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Had another procedure done today. It went smoothly. I decided to get the numbing creme instead of all the shots and injections into my face. I felt a little more pain during the procedure because of it, but it wasn't completely unbareable. I felt much better after the procedure though. Also, my face wasn't as swollen since I didn't have the fluid injections. The sunburn feeling lasted about two hours after the procedure. Right now, 3 hours after getting it done I only have some swelling and my face looks sunburnt. Other than that, everything is good!
I have noticed that alot of you had 20 mj's on your second treatment, while i only had 18, do you think i should as the doctor to be more aggressive?I would. I started noticing a big difference once he went to 20 and higher. It's a little more painful, but the results are definetely worth it.
Cubsfan,
I would like to be able to go to a higher level as well. The doctor's concern is that I have an olive complexion and they don't want to put me at risk for hyperpigmentation. Is your complexion fair?
Thanks,
Annde
Hi Annde,
Yes, I have a fair complexion. I can understand your doctor's concern. There are some Asian people on here that worry about that too. Do you think more passes would make up for a higher setting, without worrying about hyperpigmentation?
Doggy Dogg:
To be safe you should avoid retin-a for at least a month before and at least several weeks after FRAXEL to avoid prolonged redness. To clear your breakouts and what many are using post fraxel is 5% apple cider vinegar diluted 50% with distilled water applied topically as an astrigent ( i like o put mine is a spray bottle and spritz on throughouth the day) applied directly to the face at least 3 times a day. Also try to drink 6 glasses a day of lemon water. (Mix a half a lemon w/at least 8 oz. purified water 6x a day) Your breakout will chill right down. As a side effect you will have purified your blood, infused yourself with vitamin c so your face will glow with loveliness too!
Zim
I had my first fraxel about a week ago. Because I am dark skinned (Type IV) the doctor suggested that I treat my entire face so that in case I hyperpigment I wont like weird. It hurt like a bitch, i mean it really hurt, but strangely I hardly saw any down time at all. I was a bit red and a bit swollen for like a day and that was about it. I had gotten Cool Touch treatments before and right after the treatment the doctor looked at me surprisingly and said "Most people look a lot worse after the treatment". I dont know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, i'm hoping its a good thing. My face has been itchy all week but that is slowly dying down. The cost in NYC is outrageous 1500 so I'm not sure if this treatment is really worth it especially if it doesnt even work. I thought I'd give it a try and see if I do get any improvements. I will post after my second treatment. If I dont see anything after 3000 dollars then I'll have to stop at that. There were some doctors charging less (not much less) but I opted to see someone with a lot of experience after having read a few horror stories about people getting messed up with fraxel, especially since I'm darker skinned.
I have noticed that alot of you had 20 mj's on your second treatment, while i only had 18, do you think i should as the doctor to be more aggressive?I would. I started noticing a big difference once he went to 20 and higher. It's a little more painful, but the results are definetely worth it.
Cubsfan,
I would like to be able to go to a higher level as well. The doctor's concern is that I have an olive complexion and they don't want to put me at risk for hyperpigmentation. Is your complexion fair?
Thanks,
Annde
Hi Annde,
Yes, I have a fair complexion. I can understand your doctor's concern. There are some Asian people on here that worry about that too. Do you think more passes would make up for a higher setting, without worrying about hyperpigmentation?
Cubsfan,
Thanks for the advice. I will suggest this to my doctor and see what he says.
Annde
alternatively you could take an antibiotic like minocycline. i'd think vinegar would add to the irritation and unecessarily dry the skin out.
vitamin C is an essential catalyst in the formation of collagen, but it needs to be eaten (supplement or foods).
Doggy Dogg:
To be safe you should avoid retin-a for at least a month before and at least several weeks after FRAXEL to avoid prolonged redness. To clear your breakouts and what many are using post fraxel is 5% apple cider vinegar diluted 50% with distilled water applied topically as an astrigent ( i like o put mine is a spray bottle and spritz on throughouth the day) applied directly to the face at least 3 times a day. Also try to drink 6 glasses a day of lemon water. (Mix a half a lemon w/at least 8 oz. purified water 6x a day) Your breakout will chill right down. As a side effect you will have purified your blood, infused yourself with vitamin c so your face will glow with loveliness too!
Zim
I had my first fraxel about a week ago. Because I am dark skinned (Type IV) the doctor suggested that I treat my entire face so that in case I hyperpigment I wont like weird. It hurt like a bitch, i mean it really hurt, but strangely I hardly saw any down time at all. I was a bit red and a bit swollen for like a day and that was about it. I had gotten Cool Touch treatments before and right after the treatment the doctor looked at me surprisingly and said "Most people look a lot worse after the treatment". I dont know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, i'm hoping its a good thing. My face has been itchy all week but that is slowly dying down. The cost in NYC is outrageous 1500 so I'm not sure if this treatment is really worth it especially if it doesnt even work. I thought I'd give it a try and see if I do get any improvements. I will post after my second treatment. If I dont see anything after 3000 dollars then I'll have to stop at that. There were some doctors charging less (not much less) but I opted to see someone with a lot of experience after having read a few horror stories about people getting messed up with fraxel, especially since I'm darker skinned.
More fraxel for stretch marks:
http://wb11.empowereddoctor.com/story.php?id=865#
http://www.benhugo.com/laserresurfacing.asp
I blew this last one up in photoshop. Fraxel certainly got rid of the woman's "linea negra" which is just excess melanin. It really looks like it firmed her tummy and reduced the striae too but it's hard to tell since the skin is so red.
I found this link showing how the MTZs get laid down. It's interesting how it takes several passes to get 2000 MTZs/square cm. I wonder how some MTZs don't accidentally get laid down on top of one another?
Alright since everyone complains about no one showing proof of their progress.. here is mine... i had my first fraxel 2 on jan 5th.
settings were: 40mjs, level 7 @ 23%.
I am 26, i would consider my acne scarring moderate. I have more of a yellow/olive tone.
The pictures are 15 days apart. I see a slight improvement and it was only my first treatment. I am assuming after 15 days the swelling has gone down and this should be the actual result, but than again i dont know.
let me know what you guys think,
Had another procedure done today. It went smoothly. I decided to get the numbing creme instead of all the shots and injections into my face. I felt a little more pain during the procedure because of it, but it wasn't completely unbareable. I felt much better after the procedure though. Also, my face wasn't as swollen since I didn't have the fluid injections. The sunburn feeling lasted about two hours after the procedure. Right now, 3 hours after getting it done I only have some swelling and my face looks sunburnt. Other than that, everything is good!
I looked at your blog and your skin isn't very bad so you should respond to Fraxel well.
Its great that you are seeing some improvement already!! Are you still swollen at all?? You still look quite red.
I had my first fraxel on Jan 5th as well and have the next one scheduled for the 25th. I think you fared better because your scars are very mild to begin with..
TheyCanBeCured said:Hard to tell the improvement. Can you take pictures from a more similar angle?You might still have some swelling even at 15 days. Ur skin looks irritated. Did fraxel break you out?
I wish I was as precise with the angels... its difficult to get the exact same angle weeks apart. I can tell you this, my skin does feel a bit smoother, my scarring has improved slightly, its not a dramatic change or difference. But it is enough for me to want to go for the next session. And its day 17 today for me, and skin is still looking good.
My skin does a loook irritated because I went to vegas last weekend and partied it up and didnt take care of my skin as much as I should have. Everyone smokes in the casinos and i was out till 6 am each night and didnt get a lot of water or rest. Plus shaving for a guy cuz irritation sometimes. But that is temporary for me, my skin goes back to being nice as long as i do my daily regiment, wash with benzol, lotion, and drinking a lot of water as well as sleeping.
I think fraxel is working well with my skin type because my scarring is not to severe and my skin type is white, even though it doesnt look it in the pic. If anyone wants to see more before and after pics... hit me up on instant messenger, my aim is: [Removed]
Had another procedure done today. It went smoothly. I decided to get the numbing creme instead of all the shots and injections into my face. I felt a little more pain during the procedure because of it, but it wasn't completely unbareable. I felt much better after the procedure though. Also, my face wasn't as swollen since I didn't have the fluid injections. The sunburn feeling lasted about two hours after the procedure. Right now, 3 hours after getting it done I only have some swelling and my face looks sunburnt. Other than that, everything is good!
Hi Chika, I just looked at your fraxel website and I am looking forward to your progress and really hope you get the 60% improvement you would like. I am wondering if this is what your doctor estimated your improvement could be with the fraxel. I have read posts where people are happy with their results but they dont mention an estimate of improvement and most people who have mentioned 30-40%. Dr. Fitzpatrick in La Jolla told me in the consult that the average rate of improvement is 50% but said it varies. I am wondering who your doctor is and how much you are paying. I read your profile and I sympathize with you on the self esteem issues having acne as a teen and then scars as an adult can cause even if you are as beautiful as you are.
5
Its been over 2 weeks since my 4th treatment. I don't realli see any improvement. I still hate my skin. I can't say i'm postive right now. Will skin continue to improve after final treatment? I'm realli doubting Fraxel right now. My surgical scars r horrible lookin. I still have linear scar lines.
Trouble Skin: I still have linear scars (4th month). Also I went on Fraxel 3-4 weeks after excision. Is something wrong w/ me?
how is subcission and excission different?
also its been awhile since i posted. my last treatment was at 24mjs, fraxel 1. my next and 4th fraxel treatment will be in about 3 weeks or so, and i plan to go 30mjs on scarred areas with extra passes and doing 24mjs on full face, let me know if anyone has any experienced opinions and thoughts....
oh yea, i have very light white skin and fraxel seems to make it whiter, lol, cept i'm still pinkish and reddish at some part.
jjp007 said:I looked at your blog and your skin isn't very bad so you should respond to Fraxel well.
jasmin said:Hi Chika, I just looked at your fraxel website and I am looking forward to your progress and really hope you get the 60% improvement you would like. I am wondering if this is what your doctor estimated your improvement could be with the fraxel. I have read posts where people are happy with their results but they dont mention an estimate of improvement and most people who have mentioned 30-40%. Dr. Fitzpatrick in La Jolla told me in the consult that the average rate of improvement is 50% but said it varies. I am wondering who your doctor is and how much you are paying. I read your profile and I sympathize with you on the self esteem issues having acne as a teen and then scars as an adult can cause even if you are as beautiful as you are.5
I am going toBrockton Cosmetic Surgery in Riverside, My doctor is Dr. Eremia. He seems like a very creditable docotor, as he is also a professor in Medicine at UCLA. I am getting both my cheeks done for $500/visit. He said it would be $700 for full face. The doctor told me that he believes I will get good results because I have fair skin so he can use higher settings, and also because my scars are mild. I am hoping for a 50-60% improvement but I don't want to get my hopes all high. For now I am just taking care of my skin, and doing whatever possible to help increase my results with the Fraxel.
Its been over 2 weeks since my 4th treatment. I don't realli see any improvement. I still hate my skin. I can't say i'm postive right now. Will skin continue to improve after final treatment? I'm realli doubting Fraxel right now. My surgical scars r horrible lookin. I still have linear scar lines.Trouble Skin: I still have linear scars (4th month). Also I went on Fraxel 3-4 weeks after excision. Is something wrong w/ me?
My skin was looking pretty good last week but this week it's gone right back to looking horrible. I hate to admit it but I know how you feel MZ, I'm feeling pretty down about things right now as well. I go in Wed for my last treatment and I almost don't even want to deal with it. I think the treatments or maybe the mostiurizer I use after the treatments are breaking me out in tiny little red bumps. Some have whiteheads and some don't. This makes my skin look red and irritated so right now my skin looks worse then before I started. I didn't have breakouts like this before. I had my acne pretty much under control.
I've been taking pictures in various different lighting to see for myself and yup, my skin looks as horrible as ever. Maybe I'm just going through a bad patch but right now I'm pretty depressed again and I haven't been depressed about my skin in a while. I think it's just more frustration.
My good friend who I have told I am doing these treatments keeps reminding me that I need to be a little more patient and wait a few months but I am not so sure a few more months are going to make that drastic of an improvment. I only see my saucer type scars on my cheecks 3 or 4 of them look a bit more shallow but they actually seem more noticable sometimes because they are closer to the top of my skin now....I know that makes no sense.
Sigh, I hate typing this I really do but as MZ said I'm really doubting the Fraxel right now. After my last treatment I need to decompress from all of this and stop worrying about my skin so much. If I focus to much on it I can get really depressed. I was going to set up a blog with the pics I have taken but at this point I can't bring myself to even do that. So who knows I might not be around this message board for a while, I need a break. As you can tell my positive attitude has gone. If for some reason I get some better results I will come back and post about it but for now I will just concentrate on other things.
Good luck to everyone else. I wish you better results then I have gotten so far.
how is subcission and excission different?also its been awhile since i posted. my last treatment was at 24mjs, fraxel 1. my next and 4th fraxel treatment will be in about 3 weeks or so, and i plan to go 30mjs on scarred areas with extra passes and doing 24mjs on full face, let me know if anyone has any experienced opinions and thoughts....
oh yea, i have very light white skin and fraxel seems to make it whiter, lol, cept i'm still pinkish and reddish at some part.
Simply Me, Good luck to you. I never went any higher than 24. I hope the pain is tolerable for you.
Its been over 2 weeks since my 4th treatment. I don't realli see any improvement. I still hate my skin. I can't say i'm postive right now. Will skin continue to improve after final treatment? I'm realli doubting Fraxel right now. My surgical scars r horrible lookin. I still have linear scar lines.Trouble Skin: I still have linear scars (4th month). Also I went on Fraxel 3-4 weeks after excision. Is something wrong w/ me?
My skin was looking pretty good last week but this week it's gone right back to looking horrible. I hate to admit it but I know how you feel MZ, I'm feeling pretty down about things right now as well. I go in Wed for my last treatment and I almost don't even want to deal with it. I think the treatments or maybe the mostiurizer I use after the treatments are breaking me out in tiny little red bumps. Some have whiteheads and some don't. This makes my skin look red and irritated so right now my skin looks worse then before I started. I didn't have breakouts like this before. I had my acne pretty much under control.
I've been taking pictures in various different lighting to see for myself and yup, my skin looks as horrible as ever. Maybe I'm just going through a bad patch but right now I'm pretty depressed again and I haven't been depressed about my skin in a while. I think it's just more frustration.
My good friend who I have told I am doing these treatments keeps reminding me that I need to be a little more patient and wait a few months but I am not so sure a few more months are going to make that drastic of an improvment. I only see my saucer type scars on my cheecks 3 or 4 of them look a bit more shallow but they actually seem more noticable sometimes because they are closer to the top of my skin now....I know that makes no sense.
Sigh, I hate typing this I really do but as MZ said I'm really doubting the Fraxel right now. After my last treatment I need to decompress from all of this and stop worrying about my skin so much. If I focus to much on it I can get really depressed. I was going to set up a blog with the pics I have taken but at this point I can't bring myself to even do that. So who knows I might not be around this message board for a while, I need a break. As you can tell my positive attitude has gone. If for some reason I get some better results I will come back and post about it but for now I will just concentrate on other things.
Good luck to everyone else. I wish you better results then I have gotten so far.
jjp, I'm so sorry to hear this. Here I thought this Fraxel 2 was going to be wonderful.
I'm not using moisturizer like most people on here . I would rather let my skin dry out on it's own, and hopefully the flaking will happen sooner. The only time I've used it was on my chin, when it was itching so bad I couldn't stand it.
After all these treatments you've had, I've got to believe that you will see improvement in the next couple of months. Have you talked to your doctor about this? A couple of times I've not looked closely at my skin for a week, and then when I did "study" it I did see an improvement. Please keep your chin up, I'm sure you'll see something soon!
Its now 11 days since my 2nd Fraxel spot treatment for depressed scars. (Energy = 20, Density = 125, Passes = 8)
The microswelling is totally gone and my scars are as prominent as ever.
The edges of the pitted scar are sharp and noticable, and the depth of the icepick scar is back to pre-treatment levels.
This is very frusterating because the microswelling made both of them near invisible!
I also doubt the effectiveness of Fraxel for reducing scarring. I know it is early in my treatment. The doctor told me to wait until after the 5th one before I draw conclusions. But, shouldn't I start to see something by now?
-Ralphie
Its now 11 days since my 2nd Fraxel spot treatment for depressed scars. (Energy = 20, Density = 125, Passes = 8)The microswelling is totally gone and my scars are as prominent as ever.
The edges of the pitted scar are sharp and noticable, and the depth of the icepick scar is back to pre-treatment levels.
This is very frusterating because the microswelling made both of them near invisible!
I also doubt the effectiveness of Fraxel for reducing scarring. I know it is early in my treatment. The doctor told me to wait until after the 5th one before I draw conclusions. But, shouldn't I start to see something by now?
-Ralphie
Dear Ralphie,
Please don't be discouraged as it does take at least 3 treatments to see the beginning of results. If your doctor is using the original Fraxel 20mj is perfect. What you might consider is asking him to be more agressive on your scars by adding four more passes. This is the way I treat our patients and we get very good results.
Good Luck,
ljgrn
Its now 11 days since my 2nd Fraxel spot treatment for depressed scars. (Energy = 20, Density = 125, Passes = 8)The microswelling is totally gone and my scars are as prominent as ever.
The edges of the pitted scar are sharp and noticable, and the depth of the icepick scar is back to pre-treatment levels.
This is very frusterating because the microswelling made both of them near invisible!
I also doubt the effectiveness of Fraxel for reducing scarring. I know it is early in my treatment. The doctor told me to wait until after the 5th one before I draw conclusions. But, shouldn't I start to see something by now?
-Ralphie
Ralphie, I didn't see any significant improvement until after my 3rd treatment. Please wait until the next one, and see if you notice the difference!
I am depressed and that's why I don't feel like visiting here much. Its depressing to hear about how things will get better after 3rd treatment. I didn't see any difference this time. My skin is so bad right now. I don't think I would want to do fraxel again. I'm starting to breakout on my forhead due to stress. I don't think I can accept having these scars on my face. What would be my next option? Feel real hopeless. Maybe I should consider ablative procedures.
At this point I feel like nothing great will ever happen to me. I really can't live w/ scars all over my face..
Mz, Troubled gave some advice on correcting surgical scars that were not done by an expert PS, which is my problem. You might want to go back to that posting and possibly see a good PS to see if he can reexcise scar. The problem is that this means more tissue loss, so PS may not be able to make a huge improvement, but a PS consult is probably warranted. Also, subcison and filler might be a better option for separated/sunken excisons than ablative lasers which have a very suspect record.
I am depressed and that's why I don't feel like visiting here much. Its depressing to hear about how things will get better after 3rd treatment. I didn't see any difference this time. My skin is so bad right now. I don't think I would want to do fraxel again. I'm starting to breakout on my forhead due to stress. I don't think I can accept having these scars on my face. What would be my next option? Feel real hopeless. Maybe I should consider ablative procedures.At this point I feel like nothing great will ever happen to me. I really can't live w/ scars all over my face..
I feel bad for you mz. I was talking about after the 3rd treatment using Fraxel 1. I haven't had Fraxel 2 yet. My doctor hasn't gotten it in yet. If I were you, I'd see my doctor, check the before pictures, and see what he thinks. Maybe he can do something more for you. Please don't give up hope. I've been dealing with this shit for 30 years, and I refuse to give up.