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Can Fraxel cause cystic acne? I had a treatment about a year ago for acne scars, and shortly after that I had the worst breakout of my life. I had my suspicions then, but thought it was just a horrible coincidence at the time. But the acne was really, really stubborn, the worst I'd ever seen and eventually I had to go on Accutane for 6 months, which cleared up my skin again to the point where I could have another Fraxel treatment.
My Accutane course ended in December, and I was told that I should wait about half a year before getting the treatment again (I still have a lot of pitted scars on my cheeks from the acne, before and after Accutane), so today I went in to have another Fraxel treatment.
I'm doing the vinegar soaks and applying Aquaphor as recommended, but I'm seeing the same troubling signs that I had from my last treatment. It's only been a few hours and I'm seeing a bunch of little whiteheads pop up. This happened last time too, and by the time my skin healed from the Fraxel treatment, my acne got worse and worse until it became the full-blown cystic breakout that needed Accutane to stop and I am terrified that it will happen again.
I looked this up a little while ago too, and it seems like a common problem with Fraxel for some reason? I know this isn't a medical article or anything, but it's enough comments from other people that went through the same thing to worry me: http://www.realself.com/forum/acne-breakout-after-fraxel-treatment
Why does this happen? I'm so terrified right now. My last breakout was absolutely devastating and I'd hate to have to go on Accutane again. My cheeks are really scarred and I thought Fraxel would be the way to fix it but this is really troubling news. I'm really having trouble understanding why something that is just supposed to help with scarring can cause cystic acne.
Please help! Thank you!
tl;dr: for anyone that doesn't want to read through all that, basically all I want to know is why Fraxel can cause cystic acne, and if there's anything I can do to prevent this from happening again?
I can't help from experience as I've never had fraxel but anything that traumatises your skin could have the potential to flare up acne. I have read of people getting blister like spots after fraxel, maybe your skin is too sensitive for the treatment? I know when I exfoliate to often and use harsher products on my skin that I tend to breakout more, your skin needs a lipid barrier to function properly and striping the skin of this can allow bacteria and irritants to flare up skin conditions. Try and stay calm I know it can be a frightening time when your skin has a major flare up, don't do anything further that will aggravate your skin and try to keep your skin as hydrated as possible. I find a bottled water spray like Aveene or Evian can help calm down redness and a good, basic moisturiser like e45, something with an emollient in it to keep in the moisture, the aquaphor is probably a good choice. It could also be the vinegar as it is acidic so will be exfoliating your skin and anything underneath will be coming to the surface, maybe try and dilute the vinegar more so it has less of a exfoliating effect on the skin. I hope things calm down soon x
the reason fraxel causes acne is that it brings all the oil to the surface of the skin. i've had a few of these treatments and the last one i got i had a ton of whiteheads pop up on my chin where i am the oiliest. the place i go to has me wash my face with my regular cleanser then use witch hazel toner to exfoliate the skin then after that i put on hydrogel and lastly ceramide cream. i do that 2-3 times a day post fraxel until my skin is healed.
also i start taking antibiotics 2-3 days before and stay on them about 7 days post fraxel. this really helps me not get any cystic acne breakouts.
one thing to note is that while your skin is healing do not pick touch or pick at any of the acne bumps because you could cause further scarring.
good luck to you and i hope you heal fast!
I can't help from experience as I've never had fraxel but anything that traumatises your skin could have the potential to flare up acne. I have read of people getting blister like spots after fraxel, maybe your skin is too sensitive for the treatment? I know when I exfoliate to often and use harsher products on my skin that I tend to breakout more, your skin needs a lipid barrier to function properly and striping the skin of this can allow bacteria and irritants to flare up skin conditions. Try and stay calm I know it can be a frightening time when your skin has a major flare up, don't do anything further that will aggravate your skin and try to keep your skin as hydrated as possible. I find a bottled water spray like Aveene or Evian can help calm down redness and a good, basic moisturiser like e45, something with an emollient in it to keep in the moisture, the aquaphor is probably a good choice. It could also be the vinegar as it is acidic so will be exfoliating your skin and anything underneath will be coming to the surface, maybe try and dilute the vinegar more so it has less of a exfoliating effect on the skin. I hope things calm down soon x
the reason fraxel causes acne is that it brings all the oil to the surface of the skin. i've had a few of these treatments and the last one i got i had a ton of whiteheads pop up on my chin where i am the oiliest. the place i go to has me wash my face with my regular cleanser then use witch hazel toner to exfoliate the skin then after that i put on hydrogel and lastly ceramide cream. i do that 2-3 times a day post fraxel until my skin is healed.
also i start taking antibiotics 2-3 days before and stay on them about 7 days post fraxel. this really helps me not get any cystic acne breakouts.
one thing to note is that while your skin is healing do not pick touch or pick at any of the acne bumps because you could cause further scarring.
good luck to you and i hope you heal fast!
Thank you both so much for the information and suggestions! I called my dermatologist this morning but he didn't sound too concerned - said I could come by to see him Saturday morning. I'd really feel better with some antibiotics, hopefully I can convince him to prescribe some on Saturday and that it won't be too late to prevent a breakout. Whiteheads are still popping up like crazy today, I hope it stops there and doesn't turn into cysts.
you are welcome! its very un-nerving i know how you feel but the antibiotics should help a lot too. i always take keflex before and after laser it works pretty well! good thing about the whiteheads is that if you leave them alone in a few days most of them will just dry up and fall off.
keep us updated on your progress and good luck with everything!