Acne.org Products
Good or Excellent Response
44%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Moderate Response
82%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Side Effects
Medium-High
How to Get It
Have a dermatologist or plastic surgeon? Make an appointment to get this procedure done. Don't have a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon? See The American Academy of Dermatology Physician Database to find a dermatologist or the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to find a plastic surgeon.
Used Ablative Fractional Lasers? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
June 21, 2009
Cons:
1-2 weeks downtime.
After 5 treatments, I have yet to see any kind of good results. Skin texture looks pretty much the same..i am unhappy about the downtime...If you are considering taking this procedure be sure you have read and research a lot of information because you don't want to pay for expensive procedure ng minimal result... you can probably try see more here.... [link removed]
June 17, 2009
Pros:
The Horror stories didn't apply to me.
• Worked surpringly well after just one treatment (but still require more.) I'm sure if I had 3-4, I'd have clear skin and an empty bank account.
• Flaking and peeling were gone after the 5th day.
Cons:
• The price. Three treatments for $1895 CAD? I could buy a nice Fender with that.
• The pain! See below.
This treatment is NOT for people with ACTIVE ACNE. Jamming the rolling laser into your face will no doubt cause more blockages and worsen existing paps/pusts. My acne has cleared up for the most part, (Panoxyl Aquagel 5% + Differin XP) but scars remain from my teen years (new ones fade with Differin XP). I walked into Bellair Laser and said, "Nine years is too damn long for these scars. Give me everything you got." The Price: Ouch. Too much. Plain and simple. The Pain: I'm the Master of Aches: Chronic migraines and I refuse freezing when I get my teeth drilled. Fraxel? That's a stinging pain. Either I'm weak to stinging pain, or Fraxel is actually Cerberus kissing your face. When they were doing my forehead I was an inch away from saying, "I need a break." The Aftercare: Fraxel had a schedule. Day 1: White burn marks. Day 2: Brown grains. Day 3: Tiny flakes peeling. Day 4: Grains came out. Day 5: All clear.
August 12, 2008
Pros:
after 1 treatment i have improved melasma, smaller pores, overall improved skin tone. a good dr is a must. stay in close touch with any problems.
Cons:
subjective. it wasn't that painful, i've had worse. i had 1 day down and went to work, peeling, swelling and all. i didn't die. acne can be treated if needed.
after 20 years of suffering from melasma and acne scars, i have been thru the gambet of treatments. peels, dermabrasions, ipl, creams, pastes, arrogant drs by the score. one even told me to learn how to wear makeup.
you have to have "realisitic" expectations. you can't expect perfection, there is no such thing. as to down time, i had alot of swelling and redness, peeling. very little break out. i work out in the public, my face gets looked at and reacted to all the time. i'm use to being started at:( though i hate it, there it is. there was no hiding the swelling and peeling, laugh, get over it, i'm doing this for me, screw the public and their opinions. when they ask about my sun burn, i tell them the truth. BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE. that is how i deal with my scarred face. that has also scarred my soul for so many years. there is no perfection, only improvment. 2 treatments to go, after which any acne scarring left, will be filled. dr recommended obagi along with fraxel.very effecti
August 25, 2012
Pros:
Improved skin texture in the short term and over the long term
Cons:
May break you out badly, expensive ($900 per treatment)
After doing pixels for almost a year and seeing no results, I chose to get a fraxel. I got my first fraxel and it hurt like hell, about 1.5 times worse than pixel. However following the initial 3-4 days where my face was quite red, my skin did start to look better in that scars appeared less deep (however this was mainly the result of swelling). Following 2 weeks, I did notice that my skin seemed a little better, but the results were minimal. I chose to get another fraxel a month after the first one and this was the worst mistake I made. Apparently they cranked up the setting and went quite a bit deeper. Immediately following, there was nothing out of the ordinary compared to the first one. However, in the following week to 2 weeks I started to break out really bad like never before. And then beyond that it just kept getting worse and worse, breaking out in places I had never broken out before and it was destroying me. At the time I had no idea what was causing it, but in hindsight I believe it was the laser stimulating the sebaceous glands. Finally 2 months later of disastrous suffering, I started taking omega 3's primrose evening oil, and flax seed oil to get a good balance of 3,6,9 fatty acids and zinc which seemed to help. And then I also started taking b5 supplements which I had taken in my teen years 10 years earlier and I remember they were one of the few things that worked for me. I've also recently started coolTouch treatments although I have low expectations for this. I just need to do something treat the acne and scarring and I think coolTouch may be a good option if I do it many times. Because of the damage fraxel did, it's not really an option at this point. I do think that it stimulates collagen production and can correct scars after multiple treatments, but for me at this point its not worth the risk. Maybe again in the future I can do it and layer it with antibiotics and b5, once the CoolTouch allegedly shrinks my se
January 28, 2008
Pros:
it works! cost 100 more with meds. i have had 3 treatments and i dont think i will need anymore. maybe once a year if i am lucky! just for up keep of my skin but my skin looks great! 32 years old love it
Cons:
my md puts on numbing cream before and i had the med because i had a driver and i didnt feel any pain except for about 30 min after while i was leaving
i have had three treatments and i could see it worked right away with the frist treatment. 2nd even more. i have just finished my 3rd treatment and this time i got a cold sore. the frist 2 i did not. i took meds to prevent it each time. with my experience i was swollen for about 3 days red 5 to 7. i had no peeling because i used biafine thru the frist 4 to 5 days thats the trick. so if i peeled you could not tell. my face stayed smooth. i hurt for about 30 min after i used cold packs on my face. but my face was red for about a week and i didnt use makeup after treatment i cant imagine that it was all about the biafine and sunscreen for me!
April 8, 2008
Pros:
dont know if there is any good from this
Cons:
doctor did not tell me the risks of pigmentation changes
dermatologist are manipulative liars. you can compare a dermatologist to a car salesman. i had a nice pale white skin and now its discolored with pigmentation. i regret doing the initial procedure because my main purpose on doing this treatment was to reduce my visible acne scars. i can do anything but now stay home and avoid the sun. bottom line is " WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!?!?!?!?!?!?" is this pigmentation and discoloration permanent???!!??!!? damn .... i feel like i got my dignity taken away from me. some one reply please because i am very scared and worried
May 6, 2016
ok
i have acne scars on my cheek and big pores and my dermatologist recommended me to this treatment(fraxel co2). i had treatment abt 5 times. i can see the different abit my pores were smaller but didnt help with my scars and its cost too much
December 1, 2012
Pros:
it can improve scars
Cons:
may leave permanent scars (little dot tracks)
may cause long term, possibly permanent damage to pores if you don't have clear skin at time of treatment
will alter your skin, so that if you get breakouts afterwards you will get nasty (boxcar type) scars almost every time and these will be permanent
If you don't heal well, you may notice loss of facial fat/ collagen (?) - you definitely don't want that.
i had two pro fractional treatments. the first one went well, I was really happy with the results on near my temple where i had the most scarring (boxcar), shallow, less than 1 mm. I thought that I would do this 1x/ year to rebuild collagen and as anti aging precaution as well as a scar treatment - last time the doc was much more aggressive only this time i have track marks, my formerly healthy skin has permanent track marks and almost every big pimple leaves a bad indented scar probably because my collagen structure was altered. I had some breakouts when I did the treatment because the dermatologist said it was just slight, no problem - well - it was IMO more than slight and my advice to you is don't do it unless your skin is clear. also don't do it unless you plan for your skin to continue to be clear. In hindsight I regret going an almost uniform depth on my whole face including the perfect skin. I would say if possible only treat the areas that really require it and don't have a treatment that is too aggressive. Since i now have WAY MORE SCARS than before over more of my face, I'll probably do another laser treatment at some point - however I will prefer to only treat the scars, as lightly as possible and only when my skin is totally under control. Right now I'm still trying to get pregnant and I have PCOS which causes mild to moderate hormonal acne all the time so I can only use AHA and BHA - nothing else so... hence I have to tolerate these breakouts which are scarring my face..........I would not subject pretty nice, healthy skin to this treatment. It will stress that skin. It stands to reason, after pro fractional your face will be all bloody. I think also that age might matter. Probably younger skin with lots of collagen and or fat and that heals really well does better with this.
January 7, 2009
Pros:
skin is smoother. furrows gone. pore size minimized. deep pitted acne scars less noticable.
Cons:
i can't really say there are any. compared to the physical and psychological scarring i've lived with my entire life, 2 weeks of redness and scaliness is worth it.thankfully, i did not experience oozing or blistering.
as i approach 50, the skin around my around my mouth,chin and lower cheeks began to sag much to my dismay.because of the severe acne scarring these areas looked worse than they would on a person with smooth skin. i had deep furrows,and pitted skin. i had 4 treatments,and it has taken 10-15 years of my face and the provider only charged me for the area treated, not for the entire face.
May 11, 2012
Pros:
I only did a test patch!
Some evening out of texture.
Cons:
I only did a test patch!
Redness lasted way too long was horribly itchy, caused acne the week post. I am noticing loss of fat and elasticity. I really believe the longer term effect is that it thins your skin. It has been about 9 months since I did a test patch.
If the doctor doesn't let you do a test patch, RUN. They charged me $100 for this and it was worth it for me to investigate. I am not sold on getting my whole face done yet because of the apparent loss of elasticity.
It is VERY itchy an uncomfortable.
Pros:
Skin now looks smoother but not totally free from scar