has anyone gotten the treatment in new york city area that could reccomend a doctor?

would love to get the treatment, but exactly how long has the down time been for everyone? i have school which is difficult to miss. thanks!

I had my first treatment yesterday and have slight swelling under my right eye, but already went out and look pretty normal (with makeup). I took cortisone, maybe that is helping me (plus Im olive skinned)

has anyone gotten the treatment in new york city area that could reccomend a doctor?

would love to get the treatment, but exactly how long has the down time been for everyone? i have school which is difficult to miss. thanks!

I had my first treatment yesterday and have slight swelling under my right eye, but already went out and look pretty normal (with makeup). I took cortisone, maybe that is helping me (plus Im olive skinned)

 

methylprednisolone reduces inflammation, correct?

do you think that's why you've had minimal swelling?

Hi,

I had my third fraxel treatment today for stretch marks on my abdomen. My doc used a setting of 55MJ, level 7 and the standard 8 passes with the Fraxel 2's rolling tip.

I always thought that level 7 corresponded to 23% skin coverage, regardless of energy/depth of treatment. However, the machine showed that the level 7 at 55MJ gave 20% coverage NOT 23%. What's going on?

Thanks,

Mark

Retinoids inhibit heat shock protein 70, which is involved in wound healing/collagen formation.

Apologies for quoting older posts. I was browsing through this thread when I stumbled upon the above. My doctor prescribed me with depigmenting lotion - consiting of 2.5% Hydroquinone and incindentally, 0.05% Retinoic Acid. Albeit the considerable small percentage of the latter, should this be of concern? I was told to apply it ever second night within 7 days of getting fraxel done, and then every night thereafter for a maximum six weeks. I'm due for my second treatment Friday week, which, according to the instructions, means I should be applying the lotion on my treated areas right up to the day of treatment.

Should I be worried?

..anybody?

in response to ronnie_bb,

i am not going to use hydroquinone after my treatments and even though i'm olive-toned, my doc said it's not necessary (i'm not asian at all, though i have some 'mixing' of other 'races' in my family history...).

Heartless told me about other products by Aloette Cosmetics called Lumitone Pigment Correcting Spot Treatment and Lumitone HP Pro for hypopigmentation that are natural (whereas hydroquinone has been banned in other countries because of the potential for skin damage/cancer). the thing is, i believe that you really will only have risk of hypopigmenting if you are exposed to sun after the treatment, so it doesn't seem necessary to use hydroquinone, i think.

and if you think it sounds dangerous to use it also because of the retinoic acid, i would trust your gut.

 

Thanks bluemorpho, appreciate the reply. In response, I deliberately failed to apply the depig lotion to my face after my second Fraxel (for your information, I experienced almost no peeling on the treated areas whatsoever post treatment). Last night, however, I applied a small amount to a treated area near my jaw (unscarred) as I was curious and wanted to see if I could elicit any response. Interestingly enough, I woke up not long ago, and discovered that same area had peeled significantly. Something tells me that peeling is a good thing (since I barely have, post treatment) but I don't want to subject myself to any negative effects, if people insist applying topical retinoids (even in small percentages) after treatment is a bad thing.

Has anyone else been prescribed or given some form of topical retinoids to apply post treatment or depig lotion consisting of small amounts of retinoic acid (as in my case) from the advice of your derm/doctor, yet refrain from doing so?

has anyone gotten the treatment in new york city area that could reccomend a doctor?

would love to get the treatment, but exactly how long has the down time been for everyone? i have school which is difficult to miss. thanks!

I had my first treatment yesterday and have slight swelling under my right eye, but already went out and look pretty normal (with makeup). I took cortisone, maybe that is helping me (plus Im olive skinned)

 

uh, steroids reduce swelling by stopping dna synthesis. you're screwing yourself royally taking them right after fraxel.

in fact steroids lead to thinned out skin

Appreciate the reply. In response, I deliberately failed to apply the depig lotion to my face after my second Fraxel (for your information, I experienced almost no peeling on the treated areas whatsoever post treatment). Last night, however, I applied a small amount to a treated area near my jaw (unscarred) as I was curious and wanted to see if I could elicit any response. Interestingly enough, I woke up not long ago, and discovered that same area had peeled significantly. Something tells me that peeling is a good thing (since I barely have, post treatment) but I don't want to subject myself to any negative effects, if people insist applying topical retinoids (even in small percentages) after treatment is a bad thing.

Has anyone else been prescribed or given some form of topical retinoids to apply post treatment, or depig lotion consisting of small amounts of retinoic acid (as in my case), yet refrain from doing so?

hi again ronnie, i think if you want to elicit peeling but not use the retinoid (which does cause peeling but has the other contrandictions to fraxel treatment), you might think about using a BHA or mandelic acid? (the latter which was formulated for post-laser use to prevent hypopigmentation, apparently). check out those boards under the 'blackheads' forum. i am fairly sure that people were talking about using one of those in conjunction with fraxel treatments...

has anyone gotten the treatment in new york city area that could reccomend a doctor?

would love to get the treatment, but exactly how long has the down time been for everyone? i have school which is difficult to miss. thanks!

I had my first treatment yesterday and have slight swelling under my right eye, but already went out and look pretty normal (with makeup). I took cortisone, maybe that is helping me (plus Im olive skinned)

 

uh, steroids reduce swelling by stopping dna synthesis. you're screwing yourself royally taking them right after fraxel.

in fact steroids lead to thinned out skin

 

Well yeah, I read on the Reliant website "some doctors advise taking steroids after fraxel but it is unknown if it will affect the healing process". So I just stopped taking it after the fist day. I must say that I look totally notmal now though (26 hours after), but cant wait for the brown crusty skin to peel off!

Does anyone know if it's advisable to do a chemical peel, like Beta or Jessners, in between fraxel treatments?

If you do next time you have a fraxel your face will be so sensitive\un healed it isnt funny = pain\increase risk of scarring.

I had my first treatment yesterday and have slight swelling under my right eye, but already went out and look pretty normal (with makeup). I took cortisone, maybe that is helping me (plus Im olive skinned)

uh, steroids reduce swelling by stopping dna synthesis. you're screwing yourself royally taking them right after fraxel.

in fact steroids lead to thinned out skin

 

Well yeah, I read on the Reliant website "some doctors advise taking steroids after fraxel but it is unknown if it will affect the healing process". So I just stopped taking it after the fist day. I must say that I look totally notmal now though (26 hours after), but cant wait for the brown crusty skin to peel off!

 

maggie, since we got ours about a day apart (in seven hours i will be at 48 hours post-fraxel), let's keep in touch about what healing process we're seeing. i think the main difference between what we're each seeing now is the swelling resulting (or not resulting, in your case) from post-care (though i'm glad you're not taking the steroid anymore, in view of what skimpywimpy pointed out). i think i swell a lot in general, but because i over-iced my face (and laid down on the first day to do so) it resulted in too much swelling. i spoke to a nurse last night who also confirmed something my acupuncturist said about ice restricting blood flow in and out of the area. it's good to a degree, but not to the amount i used it (20 minutes at a time is too much for the face, though it might be fine on your leg or something). also, lying down wasn't good because esp first day/first night you should apparently keep your head elevated above your heart. i had no idea!

i have olive-skin as well and was already seeing the 'bronzing' look yesterday after 24 hours -- which i'd describe as the small brown spots all over my face where the 'wounds' occurred, and drying out of the skin to a fine sandpaper-like texture. i still have swelling at middle-of-the-night second night after (especially in under eyes/between eyes and on my cheeks), but it's greatly reduced now after i stopped icing my face, drank about 8 cups of hot tea yesterday afternoon/night, and for the past 6 hours, slept sitting up as much as possible (i have minimal to only micro-swelling on my forehead, whereas yesterday it was REALLY puffed up).

what does everyone put on his or her face to aid the skin in peeling? does anyone use BHAs, etc.?

hi again ronnie, i think if you want to elicit peeling but not use the retinoid (which does cause peeling but has the other contrandictions to fraxel treatment), you might think about using a BHA or mandelic acid? (the latter which was formulated for post-laser use to prevent hypopigmentation, apparently). check out those boards under the 'blackheads' forum. i am fairly sure that people were talking about using one of those in conjunction with fraxel treatments...

i'm not going to use any BHAs, etc. -- i might look into aloe vera gel or a moisturizer. it looks like the best thing to do is just let your skin peel on its own, and not try to accelerate peeling.

would it be ok to take ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and inflamation?

I had my first treatment yesterday and have slight swelling under my right eye, but already went out and look pretty normal (with makeup). I took cortisone, maybe that is helping me (plus Im olive skinned)

uh, steroids reduce swelling by stopping dna synthesis. you're screwing yourself royally taking them right after fraxel.

in fact steroids lead to thinned out skin

 

Well yeah, I read on the Reliant website "some doctors advise taking steroids after fraxel but it is unknown if it will affect the healing process". So I just stopped taking it after the fist day. I must say that I look totally notmal now though (26 hours after), but cant wait for the brown crusty skin to peel off!

 

maggie, since we got ours about a day apart (in seven hours i will be at 48 hours post-fraxel), let's keep in touch about what healing process we're seeing. i think the main difference between what we're each seeing now is the swelling resulting (or not resulting, in your case) from post-care (though i'm glad you're not taking the steroid anymore, in view of what skimpywimpy pointed out). i think i swell a lot in general, but because i over-iced my face (and laid down on the first day to do so) it resulted in too much swelling. i spoke to a nurse last night who also confirmed something my acupuncturist said about ice restricting blood flow in and out of the area. it's good to a degree, but not to the amount i used it (20 minutes at a time is too much for the face, though it might be fine on your leg or something). also, lying down wasn't good because esp first day/first night you should apparently keep your head elevated above your heart. i had no idea!

i have olive-skin as well and was already seeing the 'bronzing' look yesterday after 24 hours -- which i'd describe as the small brown spots all over my face where the 'wounds' occurred, and drying out of the skin to a fine sandpaper-like texture. i still have swelling at middle-of-the-night second night after (especially in under eyes/between eyes and on my cheeks), but it's greatly reduced now after i stopped icing my face, drank about 8 cups of hot tea yesterday afternoon/night, and for the past 6 hours, slept sitting up as much as possible (i have minimal to only micro-swelling on my forehead, whereas yesterday it was REALLY puffed up).

what does everyone put on his or her face to aid the skin in peeling? does anyone use BHAs, etc.?

 

Bluemorpho- maybe the caffeine in the tea might be helping because it is a diuretic? The description you give of your skin is exactly how mine is looking (brownish rough texture that looks cracked and seems that will peel) . About 54 hours now.

The swelling under my right eye is better but still there. Plus this morning I woke up with about 17 little white pimples (that look like milia) mainly around my chin. The PA who did my fraxel said this is most probably caused by the biafine ointment because it can clog the pores. So he will have me come into his office and extract and inject them if necessesary in a couple of days. I will ask if getting into an antibiotic treatment before/during fraxel will help prevent this next time.

I will need to work on my willpower not to pick and peel on these!

Bluemorpho- maybe the caffeine in the tea might be helping because it is a diuretic? The description you give of your skin is exactly how mine is looking (brownish rough texture that looks cracked and seems that will peel) . About 54 hours now.

The swelling under my right eye is better but still there. Plus this morning I woke up with about 17 little white pimples (that look like milia) mainly around my chin. The PA who did my fraxel said this is most probably caused by the biafine ointment because it can clog the pores. So he will have me come into his office and extract and inject them if necessesary in a couple of days. I will ask if getting into an antibiotic treatment before/during fraxel will help prevent this next time.

I will need to work on my willpower not to pick and peel on these!

hi maggie -- yes, the tea is working because it's a diuretic...my acupuncturist told me to do it -- it was weird because i could literally see with every cup or so how the swelling was disappearing from my forehead about a half inch at a time, from the top down, and then the other areas of my face would get more bloated (this morning when i woke up my forehead wasn't swollen at all, but the swelling around my eyes had totally ballooned!).

today my acupuncturist gave me chinese herbs called yunnan paiyao that are for reducing swelling, because they move blood. alternately, if you have an open wound, they would also stop bleeding. apparently they have been used by the chinese and vietnamese armies in this regard. i'm taking two pills twice a day, but might increase to three pills twice a day.

i probably have about 10 white milia altogether on chin/cheeks/nose, but i had that many in other places last night/earlier today that are now gone. it's like they are just drying up as my skin gets drier and drier and starts flaking. the roughness of my skin isn't peeling so much as just falling off, only really around the sides of my chin and my upper lip -- my cheeks and forehead aren't flaking at all yet (it seems, then, that the areas of my face that i am moving a lot right now are the only ones flaking). i am at just about 58 hours post-fraxel.

i bet you won't have to extract those milia by the time your skin peels...they may just dry right up -- they aren't actual pimples, right? just where blackheads were, or something...?

hi maggie -- yes, the tea is working because it's a diuretic...my acupuncturist told me to do it -- it was weird because i could literally see with every cup or so how the swelling was disappearing from my forehead about a half inch at a time, from the top down, and then the other areas of my face would get more bloated (this morning when i woke up my forehead wasn't swollen at all, but the swelling around my eyes had totally ballooned!).

today my acupuncturist gave me chinese herbs called yunnan paiyao that are for reducing swelling, because they move blood. alternately, if you have an open wound, they would also stop bleeding. apparently they have been used by the chinese and vietnamese armies in this regard. i'm taking two pills twice a day, but might increase to three pills twice a day.

i probably have about 10 white milia altogether on chin/cheeks/nose, but i had that many in other places last night/earlier today that are now gone. it's like they are just drying up as my skin gets drier and drier and starts flaking. the roughness of my skin isn't peeling so much as just falling off, only really around the sides of my chin and my upper lip -- my cheeks and forehead aren't flaking at all yet (it seems, then, that the areas of my face that i am moving a lot right now are the only ones flaking). i am at just about 58 hours post-fraxel.

i bet you won't have to extract those milia by the time your skin peels...they may just dry right up -- they aren't actual pimples, right? just where blackheads were, or something...?

Yes, they are just like whiteheads, I took of one and it came right off. I need to leave them alone ! :shifty:

Glad to hear yours dried up!! I'm going to try drinking tea myself, hopefully that will help totally get rid of the swelling.

Hi,

I had my third fraxel treatment today for stretch marks on my abdomen. My doc used a setting of 55MJ, level 7 and the standard 8 passes with the Fraxel 2's rolling tip.

I always thought that level 7 corresponded to 23% skin coverage, regardless of energy/depth of treatment. However, the machine showed that the level 7 at 55MJ gave 20% coverage NOT 23%. What's going on?

Thanks,

Mark

That seems about right. 20% coverage. By the Mark, How's the results looking so far? How the texture of the stretch marks? The tone of the skin? Although i don't expect too much in color changes. But is the skin starting to look some what more blended in? or Less noticable since fraxel is supposed to help with texture?

Hi jimmyjoe, I have only had one fraxel so far, two weeks ago, the effect on texture and skin color are very positive and clearly noticeable in my case. I had very uneven skin color and all kind of red and brown pigmentation all over the face. It has improved about 50-60 %, it's like a miracle to me! I have not noticed an effect on scars so far, however, it is probably too early for that and will need more treatments.

Hi,

I had my third fraxel treatment today for stretch marks on my abdomen. My doc used a setting of 55MJ, level 7 and the standard 8 passes with the Fraxel 2's rolling tip.

I always thought that level 7 corresponded to 23% skin coverage, regardless of energy/depth of treatment. However, the machine showed that the level 7 at 55MJ gave 20% coverage NOT 23%. What's going on?

Thanks,

Mark

That seems about right. 20% coverage. By the Mark, How's the results looking so far? How the texture of the stretch marks? The tone of the skin? Although i don't expect too much in color changes. But is the skin starting to look some what more blended in? or Less noticable since fraxel is supposed to help with texture?

 

i'm curious too about how this treats things like stretchmarks. i have raised scars on my shoulders/upper back that i'd like to get treated with fraxel eventually, if it can in fact help them. it's like i have raised white spots that are pustule-shaped 🙁

will wait and see how the skin on my face responds to these treatments, though...

maggie, etc. -- my swelling is much better today (minus the swelling after waking up this morning, that luckily is subsiding). these herbs i'm taking (only $12 for two packs) plus drinking tea (i just switched to green tea yesterday from the lipton i was drinking) have been working wonders. swelling has almost gone down from the area between my eyes/upper bridge of nose. my cheeks are still pretty puffy, but MUCH better than they were. as far as skin flaking, the brownish "scabbing" from the area above my lip is virtually all flaked off,

my chin is pretty well underway, my cheeks are flaking in areas, and my forehead/temples have tiny spots where the flaking has occurred.

i have no idea whether i should be moisturizing or not. is that only for comfort? does it speed the flaking or slow it?

i 'stretched' out my face a little bit -- smiling, yawning actions, etc., and i think that's helped the flaking start. i am reddish-pink underneath but it's not so bad -- definitely coverable by makeup -- though i will still stay inside through the weekend. i do feel bad for guys who have this done who don't have that option...

Hi jimmyjoe, I have only had one fraxel so far, two weeks ago, the effect on texture and skin color are very positive and clearly noticeable in my case. I had very uneven skin color and all kind of red and brown pigmentation all over the face. It has improved about 50-60 %, it's like a miracle to me! I have not noticed an effect on scars so far, however, it is probably too early for that and will need more treatments.

Thank you for your feedback Khari! Really appreciate it. 🙂

would it be ok to take ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and inflamation?

i was told it's okay to take ibuprofen...but try drinking tea! that's worked great for me.. 🙂

can fraxel work on small small keloids?

Hey guys I am seriously considering fraxel for my scars, I am too lazy to read through the 223 pages so can someone that have had fraxel answer these questions for me please please plese:

What is the downtime after fraxel treatment?

How painful is the fraxel treatment?

When did you start seeing the results and how much result did you see?

What is the average cost?

I only want my cheeks done and not my whole face.

If someone can answer these questions, i will forever be greatful. Thanks

Hi all! I had one Fraxel treatment and then I opted for the PSR3 Plasma Skin Regeneration method. I peel a lot from this and I heal up better than I did with the Fraxel. I think they are both similar in the results, but the PRS3 seems to give faster results in less treatments. I do think the Fraxel is good though. I just like the PSR3 better for me. It is helping smooth out a lot of my shallow scarring. I just had my third treatment on Friday. Every time my skin looks so much better. Hopefully after two more I won't be bothered by my skin anymore! I can only hope 🙂

 

776492[/snapback]

I had no improvement after 1 and maybe very slight improvement after 2.

Ryan

 

Plasma Skin Regeneration is only good for people with fair complextion. People with any skin color pose the risk of hyper/hypo pigmentation. Currently this method is not for dark skined individuals. But the treatmeant itself is still not bad. I belive this method is an ablative technique.

4 days and 1 hour post-fraxel, the extreme swelling i had is gone, but i still have a lot of puffiness in my cheeks (front of cheeks...it did reduce more on the side of my cheeks). my right cheek is a little puffier than my left -- maybe because i slept on it for part of the night? (it is SO hard to sleep sitting up, so at one point i twisted so i could be mostly upright, but with my face on the pillow.)

i do have a couple of milia breakouts on my chin and nose but they area drying up really quickly as i get them.

right now i am pretty blotchy looking because of the peeling -- but it does help to quicken the peeling by putting moisturizer or sunscreen on or just washing my face.

i think that regardless of the swelling and micro-swelling i still have, i do see subtle changes in coloring of certain marks i had. i'm going to wait to report about changes i see for a week or so

ylem i hope you take protein and vitamin c. getting deep settings is good, but you also need to make sure your body can make new collagen as best as possible.

My derm told me injesting supplements won't migrate to the skin for any physical effect.

 

You really do need to be taking extra vitamin C and protein. it's not some homeopathic remedy or old wives' tale. vitamin C is crucial catalyst in the collagen formation process, look it up. your body can't form collagen without it.

people who don't get vitamin C get scurvy, and guess where one of the places you see it is? the gums! so it's silly to think that ingested vitamin C isn't going to be circulated to your skin.

the protein is also important since protein and amino acids are the building blocks for new collagen and skin.

moreover, burn patients are put on special diets super-rich in vitamin C and protein. so that they can grow new skin. again, look it up.

someone once tried to argue against this advice by saying, "you shouldn't be concerned about new collagen. collagen is scar tissue. you want new epithelial cells." you actually do want new collagen to be laid down, along with new elastin fibers. the difference is that its happening during "regeneration" and not "repair" so it won't form scar tissue.