Acne.org Products
Good or Excellent Response
81%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Moderate Response
97%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Side Effects
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 Non-fractional Lasers? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
February 7, 2009
Cons:
downtime, pain, redness.
I don't think I am seeing the kind of result that I had expected. My face is now blistering (water filled and blood) and breaking out. Doctor told me to put some cortisone on the blisters, but not helping yet. I will need to have Restylene injections done for the deep scars, so maybe that will help.
November 18, 2007
Pros:
No noticeable gains, definately not worth the cost. Scars are at the smile lines on the cheeks. Deep scarring from childhood acne.
Cons:
Long downtime, redness, swollen face for a week.
Was done (3) years ago. A lot of hoopla, a lot of money, and definately not worth it. Don't make your dematologist rich using this. The lasers are a scam. Consumer protection agency should look into this false advertising.
November 12, 2007
Pros:
None
Cons:
Further damaged my skn
Beware. My scars are worse than before the laser surgery, and the texture of my skin is weird and shiny. The laser caused scars that look like long lines down my face.
I wish I had invested my time and resources into figuring out how to accept myself 'as is' rather than dropping 5 K for intense suffering and worse skin.
August 1, 2007
Pros:
no pros in fraxel treatments
Cons:
it is painful, redness, swelling, no improvments
i had 3 fraxel treatments done, the medical staff will tell you that it only sting but the treatment hurts tremendously. after the treatment, the face swells with redness for at least 4-5 days. The medical staff will also tell you that you will see improvment in about 6 months but again they lied. My treatment was 1 1/2 year ago and still i have not seen any improvment in my skin and my skin actually looked worse due to the darkened spot damaged by the laser.
March 22, 2007
Cons:
Down Time and cost
I had laser resurfacing with the erbrium laser about nine years ago and I was very disappointed with the results. The cost was $4,500 and I saw very little improvement in my acne scarring. I don't recommend it to anyone who wishes to improve moderate acne scarring with pitting. There was also a week of down time and the day after the laser resurfacing my face swelled up like a balloon and it was very uncomfortable the first few days. My face was still as red as a tomato when I returned to work- a week later!
July 15, 2019
Wish I'd never done it..
Had a horrific experience with CO2 laser for a boxcar scar with raised edges on my forehead. The procedure was done by a dermatologist renowned in the UK for laser treatments, but I ended up with what was probably a laser burn, far bigger than the original scar. 7 months later and it's still clear where the laser passed over (he only treated the raised edges allegedly, but covered a 2x3cm area when the original scar was more like 5x5mm at most).
He also recommended steroid cream after the treatment, which should (I now know) have been avoided given my history of acne. I didn't have any active acne at the time (though I did tell him I was prone to it; that's how I got the scar in the first place) and using steroids gave me a crop of closed comedones and milia in the area that impeded the scar healing even more and so caused more scarring than I had to begin with. I even checked with him whether it was really safe for me to use steroids on a healing wound and with a history of acne, and he insisted it was.
My skin in the treated area is wrinkled and dented, and it's given me 8 months of misery.
I'd avoid like the plague if I had my time again.
January 16, 2008
Pros:
Some shallow acne scars looks better, but some deep scars are still there.Laser also diminished my pores.
Cons:
expensive, terrible redness occured and hyperpigmentation.Luckilly hydrokinolone helped me to get rid of it.
I had cystic acne and there were many different kind of scars on my cheeks.I went for co2 laser treatment.I think the improvment is only 25%-30%, because laser shallowed some scars quite well, but my deepest scars are sill there like before and it makes me so unhappy.
January 30, 2022
these things should be illegal
My problem was an accident scar from a freak accident not acne but I stumbled on this site Dr Paul Carniol a very well-known Plastic surgeon somehow convinced me at what was supposed to only be a second opinion consultation to cancel a different procedure with another Dr and quote unquote nick me with a laser He did the CO2 and not only that, to my shock and horror he treated an area we never discussed I now have a very long indented discolored scar that is extremely noticeable that was not noticeable before Dr Carniol butchered me with a CO2 laser Please do NOT allow anyone to touch you with these horrible devices I regret it every second of every day It ruined my life
April 7, 2008
Pros:
I had the full face co2 laser resurfacing 3 weeks ago. My face looks great! No more fine lines, you could hardly notice a deep wrinkles, the whole face looks like I've done a face lift
Cons:
Readness and itching. A small scar, as a spot, I hope it fades away.
2 friends of mine did Erbium and Fraxel laser. My face looks much better! But recovery time is longer,and it hurts more.
October 3, 2007
Pros:
Co2 laser resurfacing greatly diminished lines around my mouth. The healing was an 8 day nightmare, however, and more work needs to be done. I am investigating the Active FX laser now. Perhaps it can blast off another layer, and it works on the neck.
Cons:
It was expesnive and scary, due to the risk of infection that my surgeon constantly emphasized.
Once was enough with this type of procedure. I wish I had never smoked or sat in the sun!
Pros:
The procedure hasn't shown any results yet. It has only been 1 month since CO2 laser resurfacing.