Hello! This is my first post on this forum. I want to share my Fraxel re:pair experience and seek advice for further acne scar treatment. I'm a young guy who had suffered with acne since 11 years old. Accutane cured it, but left scars.
In October, I had a full face Fraxel Re:pair procedure to treat moderate to severe scarring (most are depressed rolling scars) mostly on my lower cheeks and chin. The doctor used a very high setting for the cheeks with several passes. 3 months out and I'm pretty disappointed. For the first few weeks it appeared that most of the scars had been treated, but this is due to micro-swelling, and once that subsided everything has come back. Maybe there is 10% improvement max. My skin also appears to be a lot thinner and more fragile.
There is still some redness and the depressed scars are darker/redder than the rest of the face. (could this be hyper-pigmentation?) This makes the scars look worse. I went to see the doctor for a follow-up and he says during the next several months collagen will rebuild and the scars should improve. Can anybody confirm if this is true? After about 3 months my scars look the same, so would there really be significant improvement 6 months out? I'm skeptical. In retrospect, it was a stupid idea for me to jump straight into Fraxel. A subsicion may have been a better idea.
Now I'm wondering what else can I do to improve the appearance of the scars right now? If not permanently, then at least temporarily. I'm moving abroad in about a week and really need to do something to improve their appearance. It'll be very difficult to do anything after the move, at least for awhile. I spoke with the doc about doing temporary fillers like Jevederm. He pushed them, but was a little skeptical because I don't have any deep scars that should obviously be filled. Rather, my lower cheeks are covered in rolling crater-like scarring. Some are small and others are wide. Is a filler a great temporary option and can it work with my type of scarring? I'm worried about how it would plump up each scar and not just swell the area.
In the future I think I'll try subsicion as my skin is too sensitive right now and I don't think a week is enough for downtime. I hope my story helps people who are considering Fraxel Re:pair! Please let me know what I should do and help me out with my questions. Thanks a lot.
i think you should of started with retin a first to prepare then do fraxel so u can get better results
also i think subcision would of helped rolling scars better and you have moderate to severe scarring so 1 laser wont help much
and did you take vitamin c for collagen boost when you were healing ?
A picture would be helpful, but from your description it sounds like subcision and possibly filler may help. Again, very hard to advise with no pictures.
Most people don't get spectacular results from one laser treatment. The only people I've seen with considerable improvement have done multiple c02 laser sessions over the course of 1-2 years. Also, one approach will not be as good as using several types of procedures to treat the scarring. Example, if rolling scars are a concern, subcision combined with lasers and possibly fillers would yield much better results than any one of those things as a standalone procedure.
Leadingforce: I didn't use retin a but I used a strong over the counter retinol and did some derma rolling for months before Fraxel Repair. I did take vitamin and antioxidant supplements.
blablah82: I'll try to take a new picture in the same lighting as before the procedure and post it.
The big question I have is what filler should I consider? And when would be a good time to do a subsicion treatment? Is 3 months post fraxel still too early as my skin is pretty fragile, thin and has slight redness.