Good or Excellent Response
46%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Moderate Response
81%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Side Effects
Low-Medium
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 Non-ablative Fractional Lasers? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
March 24, 2013
Cons:
Not worth the high price. Doesn't really work on pitted scars or fine lines around mouth. Causes breakouts.
I'm 38 with years of mild pitted scarring in my cheeks & fine lines around mouth & just uneven skin all over. Have tried many things over the years with no luck. Decided to do series of 4 fraxel restore. Not painful & no real downtime, looked promising 1st week but then skin always back to normal after 2nd or 3rd week. Finished my 4th 3 wks ago and I see no improvement whatsoever. Now I wake up with new whiteheads every day. Not worth the 3400 I spent. Had high hopes & big let down.
September 15, 2011
Pros:
20% improvement
Cons:
costly don't believe the hype
I've done 3 fraxel treatements at the highest setting for my skin tone at a very good cosmetic derm office. I saw an immediate improvement on my skin after the first one, but that's because your face becomes swollen the week after so it appears that the scars are gone, but within a few weeks most of the scars came back. After the first time I saw a 20% improvement. I was excited and made an appoinment 6 weeks later. the second treatment did nothing. I made a third appointment, the third treatment also did nothing. Then I was told i should spreed 3 months between appointments. I was pissed about spending sooo much money and only seeing 20% improvement when i was told it would be more like 40-70 at the end so I tried juvedrem filler injections which did nothing, it was like throwing money away. i was very sad and expressed my feelings od dissatisfaction, it had been 6 months from the last time i did my third fraxel and 1 month since the juvederm. The spa offered me a fourth fraxel restore for free and i thought why not? If I see at least a another 20% improvement from this last one I'll spreed the fraxel restore treatments 6 months to year apart...I'll write back in 3 months letting you guys know what happens. If i see almost no improvement I will never do fraxel restore again cause its expensive as heck and it crushes your hopes. All that being said I'm still very happy that I got about a 20% to 25% improvement.
September 16, 2010
Pros:
I got one treatment done so far - I only got the cheeks instead of the whole face done and after the hour and half of numbing, the actual procedure was done within less than 5 minutes. I thought that was odd as the whole face takes abt 35-40 minutes but decided to wait a few days before questioning the doctor on it. Now about 10 days later, I don't see any improvement in my face and I wonder if it had anything to do with the time spent on the procedure.
Cons:
costly - needs to be repeated at least 3 times to see any improvement at all, as I am being told now.
While I want to go for the next 2 treatments, I am wondering if it'd be worth spending the add'l $1200+. The clinic, for some odd reason, won't let me talk to the doctor over the phone to get my questions answered. They wouldn't explain why the first procedure was barely 5 minutes long and insist on me making another appointment, so that makes me wonder.
May 14, 2009
Pros:
Some improvement in texture of skin.
Cons:
I did mainly for ice pick acne type scars. I did 6 treatments and saw minimal improvement.
Would not do again for my type acne scars.
January 29, 2009
Pros:
i did notice a slight difference. but could be from my face being swollen. any improvement is good.
Cons:
it is expensive for how many treatments they recommend for best results. .
I am very vain and ill try anything to improve my skin, i.e. appearance. so if you have the money go for it. Honestly it doesn't work as well as Doctors claim it does so don't expect miracles..
October 5, 2008
Pros:
Some improvement for superficial rolling scars.
Cons:
No improvement in white raised scars.
No improvement in medium rolling scars.
Little improvement in shallow icepick scars and little improvement in surgical scars. Expensive.
I have tried 6 treatments of Affirm laser.
The plastic surgeon told me that it works raised scars as well as depressed, but is turns out that it did nothing to raised scars.
Very disappointed.
September 11, 2008
Pros:
Acne scars treatment by Fraxel Laser
Cons:
No More Acne scars(Pitted) on my face
Hello,
I had 5 sessions of Fraxel Laser(Fractional) from my city Lahore Pakistan by Dr.Ahmad Chaudhry and want to share my experience with other people.There is two days down time,slighly pinkish skin which clears after 2 days.Initially i did not had visible results but after 3rd session every one noticed that i have improvement.I continue my remaining two sessions.It is almost five months that i have completed my treatment and there is no more pitted ugly scars on my face.
August 18, 2008
Pros:
Some pros - smaller pores, rolling scars appear less deep (but in no means are gone)
Cons:
Please do not believe that this laser is risk free! I had my last one (out of 4) done six months ago. Desperately trying to help cystic acne scars on chin. Dr used a deep setting for those and a lesser setting for the rest of my face (more)
to eliminate some traces of hyperpigmentation (melasma). Now, I have a reddish brown mask that is not fading. What's worse is it's not even uniform. Along with the mask are white, blotchy patches. Below my eyes there is now a not-so uniform depressed, u shaped brown line where he started the laser with each pass. Bottom line -- Fraxel II completely ruined the pigment of my face and now I'm forever doomed to wear heavy concealer from the moment I wake up in the morning...ALWAYS. The subtle improvement in acne scarring was absolutely not worth a permanent mask. Nothing is.
July 17, 2008
Pros:
Helped fade acne scarring.
Cons:
Not as effective as I had hoped. Downtime was awful.
During procedure - Hurts pretty bad if you don't use numbing cream beforehand. Did the first four without and the last one with. If you do use it the pain isn't too bad. Immediately after each treatment - I looked like I had an awful sunburn and it hurt pretty bad. Just take painkillers and be sure to use lots of the post procedure cream they give you. Not much you can do about looking bad except hide inside for a week (like I did) unless the redness fades and peeling finishes. Overall treatment - Helped fade scars quite a lot but not completely. However, now if I wear makeup no scarring is visible (unlike before) which is nice. =) Need to do the full series though because there were no visible effects from first couple treatments. I would only reccommend this treatment if you have money to spare (because it is quite pricey) and if you are able to take a week off of school and/or work for recovery.
April 25, 2008
Pros:
a little bit of improvement on shallow scars (too little)
Cons:
alot of downtime (10 days for me). During downtime my face looked like a brown checker board. Very little improvement if any for the large price tag.
I started to break out due to the heat of laser and because i couldn't use ance wash/cream for the 10 days. So now, about 20 days after the treatment my skin texture and appearance is still crappy and with small zits. Dang this sucks because I been saving the $800 for so long.
Pros:
Low downtime. Looks good for a week.