I had a horrible reaction to Retin-A topical gel, breaking out with cystic acne all over the face and am now left with bad scarring. I have my acne under control and I'm starting my first fractional CO2 laser treatment today. I've been researching it a lot on this forum and others online, research articles, etc. I really want to do it because I feel like it's the only thing that will give me good results, but I'm very scared due to the potential risks (more acne, more scars...). I'm not getting Fraxel Repair, but I wanted to know why some think it is the best fractional CO2 laser for acne scars? I might decide to try it in the future, though currently it is a lot more expensive than other CO2 lasers. I don't know why it's so overpriced? I found an article written by a doctor that thinks her laser, the DEKA Smartxide DOT is the best. She ranked the lasers in this order: 1. DEKA Smartxide DOT 2.Lumenis Ultrapulse Active/Deep Fx 3. Fraxel Repair 4.Cynosure Affirm CO2 5.Alma Pixel, the Mixto, Ecclipse Juvia, and Lutronic eCO2.
" I've been researching it a lot on this forum and others online, research articles, etc. I really want to do it because I feel like it's the only thing that will give me good results, but I'm very scared due to the potential risks (more acne, more scars...)."
Feelings don't always lead to good decisions.
What made you believe that CO2 laser will improve your scarring? No one on this forum endorses it (for acne scars at least) lol.
Wait it out, and visit more dermatologist and get their opinions. Also, you can post pictures of your scarrings here and on Real Self and get evaluated that way.
6 hours ago, Robertitoo said:What made you believe that CO2 laser will improve your scarring? No one on this forum endorses it (for acne scars at least) lol.Wait it out, and visit more dermatologist and get their opinions. Also, you can post pictures of your scarrings here and on Real Self and get evaluated that way.
Are you saying that lasers do absolutely nothing for acne scars, not even a small improvement? I've seen before & after pics with good improvement in research articles. I know that acne scarring is very difficult to treat, but I have realistic expectations. I would be very happy with a 50% improvement and I'm willing to get many treatments with aggressive laser settings.
I have consulted with many dermatologists and plastic surgeons, but I felt like none of them were knowledgable about acne scars. Lasers were the last thing I wanted to try first. I wanted to try some type of filler but they all were against it probably because they weren't skilled. Some felt like the CO2 laser was the best choice, while others felt non-ablative fraxel restore or palomar lux 1540 was better for acne scars. It's very difficult to find someone reputable and who knows what they're doing.
I really wanted to try the CO2 laser, but decided to cancel at the last minute because I was so scared I would break out again. I chose a really good laser, Smartxide DOT/RF, but I decided to wait and try others things that don't involve heat which can stimulate sebaceous glands. I'm thinking about dermapen, restylane skinboosters, prp.
before and after pics mean zero in research articles. if anything it should tell you not to use that procedure as if it were to be effective they wouldnt need to use false advertisement with lighting photoshop etc . lasers can belo you dont get me wrong but i believe its only good after your scars have been fully lifted . this i just my knowledge as ive never done lasers
I trust research articles and the pictures in them more than 99% of the info out there on dermatologist websites and personal treatment accounts on this site. Some may be slightly biased, but at least they understand how to properly document their findings.
That being said, I agree that with the general consensus that lasers are overly prescribed. There are a lot of cheaper and safer options that can be as effective or more effective for certain scarring.
15 hours ago, beautifulambition said:I cannot tell but it seems your being sold laser before trying all the non energy device treatments subcision, filler, microneedle, tca cross for ice pics, topicals, etc... even just a redness treatment with the vbeam laser. Energy devices cost a bunch and can be a gamble, if you read on here there are some seriously dis satisfied posters, were talking a small percentage better. Some have fat loss, or burns or the doctor kept them on low settings to charge extra for more treatments. Healing takes massive amounts of time if you do a full density sorta thing and fractional can not do much on low settings. For instance Dr Davin Lim if you lookup past laser posts we did uses sometimes multiple lasers to treat a patient based on their individual need, this is rare and takes skill.
I've seen pretty devastating side effects of lasers on RealSelf and there was an article on UK Daily Mail about a girl who went to a famous clinic in London to get a CO2 laser treatment and then developed severe cystic acne that led to major scarring and her face was perfect before the procedure. You think it will not happen to you, but you can't guarantee that your face won't react similarly to lasers. Even acne scar "experts" such as Davin Lim can screw up sometimes and not give you results or burn you or scar you, there are some unhappy customers.
Yeh I was unlucky I had bad eyesight from age 9 till 21,I was bullied at secondary school so I didn't were my glasses.
I went to college at age 18.thats when I got every sort of skin thing going.i put skin product on ,didn't realise that it was thinning my skin.when I got laser done on my eyeswhen I was21, I got into a panic about my skin.i got wrong advice and got a skin peel.it left my skin far worse.since then my life hasn't been great.it has left my skin with bad rosacea and uneven skin tone,etc.my skin now is very sensitive.i could go on.
I rarely post anymore, but I saw this thread. Fraxel Repair has been the Gold Standard of ablative lasers since 2008. Critics of Repair have either never done it and are basing their opinions off hearsay, or they have not followed the proper protocol to achieve success. I have posted about the proper method ad nauseam so I am not going to rehash it again. Fraxel Repair is by far the best thing I have ever done
CO2 are the best "overall" skin resurfacing you can do..
ppl often doesnt seen results because their scarring are deep and you need to treat them individually before using lasers there
good part of dermatologists are shit and doesnt understand shit about scarring thats the sad thing, any uniskilled doc will offer lasers prior anything no matter what is the best route
the professionals in these areas are terrible and they charge high price
for example, if in my city i knew one Davin Lim i probably wouldnt be here today, because i know my scarring is fixable in a good hand
but there isnt good hand so i need to do the shits on my own
my life would be completely different if i knew a doc like Davin Lim when my acne started
I just got my first Mixto 10 days ago, fully peeled by the 5th day, completely back to normal by day 6. I do not have any more microswelling or redness and my skin isn't tight. I believe this was on a weaker setting.
I've done 20+ 1.5mm - 2.0mm derma needling sessions, subcision, non ablative lasers over many years and have gotten at most 15% improvement. I did these due to recommendations on this forum. The non ablative lasers did absolutely nothing.
Mixto session 1 gave me ~20%. The doctor pinpoint targeted a few small deep scars that left a 'blade cut-like wound' for a week, and those filled in the most. I am currently happy I did the procedure. i have full facial scarring (100+ scars) of all types. Mixto did absolutely nothing for icepicks (which makes sense as I don't believe it goes deep enough).
Please don't discount lasers, however don't expect too much either.
If you have many scars, the scars are reasonably shallow an ablative laser, Fraxel:repair or Mixto is a way to go. I did Mixto due to ethnic skin so I can't use high settings anyway. Mixto fixes a heck lot more than texture issues.
The fat loss horror stories appear to be mainly from using Thermage (same company of Fraxel). Also notice most bad cases are in people who are older - young skin heals better.
2 hours ago, anthonykaka said:dudley how severe was your scars ? and how are you now ? what % improvement because fraxel have you got ?
I had severe scarring that affected my entire life. I would estimate a 75-80% correction. I am older so my next step is plastic surgery to deal with aging. Nothing helped me except Repair, and as you can see by my signature I tried several things. Repair must be done at high intensity and several times to see the results. I basically only did it 5 times because my social life improved greatly, otherwise I would have done at least at least 2 more, but I reached a point of satisfaction. If a person is going to have a timid doctor who stays around 30-40 mj they might as well stay home, and not waste their money.
Retin-a fucked my shit up too. I was in the clear with epiduo and my genius of a dermatologist decided to switch me to retina micro. I stuck it out for months but my acne just got worse and worse. I got a couple beautiful fat cysts before I finally went back to epiduo in January. I still have red marks and a few scars from the retina debacle.
Fraxel gets a bad rap here. It is overpriced and overhyped but it is a good laser for mixed boxcar and rolling acne scars imo. Does nothing for icepicks though.
