWLESS!
Fake Bake Flawless is a fake tan that comes in a spray bottle. You spray it onto a mitt and rub it on to your skin. I did this on the areas not touched by the laser and BAM, you can hardly even tell my face was lasered. I wish I discovered this stuff 4 laser treatments ago. For anybody who has uneven skin tone from only having part of the face treated I highly recommend it.
I may or may not get around to posting the photos. The 1-3 day post-op photos look much like the ones I already posted. Incredibly BLOODY and SWOLLEN!
Oh, one more thing. As a guy who is big on nutrition, I understand the role nutrition plays on wound healing as well (such as healing from having your face burned off with a laser). I found this interesting link from the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania. The link discusses the different stages of wound healing, collagen production and the quantity/types/duration of nutrition/calories required for optimum collagen/wound healing.
It also explains that going on calorie restrictive diets can impair or slow down collagen production during wound healing. 30-35 kcal per kg of body weight. I believe this to be true. Its like weight training to gain muscle. You can not increase muscle mass while cutting calories. Your body needs extra calories and amino acids to build new muscle. This is why body builders go on zig-zag or carb-cycling diets where they have a surplus of calories to gain muscle then switch to calorie restriction to burn off the added body fat.
http://www.med.upenn.edu/gec/user_documents/KimStefankiewiczWoundHealing.pdf
I take back what I said earlier. Fake bake flawless for whatever reason does not maintain a tan for long. Actually, its gone within 12-16 hours. Maybe I am applying incorrectly or not applying enough but I can't get it to remain on my skin. So I am back to looking like a freak with reddish cheeks due to the laser and pale skin else where.
The funny/sad thing is... for summer school I am taking an 8 week crash course on Public Speaking. Six speeches in 8 weeks; I have been doing them in front of the class looking like a freak. Oddly enough nobody has yet to comment on it.
CollegBoy84, congrats on going with Re:pair at 60%. I recommend people go directly to Re:pair if they can handle it. I always estimated 10% improvement with each subsequent Re:pair beginning with #3, so if you think you got 15% that is great. I have referred several people to your postings to show them how the protocol should be run. So many people just refuse to do it right, and come away disappointed.
Dude, mad props for not giving a s**t. I literally go completely into hiding after a major procedure until it is presentable.
Lol... thanks. Honestly I do care to some extent though. But shoot, after the FIRST day of class they required us to give our FIRST speech, and I went up there looking like a completely burnt freak, it couldn't get any worse right? LOL. 60% coverage was definitely the worse redness I have dealt with in terms of fraxel repairs go. I just keep telling myself, " in 6 more weeks I'll never see these people again".
CollegBoy84, congrats on going with Re:pair at 60%. I recommend people go directly to Re:pair if they can handle it. I always estimated 10% improvement with each subsequent Re:pair beginning with #3, so if you think you got 15% that is great. I have referred several people to your postings to show them how the protocol should be run. So many people just refuse to do it right, and come away disappointed.
Yep, that can't be stressed enough. I feel the effects/benefits of repair are maximized by aggressive treatments. At very low, conservative energy/coverage levels you will almost certainly come out disappointed. Disappointment also stems from the belief that repair is one and done like many doctors claim; its not, it almost never is. In fact, its quite costly to go through multiple treatments. And as many readers on this site are young teens with limited funds, I can sympathize with their anguish.
CollegBoy84, congrats on going with Re:pair at 60%. I recommend people go directly to Re:pair if they can handle it. I always estimated 10% improvement with each subsequent Re:pair beginning with #3, so if you think you got 15% that is great. I have referred several people to your postings to show them how the protocol should be run. So many people just refuse to do it right, and come away disappointed.
And how much does this cost? LOL. I've getting pretty good results just with Vbeam Perfecta, microneedling, tca peels and saline injections! Boxcar and Rolling
Did she do three passes at 100% ablation? I thought she was only comfortable doing one pass. Can you see your scars at this point? Are worried, at all?
Good luck with healing!
I honestly don't know. I was pretty high off morphine when I left the place. Tomorrow I will have my first post-op check up to get more details. She said 3 "passes" but she may have been talking about 3 different depths.
I was really interested in your experience with the fully ablative CO2. It seemed ambiguous as to whether your doctor did 3 passes or 1 pass with the fully ablative CO2. Can you clarify? Your description of the recovery from the 100% ablative CO2 laser sounded really prolonged with 3-4 months of redness. I'm trying to figure out if the described prolonged recovery was after a 3-pass 100% ablative treatment or a 1-pass 100% ablative treatment. I just received a fractional CO2 treatment 2 weeks ago and most of the redness has already dissipated. I am considering going for a 1-pass 100% ablative treatment next time around.
Dude, mad props for not giving a s**t. I literally go completely into hiding after a major procedure until it is presentable.
Lol... thanks. Honestly I do care to some extent though. But shoot, after the FIRST day of class they required us to give our FIRST speech, and I went up there looking like a completely burnt freak, it couldn't get any worse right? LOL. 60% coverage was definitely the worse redness I have dealt with in terms of fraxel repairs go. I just keep telling myself, " in 6 more weeks I'll never see these people again".
>CollegBoy84, congrats on going with Re:pair at 60%. I recommend people go directly to Re:pair if they can handle it. I always estimated 10% improvement with each subsequent Re:pair beginning with #3, so if you think you got 15% that is great. I have referred several people to your postings to show them how the protocol should be run. So many people just refuse to do it right, and come away disappointed.
Yep, that can't be stressed enough. I feel the effects/benefits of repair are maximized by aggressive treatments. At very low, conservative energy/coverage levels you will almost certainly come out disappointed. Disappointment also stems from the belief that repair is one and done like many doctors claim; its not, it almost never is. In fact, its quite costly to go through multiple treatments. And as many readers on this site are young teens with limited funds, I can sympathize with their anguish.
Respect to you college boy how are you doing know any more updates its been 1 year since you last updated us.
This thread has really turned me off of fraxel repair considering you guys have spent enough money on it to buy a mercedes c-class and are still chasing results. It seems like the difference between fraxel dual and repair for acne scars is 10 grand for an extra 5% improvement that nobody will really even notice. I would only go for it if I was super rich.
On 12/15/2014 at 7:30 AM, DudleyDoRight said:You are testing my memory banks, but I believe it was under 11k for all 5, with the first one costing 5k because Re:pair was brand new at the time.
I dont believe you, I think youre exaggerating. I would remember exactly how much I paid each time. Ive never seen a repair price for under 2k. Average is about 4k and at best would never be less than 3 for just cheeks and temples.