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
March 5, 2009
Cons:
So far you are homebound for at least 4 days. Red face, not socialising....Itchy face, constant application of post laser gel to keep the face moist....A bit of pain during treatment, my doctor used nerve blockers which helped alot.
Well, the bottom line... I have had 4 fraxel restore treatments done resulting in less down time then fraxel re:pair...After the 4 treatments I have seen minor results with my scars, maybe softening my scars a bit but nothing major...This is my second Fraxel Re:pair co2. The first one was on a coverage of 25% and the results were good but not fanastic. Alot more down time, get nerve blockers for this treatment...My second one which I got done 4 days ago was on a coverage of around 65%. This will be my final attempt to minimise my acne scars and hopefully with the more aggressive coverage the results will match..I'll keep you updated in a couple of weeks...Hope this helped...I paid $800 for this final treatment...
January 7, 2009
Pros:
Excellent Results
Cons:
Pain, end of story. I tend to be a little wimpy anyway but I did find the recovery to be a bit painful. It was short lived - about 3 days of pain and then a few weeks of flaky and redness.
I had a moderate to severe amount of acne scars on my face and tried everything & everything would make me break out then continue the cycle. The fraxel laser is by far a blessing. I have had 6 treatments and I am very happy with the result. My MD told me that 3-4 months after your last fraxel is your final result and I have found that to be true I did see improvement sooner but the final result is awesome.They are not totally gone but way better. My face was swollen beyond belief, it cracked,bruised and bled-I was UGLY for a few days after each treatment but it was worth it. USE ICE, it helps so does the RX burn cream called Silvadene.The best cover up for dry and red Bare Essentials mineral foundaton the minerals actually help it feel better. Have a MD do it, you will get a better result. I had a tech do one and I did not get the same result I did with MD.ztyedi@[link removed] if you want to "talk" more.I am happy to share. Dr. Stewart/Denver Dr. DeLatorre/Fort Collins ROCK the fraxel!
July 6, 2008
Pros:
Shallow rolling scars somewhat improved but still present. Overall complexion looks nice and even minus superficial scarring.
Cons:
Face swelled up very bad after "aggressive" treatments. Took about two weeks to fully recover.
It's a lot of money for sort of results. It's been about six to eight months since I had my last of three treatments and my skin does continue to improve but I have also been treating it with mild at-home 12.5% TCA peels (which are amazing for the price)!!! My skin is improving slowly and steadily however and I am confident that after a few more chemical peels my scarring will be erased. Lasers are a good start but from what I have seen and heard they need to be followed with other treatments such as chemical peels. My scarring when I started was rated mild by my dermatologist.
June 2, 2008
Pros:
My scars were mostly on the cheeks and temples, mostly rolling with a few ice pick. I can see a big difference. My settings were high and I did take pain medicines. I was told the final result will not be seen for 6 months. Very encouraged.
Cons:
I had redness and swelling for 2 days, puffy eyes for 3-4 days. I had a lot of heat in my face for about 1 hour after the treatment. Flaking was bad the 3rd day but then skin was great. Lots of moisturizer used.
My MD has a lady RN that does packages( 3 treatments for 3300) and does a lot of the acne scar patients. She seems to be very knowledgeable about the treatments and also how it works to do what it is suppose to do. I have 2 more scheduled and look forward to them. I recommend it to all my friends, even those that dont have scars, as the literature says it helps with texture,fine lines and pigmentation.
January 5, 2007
Had co2 lazer procedure 4 years ago for deep rolling acne scars, noticed little if any improvement for acne scars, some decrease in hyperpigmentation. Would say not worth the money if your scars are deep
June 29, 2009
Pros:
Removed melasma (85% after the first treatment), smaller pores, plumped skin, more even skin tone, easily look 5 years younger.
Cons:
The pain while managable, is still very real! The downtime was way more than expected...easily 4 days. Very swollen for 2 days after I looked like balloon girl, followed by another 2 days of peeling, followed by another 2 or 3 days of acne.
Bottom line for ME is that it simply worked. I've been reading a lot of these reviews and felt I had to write one myself because the expression, "if somenone has a good experience they'll tell 2 people and if they have a bad one they'll tell 12" is probably true here. I was reluctant since it's not cheap and my busy schedule doesn't allow for a lot of downtime, but I am SO glad I did it. I also am a big fan of botox and fillers so have high expectation in terms of fast results and fraxel didn't dissapoint. My melasma (from 2 pregnancies) is almost completely gone, and I swear it has actually helped my moderate adult acne. My skin looks amazing. There is no doubt it has produced collegen since my face is more plump (now 4 weeks post treatment). I think I'll wait about 6 months and do another, the treatments are cumlative so they don't need to be done every month.
March 15, 2016
Fractional Co2 laser resurfacing Active FX (not Fraxel)
There are so many different types of laser treatments and pros and cons for each. -> Ablative (most intense, more down time) Erbium YAG or fractionated CO2
-> Non-ablative (more gentle, little down time) NdYAG, Fraxel I attended a Dermatologist, for moderate scar treatment. He recommended a combination of IPL for the pigment from sun damage and acne scars as well as Fractional Co2 laser (Active FX is the brand name) for collagen restoration of the scars (this happens over 3 to 6 months post op) I am 10 days post op today. I can already see a real difference in the pigment (I'm fair to medium - this treatment is not recommended for medium to dark skin) the down time is about 5 days, you can wear make up after day 3 (I used mineral make up powder over the La Roche Possay B15 recovery cream). I did not experience peeling, like when you get sunburned, it was more like micro peeling, the dead skin came off gradually when I cleansed my face. The texture is still slightly rough in places, I guess a little dehydrated. I think I should be back to soft skin come day 14, I still have some pinkness and a few lines, like feint grid marks but these are fading each day - as I was told they would. I am scheduled for the same treatment again in 7 weeks. After that they have told me that they may need to give me one additional Co2 treatment to target specific scarred areas, but we won't know that until I have completely healed from the second treatment. The cost is €550 per treatment in Dublin, Ireland.
February 19, 2009
Pros:
my treatment was for fine lines(from sun worshipping) and I couldn't believe how great the finally results were although I noticed improvement immediately (after a week)but my face got better as time went on..i love it love it love it!!!! 44yrs. old
Cons:
looking like a sun-burned chipmonk on steroids(puffy cheeks and eyes) but thank God that was only for a few days
even though its concidered expensive, I think in the long run, I probably saved money becus I was spending a fortune on expensive cosmetics and so called miracle creams for fine line. This was a sure deal for me and I got three other people loving it.I do it once a year for a fresh up. I used alot of ice on the face the first two days, benadryl for swelling and itchiness and vitamin c and e daily for healing. Sleep w/ your head elevated the first 2 nights for it really does help w/ the swelling. One of my four treatments was intense and I did blister, crack, to put it bluntly I looked God-aweful scary so if you get a very intence treatm't you may want a back up "perscription" ointment. It works like a miracle only wish I knew that at the time. But of course discuss this w/ ur Doctor. Best of luck to all :)
August 8, 2008
Pros:
Skin looks and feels great after 1 treatment.
Cons:
Not cheap. Minor break out.
Had my first treatment 7 days ago and cannot believe the improvement. Skin is smooth, pores minimised and definitely improvement on shallow boxcar scars. Expected much more down time, was red for 2 days with peeling for about 2 days and broke out a little but cleared up super fast and completely worth it for the immediate results. Did not find the experience painful at all (used numbing cream for 1.5 hours before). My suggestion is find a reputable dermatologist and you can't go wrong.
July 25, 2008
Pros:
none
Cons:
extremely painful even with numbing cream, red face for 2 weeks, caused acne breakout, blistered, it has been a year and it never changed a thing
Expensive....4 treatments (by a dermatologist) times $400 = $1,600, painful and didn't work a bit.
Pros:
Not sure yet. I've just had fraxel co2 done...for moderate acne scars on my cheeks.....