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Unhappenstance.. I am glad to hear you have seen improvement. I am starting fraxel on april 3 and am feeling skeptical about how well fraxel really works. I called the doc and asked her to be straightforward with me about the effectivness about the treatment. This is what I found out: when fraxel was first introduced five years ago, the treatments were given VERY conservatively because the medical professionals were uncertain on how safe it really was. She told me that it is true that people who had treatments early on, did not really have good results. (because doctors were not using strong enough treatments) She said that last fall (around october) the parameters on safety have been reset and doctors are now allowed to use stronger treatments that have higher settings and go deeper. Since then, there have been significant improvements in patients. She also said that a new machine is going to be available in May that goes deeper than any other one so far and they expect this one to show the best results yet. (and also does not require blue dye). So.. although I am still skeptical, I feel better about the chances of improvement. Has anyone out there had treatment since oct and want to share how it went?
I am glad to see at least one post about this.. (uhnappenstance)
I will keep updates how it goes.
(I think I am going to wait until summer to have the other three.. since I am a teacher and wont have to worry about going to work if I have a long downtime)
Looks like I'm going to have some Fraxel treatments, there was a page somewhere in this thread with a link to a page about supplements to take to ensure your boby is as prepared to face a laser as possible. Does anybody know where that is? I'd say my scarrings shallow but not neccesarily rolling, more really shallow ice-picks which are noticeable in certain lights. Hopefully Fraxel will take the edge of them.
Looks like I'm going to have some Fraxel treatments, there was a page somewhere in this thread with a link to a page about supplements to take to ensure your boby is as prepared to face a laser as possible. Does anybody know where that is? I'd say my scarrings shallow but not neccesarily rolling, more really shallow ice-picks which are noticeable in certain lights. Hopefully Fraxel will take the edge of them.
CJ, ice picks have had mixed results on fraxel. Might I suggest excision then fraxel? The shallower and smaller your ice picks are, the better they excision will come out. I'm getting my ice picks excised in less than 2 weeks. If you're willing to wait a few months, I will update my progress in this thread.
I just got back from my 3rd Fraxel with Stephanie at Dr. Duffy's office.
It's funny but i was looking at some of my before pics and i did notice significant improvement since after the first fraxel 1 treatment.
Stephanie went really aggressive this time and went to a level she called R-1. Does anyone have any info on this?? I'm curious to know how this compares to the 40mj level 12 i was doing before... I was in such pain it skipped my mind to ask..
She also gave me some TNS recovery complex which she told me is usually prescribed to burn victims.. has anyone else tried this post fraxel and if so did u react in any way esp w/ breakouts...
p.s.. the new tip is not out yet.. she told me herself the newer levels are out already.. up to 70mj.. but she won't experiment with her patients and want to see the results of it first.
I am getting the impression after reading through many posts that people do not notice their own improvements so much.. maybe its because we look at ourselves everyday. That and we tend to be our own worse critics. I am so nervous about getting fraxel.. my worst thought it going through all this, spending thousands, and looking exactly the same. It does seem that everyone has SOME improvement though.. even if it is only a little. Keep the posts coming.. they are helpful. I start on Apr 3, I will post progress. The doc thinks I will only need 2 treatments.. hopefully she is right. I would like to post before and after pics.. can anyone tell me how to do this?? please?
Just wanted to keep all of you posted. I am now a month post 3rd Fraxel 1 treatment, unfortunantely I can't afford to get my fourth treatment this month, but I schedueled for the April 27th (so far away). But I have had some people mention that my skin looks like it is improving. The comments are not plenty enough for me to get too excited about but I have noticed myself that some of my rolling scars are begining to raise, and thats enough to make me excited. I wanted to get 5-6 treatments but my doc is convinced that 4 treatments will prove to be good results and she thinks I should save my money and wait a couple months after my 4th treatment to see what kind of results I get. We'll see what I decide on doing. The best of luck with everyone else's treatments!
hello...
i had my first fraxel treatment 16 February 2007.
it didn't hurt. i was a little puffy and red afterwards. i had the treatment on a friday and was back at work on monday. on monday i was only a pinkish colour and didn't feel it was bad enough to worry at all about make up. i peeled a little for the next few days but not noticeably.
my second fraxel treatment was on 16 March 2007.
it hurt. i squeezed my hands tight and made it through (so it was bareable) but uncomfortable. I think probably becuase the skin was new (so not as tough) from the last treatment. I did not get puffy at all this time and just went red. Amazingly i probably could have gone out that night if i had really wanted to. Monday i was still red but again looked like too much sun so didn't bother with make up. i peeled for a few days.
My doctor has told me (like most people doing this treatment) results are noticeable from the last (4th treatment) and progress up to 6 months afterwards. But you can't help but look and try to notice differences on the way.
After the first one my pores were smaller (but only i noticed), some of my acne scars went but once the puffiness and redness subsided a few came back but about three didn't (again only i noticed), i started to have healthy colour in my cheeks (which i'd lacked for ages, i'm really fair).
After the second treatment my pores were again smaller, more shallow scares have disappeared the ones remaining are not so deep. My skin is smoother, more of a healthy rosy colour in my cheeks, and a few people have noticed and mentioned my skin "looks good today"......
There are still some scars remaining. I have two more treatments to go. I am fairly excited to see some results so early on. I know the next two treatments will hurt but so far its worth it. Hopefully the next two will be as successful.
I paid A3,500 for 4 fraxels. IF, my scars never return then the money to me has been worth it definately. Apparently it should last forever. But there is a possibilitiy some may return depending on ageing and other factors. They recommend after finishing a course, a year later going back and doing just one treatment to finalise things.......
If anyone has any questions i'd be happy to help if i can.
3,500 for four! I'm considering it in the UK but there's no ay I can afford that! Where you getting it done? That's about $6,500. I was expecting closer to 2,000.
And Zonk, thanks for your advice, what is subcision? I don't know whether my scars actually are ice picks. All i know is they are very shallow and don't really look like scars. My skin just looks like it has a poor complexion and looks uneven only in harsh lighting. Are even the smallest scars treatable by subcision?
Cheers.
3,500 for four! I'm considering it in the UK but there's no ay I can afford that! Where you getting it done? That's about $6,500. I was expecting closer to 2,000.And Zonk, thanks for your advice, what is subcision? I don't know whether my scars actually are ice picks. All i know is they are very shallow and don't really look like scars. My skin just looks like it has a poor complexion and looks uneven only in harsh lighting. Are even the smallest scars treatable by subcision?
Cheers.
i didn't go back and look but I think I wrote excisions, not subcisions. Either way, I meant excisions, if you have ice picks. Excisions are when a doctor uses a punch biopsy tool (like a cookie cutter) to cut out your scar and stitch the wound. It creates a much shallower, linear scar that can easily be resurfaced with lasers. Excisions are perfect for ice-pick (i.e. pitted scars) and some boxcars. Subcision, I'm less familiar with, but it is when a doctor uses a needle to disrupt the scar tissue that is creating a dent. This works well for scars that are bound down, like rolling scars.
The risks of excision are generally higher for wide, deep pitted scars. For shallow, narrow scars, almost everyone on this board has seen near 75-100% improvement. There is a 20-page excision thread that you might want to look through if you have ice picks.
It sounds like you don't have ice picks, however. You can identify your scar types here: http://www.cosmeticskin.com/skin-acnescartypes.shtml
If you do decide you need/want excisions, you can still do fraxel concurrently, in a sense. You would just replace a fraxel treatment w/ excision (you'll have stitches for ~1 week and you will want to give 3-4 weeks total to heal up). Obviously, it's better to do it earlier on and/or before, so fraxel can resurface the resulting excision scars.
Should answer a lot of the technical questions for Fraxel 1 and Fraxel 2.
http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/reio001/2...mages/20883.pdf
The presentation was taken from this very long and in-depth webinar:
Reliant Technologies Advanced Fraxel Laser Training Course
Led by: Gary Lask, MD, Jenny Kim, MD and fellows from UCLA. Additional presenters are Zakia Rahman, MD, Richard Fitzpatrick, MD, and Christopher Zachary, MD.
Hi guys, I've been contemplating getting fraxel laser for a while. My scars are not that bad. I think i have some rolling and some box scars on my cheeks. It's more noticable if u look sideways under direct light, not too noticable if u just look at it straight. I also have some red marks on the scars. I am post accutane for almost a year. My scars used to be alot worst right after I finshed accutane but they have very slowly improved and red marks have faded abit I think. If fraxel can improve my scar, I don't mind spending the money but I am just soo scared for it to make my skin worst or spend so much money and not work at all. It is a very expensive treatment and I really don't have any money to waste. Here are some of my scar pics.
First one taken about 3 months ago.
These two pics are taken today.
Hi guys, I've been contemplating getting fraxel laser for a while. My scars are not that bad. I think i have some rolling and some box scars on my cheeks. It's more noticable if u look sideways under direct light, not too noticable if u just look at it straight. I also have some red marks on the scars. I am post accutane for almost a year. My scars used to be alot worst right after I finshed accutane but they have very slowly improved and red marks have faded abit I think. If fraxel can improve my scar, I don't mind spending the money but I am just soo scared for it to make my skin worst or spend so much money and not work at all. It is a very expensive treatment and I really don't have any money to waste. Here are some of my scar pics.First one taken about 3 months ago.
These two pics are taken today.
Definitely do it. Your scars look pretty shallow, so you should see pretty solid results. No one on the fraxel thread has said it's made their skin worse.
For anyone here who's currently doing Fraxel -- did the doctor recommend using Retin-A prior to starting Fraxel? That's what my doctor prescribed.
My PS told me to NOT to use any kind of retinoids on my face 2 weeks prior to treatment. He made me sign a paper stating that I was aware that I shouldn't be using them with Fraxel. It's been a while since I spoke with him about it and I can't remember exactly why they shouldn't be used together but, I think it had to do with excessive peeling. Not sure though.
For anyone here who's currently doing Fraxel -- did the doctor recommend using Retin-A prior to starting Fraxel? That's what my doctor prescribed.My PS told me to NOT to use any kind of retinoids on my face 2 weeks prior to treatment. He made me sign a paper stating that I was aware that I shouldn't be using them with Fraxel. It's been a while since I spoke with him about it and I can't remember exactly why they shouldn't be used together but, I think it had to do with excessive peeling. Not sure though.
Retinoids inhibit heat shock protein 70, which is involved in wound healing/collagen formation.
Sdsuallen, I know you asked me where I was going, where are you going in East Bay? Curious, if we have same Doc.
Billyboy - I have been going to Aesthetic & Reconstructive Plastic Surgery in Danville. I had my first Fraxel 2 on March 23rd, and my second treatment earlier today. It has really been a great experience thus far. It is too early for me to say what kind of results I have received from Fraxel, but everyone at Dr. Stompro & Dr. Chang's office has been really helpful through everything.
I just got back from my 3rd Fraxel with Stephanie at Dr. Duffy's office.It's funny but i was looking at some of my before pics and i did notice significant improvement since after the first fraxel 1 treatment.
Stephanie went really aggressive this time and went to a level she called R-1. Does anyone have any info on this?? I'm curious to know how this compares to the 40mj level 12 i was doing before... I was in such pain it skipped my mind to ask..
She also gave me some TNS recovery complex which she told me is usually prescribed to burn victims.. has anyone else tried this post fraxel and if so did u react in any way esp w/ breakouts...
p.s.. the new tip is not out yet.. she told me herself the newer levels are out already.. up to 70mj.. but she won't experiment with her patients and want to see the results of it first.
My doctor did the R 1 level on me for my last treatment. It was pretty painful. I am going to call on Monday and ask my doctor if he has the new head yet. He gets things pretty fast.
I'm still having problems with the milia and small red bumps. It's now two months after my 5th Fraxel and my skin seems pretty much the same. I only see improvment in two rolling scars on my cheeks. The red marks and all the other scars look pretty much exactly the same before I started.
I would only recommend this for shallow rolling or shallow boxcar type scars.
I just got back from my 3rd Fraxel with Stephanie at Dr. Duffy's office.It's funny but i was looking at some of my before pics and i did notice significant improvement since after the first fraxel 1 treatment.
Stephanie went really aggressive this time and went to a level she called R-1. Does anyone have any info on this?? I'm curious to know how this compares to the 40mj level 12 i was doing before... I was in such pain it skipped my mind to ask..
She also gave me some TNS recovery complex which she told me is usually prescribed to burn victims.. has anyone else tried this post fraxel and if so did u react in any way esp w/ breakouts...
p.s.. the new tip is not out yet.. she told me herself the newer levels are out already.. up to 70mj.. but she won't experiment with her patients and want to see the results of it first.
My doctor did the R 1 level on me for my last treatment. It was pretty painful. I am going to call on Monday and ask my doctor if he has the new head yet. He gets things pretty fast.
I'm still having problems with the milia and small red bumps. It's now two months after my 5th Fraxel and my skin seems pretty much the same. I only see improvment in two rolling scars on my cheeks. The red marks and all the other scars look pretty much exactly the same before I started.
I would only recommend this for shallow rolling or shallow boxcar type scars.
what type of scars do you mostly? and even with the improvement in those 2 scars was it worth 5 treatments?? sorry about your results from your sig it looks like u had a good agressive treatment going.
Ok if all that stuff about retinoids above is true, then why did my derm recommend using Retin-A before Fraxel???? I'm confused.
...Now I remember. It's to prep my skin beforehand so that if I get hyperpigmentation, it will fade faster.
My doc said the new tip will be available to her in June. I'm going to wait until it's been used in her office for a few months before I think about doing Fraxel.