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Zonk - what % improvement do you estimate? Variation by scar type?I'd 50-75% improvement. My rolling scars have improved a lot, not 100%, but you would only notice i had rolling scars if you knew where they were and were looking for them. Excision scars improved ~50%. Enlarged pores, 10-20%. Ice picks/failed excision didn't change noticeably.
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Excellent. Your reults are way better than mine, but the pattern was similar; namely, least (ie., no) improvement on scarred pores/ice pciks, with most on rolling. If I do anymore, I think I will try the factional which is ablative - either Fraxel or Sciton.
Hi Guys!I just wanted to check with you if this sounds right. I had my first fraxel at 40 mj level 7 last Thursday (4 days ago). I still haven't peeled and the redness only lasted 3 days. There seemed to be only very minimal swelling.
Should I expect my skin to peel after the first session at all even?
thanks!
I peel only only around my chin and around the 3rd and 4th days. I swelled on all three treatments, but mostly on the third treatment. Settings were higher and they did more passes.
Hi Guys!I just wanted to check with you if this sounds right. I had my first fraxel at 40 mj level 7 last Thursday (4 days ago). I still haven't peeled and the redness only lasted 3 days. There seemed to be only very minimal swelling.
Should I expect my skin to peel after the first session at all even?
thanks!
I have no idea how many passes, it felt like 4.
In regards to breaking out from Fraxel, i broke out after my 3rd treatment. It was a week after my 3rd treatment, i started getting these tiny whiteheads in certain places all over my faces, like there would be around 5 or so, I spot treated w/ BP, but i really hated to put the BP on my newly fraxeled skin 
I started taking my antibiotic 2x a day instead of 1x & it started clearing up immediatly.
From now on, I am sticking with the 2x a day as i go through all these treatments....
I have a couple questions. How many of you that have had fraxel have broken out after treatment? I have noticed that many people take antibiotics when they have fraxel done. Does this not make your skin more sensitive/thin? and if you do break out do you not have a higher chance of scarring due to the sensitivity of your skin? and lastly have any of you noticed enlarged pores resulting from fraxel or is this only the case with older lasers?
Had my 2nd Fraxel 2 yesterday. Settings were at 55mJ but I forgot to ask how many kJ. The session lasted about twice as long as the 1st session. A different nurse did the treatment and she appeared to be a lot more thorough. She went all the way to the edge of my face and jawline. I counted 16 passes and on top, she went over some of the more troubled area a few extra times. I confirmed with her and she said yeah she did 16 passes, which appeared to be a lot more than the norm (8-12 passes) that I've read on here. Overall the treatment took a little over an hour this time as opposed to 30-40 minutes the first time.
Now here is my concern. It seems like my skin isn't going through the same process as the first treatment. During my first treatment, the swelling went down after the first day and then my skin started to feel like sandpaper the 2nd day. So far the swelling has gone down but my skin doesn't feel rough like it did the 1st time around. Which leads me to believe the 2nd treatment wasn't as intense as the 1st session BUT I was told the settings were bumped up. Plus there are certain spots on my skin that bled a little and feels bruised, which wasn't the case the first time.
Maybe my skin is adjusting quickly?? Hmm...
Had my 2nd Fraxel 2 yesterday. Settings were at 55mJ but I forgot to ask how many kJ. The session lasted about twice as long as the 1st session. A different nurse did the treatment and she appeared to be a lot more thorough. She went all the way to the edge of my face and jawline. I counted 16 passes and on top, she went over some of the more troubled area a few extra times. I confirmed with her and she said yeah she did 16 passes, which appeared to be a lot more than the norm (8-12 passes) that I've read on here. Overall the treatment took a little over an hour this time as opposed to 30-40 minutes the first time.Now here is my concern. It seems like my skin isn't going through the same process as the first treatment. During my first treatment, the swelling went down after the first day and then my skin started to feel like sandpaper the 2nd day. So far the swelling has gone down but my skin doesn't feel rough like it did the 1st time around. Which leads me to believe the 2nd treatment wasn't as intense as the 1st session BUT I was told the settings were bumped up. Plus there are certain spots on my skin that bled a little and feels bruised, which wasn't the case the first time.
Maybe my skin is adjusting quickly?? Hmm...
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the bleeding is called pinprick bleeding.....it started happening to me after the settings got high....and now i get bleeding every single time i fraxel.....the doctor puts watery bandages on me now after every fraxel until the blood clots.....ur skin will probably get rough and peel on the third day or so....just wait...
also, sometimes those little pinpricks dry black.....so until ur skin peels, u might have little black dots on ur face....dont worry about them they'll peel off.....if u try to peel them off urself too soon they might just bleed again and turn black again anyway.....
but 16 passes? thats alot....and 1 hour of treatment? thats alot too.....when u go in for a fraxel though, ALWAYS LOOK AT THE FRAXEL SCREEN....lol.....look at the milijoules AND "TREATMENT LEVEL".....treatment level is reeaaaallllly important......it is just as important as the milijoules.....
i think that fraxel 2 has 12 treatment levels and then it goes up to R1, R2, and R3 (which is the highest)....the R stands for restricted and those three restricted levels are for restricted users.....im wondering why a doctor is not doing the treatments....can u request the doctor? also, can u call the center and ask what treatment level ur last treatment was?
I have a couple questions. How many of you that have had fraxel have broken out after treatment? I have noticed that many people take antibiotics when they have fraxel done. Does this not make your skin more sensitive/thin? and if you do break out do you not have a higher chance of scarring due to the sensitivity of your skin? and lastly have any of you noticed enlarged pores resulting from fraxel or is this only the case with older lasers?
ill answer the parts that im sure about.....
as far as breaking out, i personally broke out after my 6 or 7th fraxel, and i am definitely taking antibiotics....and after 11 intense fraxels, my pores are not enlarged:)....but i also had the older lasers and they didnt enlarge my pores either..........i have no idea about thin or sensitive skins though
well, after reading this board for some time I just got my first Fraxel done, in Houston on Thursday. So far I think my skin is reacting pretty typically. I'm on day 3 and the swelling is starting to go down but there is a lot of redness, everywhere except for around my eyes and mouth. I look like a bad tanning bed accident! The swelling was noticeable to me, but I was actually able to go out yesterday without feeling too self conscious, using mineral makeup (alima) to cover the redness. I should start peeling in a day or two.
These were my settings:
Treatment level 8
Energy 40mj
Passes 6 at a density of 70-something (same as 8 passes at a regular density but requires less time/torture)...
We started out at average settings to see how my skin took it. I do have some dark brown speckling around the eyes, and some crusting already around the mouth. Don't know if I should be concerned about that, if I can go up a higher level next time or not.
We used the Zimmer machine and a numbing cream, and around the eyes and mouth especially I gotta say it hurt! Not intolerably so, but not pleasant in the slightest!
I have some before pics but will wait to post until I have a few to compare.
Oh, and I have gotten two small whiteheads. The woman who does my treatment also got a few when she was done, and says she sees it frequently. She thinks that the Fraxel channels probably stimulate or do something to the occasional sebaceous gland, but they have always gone away.
Anybody notice that the post fraxel breakout is not the same as a regular breakout? ive gotten a pimple after each fraxel and in day or so it grows a white head....but the weird thing is that it looks like its full of pus but when i squeeze it nothing comes out.....then it goes away.....but they are just hollow or something.....
i wonder what causes the post fraxel breakout anyway?
A damn fucking shame it causes breakouts. Do you think it can still cause permanent, big-time breakouts with someone who has been cleared from accutane two years ago (like me). If worse comes to worse I can always go on accutane again, but fuck, can you imagine if fraxel caused nodules or something making scarring worse?
It has been 2 weeks after my 1st Fraxel 2. I see almost no improvement not only in the big icepicks but also in the very small enlarged pores. Is that normal? Anyone can share experience after your 1 st Fraxel? When did you really see some improvement in your scars? How many treatment did you have? How much is the improvement ? What did your scars look like?
Also I am considering to have CO2 laser treatment or excision. Is Fraxel effective in improving excision scars? Any suggestion?
i had a ton of red marks and some ice picks and minor indentations....the red marks are almost completely gone......fraxel does wonders for coloring issues....
the minor indentations are level now:) (example of minor indentation: i had a punch excision done years ago on my right cheek that never leveled out....that spot was always indented....kind of like a rolling scar.........but after fraxel its gone now)
the ice picks are definitely filling in and getting really tiny.....
fraxel works but u need ALOT and u need as high settings as u can.....its not an overnight miracle.....it takes work....
Exactly! It takes a long time to see any kind of results.
HI everyone. I see it's been over a year since my last Fraxel and I'm back! I just made an appointment with my doctor for another round of Fraxels. I haven't been back to him since they no longer use the darn blue dye and go up to 75 (i think). I really don't have the money to do a full face so I might just do my checks which need it most of all. I hope since I've spent so much already he ill just do the whole face for the price of just the checks 😉 A girl can dream now can't she.
I think I will need another round, 5 more maybe. My scars are softer but still there and I am not satisfied.
I forget what topicals can't you use for two weeks before your Fraxel treatments? I remember retin a can't be used, what about differin or fineacea or benzol peroxide?
Im to tired to read this thread right now but I will have plenty of time after my treatment in two weeks 😀
Hello
I am one week after third fraxel and to this moment i don`t see any results. Is that normal ? How long i have to wait to see anything ? Because now i don`t now or do next treatments, maybe for me fraxel doesn`t work ??
My settings:1 - 55mJ, level 8, 8 passes, 2 - 60mJ, level 10, 8 passes, 3 - 65mJ, level10, 8 passes
SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH 
I wouldn't say that I broke out after my first Fraxel...I had two small pin prick whiteheads that disappeared in a day or two. To me, that's nothing! Certainly nothing like what that poor reporter suffered.
Its been one week and the swelling has gone down, but I still see a difference in my pore size, at least for now. The swelling was a mixed blessing because it puffed up my chipmunk cheeks making me look like I had a bit of a jowl! I will not be deciding if Fraxel worked or not until 6 months after the last, which will probably be my 5th. Although most people have said that they start to see results after their 3rd, it is a long term process.
I would recommend to anyone to take before shots that they can compare to as most people have said that the improvement is so slow and subtle that they really didn't even notice how much of an improvement their was (or not...) until comparing their pictures.
Oh, and my Fraxel person said to stop using any acid or retin a type products two weeks before, basically anything that would thin or sensitize the skin. No mention of BP as a problem but if it irritates your skin I would definitely stop it 1-2 weeks before. I stopped everything except my C serum at night and salycylic acid in the morning. It could be that i should have stopped the SA as well...but too late now!
If you're worried about breakouts ask for a prescription antibiotic to keep around in case of emergencies.
I was wondering if anyone has seen improvements in scarred pores. I have this scarred pore the resulted from me extracting a blackhead when I was younger and not cleaning it. This resulted in a pore that is significantly larger then the others can these be fixed with fraxel or anything else.
Hey ya'll. It seems like I stop by this topic every time I get depressed about my scars. I've had 1 fraxel treatment by Dr. Rohksar in NYC (who's supposedly one of the best) 1.5 years ago, but stopped b/c I broke out. I went on accutane, cleared up beautifully, and now have waited the 6 months before starting scar treatment again. I'm temping for the next 4-5 months so it's the perfect time for me to get this done before getting back to a real job....I'm vacillating between whether it's worth it or not...Hummmmmmm
Hey ya'll. It seems like I stop by this topic every time I get depressed about my scars. I've had 1 fraxel treatment by Dr. Rohksar in NYC (who's supposedly one of the best) 1.5 years ago, but stopped b/c I broke out. I went on accutane, cleared up beautifully, and now have waited the 6 months before starting scar treatment again. I'm temping for the next 4-5 months so it's the perfect time for me to get this done before getting back to a real job....I'm vacillating between whether it's worth it or not...Hummmmmmm
did you still have active acne when you got fraxel the first time? were you on accutane before?