Update:

I am 2 weeks post my 4th fraxel 2 (last one was 45MJs) ... i am seeing very good improvments.. (no exageration) .. my next one is in 2 weeks .. my skin seems to be getting better every day so I am happy.

really hope the improvments keep continuing.

PS: aveeno cream worked great on my skin to minimise flaking and dryness - $14 for what seems will last me a yr.

yay! so glad to hear about your results. good for you! 🙂

i am doing mine about as far apart as you are and am about 10 days post my third one...my skin does look a lot better in general, and my swelling/microswelling has gone down much faster after that second and third, so i can tell that right now i am actually seeing what it looks like -- the quality of my skin texture/tone has definitely improved.

 

bluemorpho,

Yes sorry it's fraxel 1 I'm having. I live in Perth Western Australia and we seem to be getting on with all these technology stuff really really slowly.

Is fraxel 2 really that much better in terms of getting results? Whats the highest setting possible on the old fraxel?

i think 40 is the highest on fraxel 1 and 70 on fraxel 2?

they aren't exactly equivalent however, like 40 on fraxel one does not equal 40 on fraxel 2.

 

Yelm, I know exactly how you feel. I too have the same types of problems with my skin and have delt with it so long.

Honestly if you have varied and deeper scarring it will take at least a good 6 months after your last treatment to see any kind of results. It has for me. I can see subtle softening of my scars and others are much better but I still have uneven skin tone and loads of scars left. I hope to have another round of Fraxel 2 in the fall, if I can save up the money. I'm hoping to talk my doctor into working with me on the price as I have done so many procedures with him...one can always ask.

Keep your chin up and as someone said this is a battle that won't be won with one single set of procedures but most likely the combination of a few different ones. Good luck!

JP

PS

eyeboy, I am not asian. Sorry for any confusion. I have very fair skin and never experienced any discoloration problems. I did have loads of pinpoint bleeding the first few treatments but it got better.

JPP - im in Australia and after rebate only costs me $120 (aussie) .. which would be $145 US.

.. Fraxel 2.

Not sure how much it costs you over there though our goverment has come to the party - very happy about that else it would have put me near 5K out of pocket.

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted in a year or had another Fraxel since. I did visit my Doctor last week since I had 2 left in my package. I'll end up finishing the packages when she gets the new fraxel tip. Just wanted to say - I AM STILL HAPPY AND SAW RESULTS with 3. I am looking forward to the next few treatments. My skin is much healthier, the tone evened out and several shallow scars disappeared and larger scars became more shallow.

http://www.picturetrail.com/annniefrommiamii

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted in a year or had another Fraxel since. I did visit my Doctor last week since I had 2 left in my package. I'll end up finishing the packages when she gets the new fraxel tip. Just wanted to say - I AM STILL HAPPY AND SAW RESULTS with 3. I am looking forward to the next few treatments. My skin is much healthier, the tone evened out and several shallow scars disappeared and larger scars became more shallow.

http://www.picturetrail.com/annniefrommiamii

hi annie! glad to hear you are still happy with your treatments 🙂

about 2 weeks after my third treatment, today was the first day i went out of the house without makeup and actually felt like my skin looked good 🙂 your very detailed photo/comment logs have been one of the reasons i felt so positive about having the treatment.

thank you so much! 🙂

wow...i only read the first 2 pages and that last post with the pics of 3 fraxel treatments, but thats amazing...i think i face texture looks very similar to that one just posted... =[

have there been any horror stories with fraxel tho? =/

annie - just wanted to say thanks for the update. Your story from about a year ago was the reason I went ahead with Fraxel. Seeing all the photos and the journey was great! I'm so glad that you saw such great improvement and you're happy with the results. I bet you'll be thrilled after the 4th and 5th treatment! Please keep us updated.

I had my 2nd treatment on Friday and today (Sun) starting to peel and still fire red. Mostly in the itching stage and trying not to scratch or rub at all the peeling I have going on. Still pretty swollen but I think it'll go down in a day or two. This 2nd treatment was completely different than the first as far as pain. The first one was really uncomfortable, but tolerable, this one I almost came off the table! It was a different tech and she went up into my hairline where I didn't have any numbing cream. I liked her a lot better for doing that and she also went very close to my lips and eyes, so I don't have as much white circles around those. But OUCH! #3 will be on September 21st, then two more to follow and then subcision and fillers. Going on a cruise in February and hope to have all this finished and see some improvement by then. Question - what cleanser and moisturizer does everyone use and do you keep anything on your face throughout the day after Fraxel? I was told not to use any oils and use moisturizer and either Dove or cetaphil to clean with.

Thanks!

annie - just wanted to say thanks for the update. Your story from about a year ago was the reason I went ahead with Fraxel. Seeing all the photos and the journey was great! I'm so glad that you saw such great improvement and you're happy with the results. I bet you'll be thrilled after the 4th and 5th treatment! Please keep us updated.

I had my 2nd treatment on Friday and today (Sun) starting to peel and still fire red. Mostly in the itching stage and trying not to scratch or rub at all the peeling I have going on. Still pretty swollen but I think it'll go down in a day or two. This 2nd treatment was completely different than the first as far as pain. The first one was really uncomfortable, but tolerable, this one I almost came off the table! It was a different tech and she went up into my hairline where I didn't have any numbing cream. I liked her a lot better for doing that and she also went very close to my lips and eyes, so I don't have as much white circles around those. But OUCH! #3 will be on September 21st, then two more to follow and then subcision and fillers. Going on a cruise in February and hope to have all this finished and see some improvement by then. Question - what cleanser and moisturizer does everyone use and do you keep anything on your face throughout the day after Fraxel? I was told not to use any oils and use moisturizer and either Dove or cetaphil to clean with.

Thanks!

Cetaphil and Aveeno moisturizer

ET wif scars,I take it the 1st and 3rd photo are before fraxel and the 2nd and 4th pics are after fraxel?

Congratulations! Those photos say ALOT! Very nice improvement and I envy that you can wake up and forgot that you had scars at one time...can't wait to get there myself. What type of fillers did you have? Did you also have subcision or just fillers and was it after or before Fraxel? How many Fraxels too? Thanks!

Oh I'm so excited! I just got an email from my doctor and she is going to do subcision on me next week! The original plan was to wait until after the 5th Fraxel (just did #2 last week) to do subcision and fillers and I questioned her decision to wait. She said we could do the subcision asap to speed up my results, as long as it was at least a week before my next Fraxel and I had to be off aspirin, aleve, etc. After the 5th Fraxel, we'll do another subcision with fillers. For anyone who has gotten subcision, what was the cost, if you remember? I'm getting Fraxel for $800 and I got an email from another doctor last week stating his cost for subcision was $800, which seemed really high!

Oh I'm so excited! I just got an email from my doctor and she is going to do subcision on me next week! The original plan was to wait until after the 5th Fraxel (just did #2 last week) to do subcision and fillers and I questioned her decision to wait. She said we could do the subcision asap to speed up my results, as long as it was at least a week before my next Fraxel and I had to be off aspirin, aleve, etc. After the 5th Fraxel, we'll do another subcision with fillers. For anyone who has gotten subcision, what was the cost, if you remember? I'm getting Fraxel for $800 and I got an email from another doctor last week stating his cost for subcision was $800, which seemed really high!

I paid $450 for about 6 spots on my chin and with restylane.

wow this thread is giving me alot of hope...

but can someone tell me what is subcision?

wow this thread is giving me alot of hope...

but can someone tell me what is subcision?

Run a search for subcision - youll find lots of info 🙂

yeah i thought the names of my pics would come up but the 1st and third 3rd one are b4 pics but the pics are reduced by like 65% but if u see the originals u can really see the difference

I just got back from a responsible dermatologist today and he reccomended a gentle yag laser over fraxel. I say he is responsible because he showed before and after photos of his own patients, he reccomended a test run (behind the ear) prior to treatments, and he refused to quote any kind of results. AND he himself has severe scarring (worse than mine) but is comfortable with his appearance. his reasons for reccomending the gentle yag are:

1. the downtime is comparable or better

2. the results are comparable or better

3. the price is MUCH better: $150 per treatment vs. $1000+ per treatment for fraxel

i also want to point out that ive been going through some depression which i thought was the result of my scarring, but after some reflection, i realized that i have always been a person suffering from depression, and i take it out on my scars...so for people with severe scarring (like mine) it may be hard to realize, but your scars do not define who you are and obsessing over your scars and spending all of your time on these forums will not help. yes, do something about it, but don't obsess. work on coming to terms with your depression and put more effort into your friends and family and you will feel better, trust me.

I just got back from a responsible dermatologist today and he reccomended a gentle yag laser over fraxel. I say he is responsible because he showed before and after photos of his own patients, he reccomended a test run (behind the ear) prior to treatments, and he refused to quote any kind of results. AND he himself has severe scarring (worse than mine) but is comfortable with his appearance. his reasons for reccomending the gentle yag are:

1. the downtime is comparable or better

2. the results are comparable or better

3. the price is MUCH better: $150 per treatment vs. $1000+ per treatment for fraxel

i also want to point out that ive been going through some depression which i thought was the result of my scarring, but after some reflection, i realized that i have always been a person suffering from depression, and i take it out on my scars...so for people with severe scarring (like mine) it may be hard to realize, but your scars do not define who you are and obsessing over your scars and spending all of your time on these forums will not help. yes, do something about it, but don't obsess. work on coming to terms with your depression and put more effort into your friends and family and you will feel better, trust me.

some people on here are getting up words of 80 percent improvement, i dont know about you, but i dont settle for less

what exactly is the gentle yag laser, is it the q switch lag laser, also known as medlight,??

does ur derm have the fraxel laser or is he just trying to get money off of you so he could buy one?

gentleyag is a yag laser that shoots a cooling blast before it hits. the wavelength is 1064. q-switched yag is the same thing, but q-switched. that's used to remove dark tattoos.

hi every1 its being a while since i replied..... i guess im here to tell every1 that ive won the battle with acne scars 🙂 i guess thats y im not on anymore cause everyday i wake up i dont worry about my face anymore and ive totally forgot i ever had acne scarring lol 😛 i had fraxel and fillers done and i recomend fillers anyday 4 severe scarring like mine, ummm if u wanna know more u can send me a msg even though i dont visit this site much i most likely always reply 2 them cause i can tell if i got 1 from my email account 🙂 ive made sure i took heaps of b4 pics at every angle very close up and ive just recently taken many new pics to compare i will load 1 up now if it works..... anyway good luck every1, i know exactly how u feel n what ur going through but never give up cause if i can get rid of my scars then i believe any1 can 🙂 dammit 500k is the maximum upload size :S

hi ET wif scars - do you mind saying what sort of fillers you had and how many fraxels? Your skin looks amazing! Congratulations!

hey thanks 4 every1s positive comments, , just bare with me cause i didnt expect 2 get soo many msg, so im typing up my experience in detail hopefully 2 answer it all and would post it when im finished. atm the word count is 2046 and im only half way done. :S

woah longest post EVER dude that was long!, im only 1/4 way through lol

I reckon it's slightly misleading, people who can't be assed reading it etc will just look at the above photo's and assume the results are from fraxel, but infact the majority of improvement is down to fillers, and Alma Pixel 2940 nm Er:Yag laser, that laser is not fraxel.

Good improvement however

big post et wif scars , it sounds like that may be your last post since it was loaded with information, a lil better grammmer and punctuation and structure and you got me , but i got totally lost.

so a summary please

fraxel, plus collagen injection and subcision gave you 80 percent?

Fraxel topic on the second page!!!?? What the...! How did this happen?

I have my 6th and last on Monday. 70mj for the last 2, no dramas. It's now 3 months since I began and I have seen subtle but definite improvement. My doc said there are diminishing returns with more treatments. The aim seems to be to get to higher mj levels asap. I will post a review and pics in around 3 weeks.

I'll be eagerly awaiting your pics and review tabula rasa!!!

I just had my 3rd treatment today at 60 mjs, or so I guess. I don't even pay that much attention to the level. I think most have found out that it's the higher mjs settings that are supposed to count. Anyway, I am still depressed, especially over the way my forehead looks. Maybe some subtle softening on the cheek scars so far though, but BARELY notcieable and it still feels deep when I run my fingers over them I am not really please yet. But, I am trying to be patient and ride this thing out. Someone pray for me that this will work to some degree. I don't know how many more lows I can take at this point.

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT TO DO FOR DEEP FOREHEAD PITTING/SAUCER SCARS? I mean, shit, I've tried wire brush dermabrasion, silicone, fraxel, smoothbeam and nothing works!!! They are like these deep lines from little saucers that connect together on the frown lines. I looked in the mirror at the doctor's office today and almost passed out it looked so bad. And what's hard is that I'm over 25, the age when those little frown lines begin, which is what I think is making them look so much deeper every year! Botox anyone??