My Fraxel Updates ...

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turbonamja

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Hey everyone,

A few of the board merabers have found my posts on this laser treatment insightful, so I will start up a new one since the last one has gone pretty far.

So far I have gotten 2 of them done. Yesterday was nuraber 2 and they up'd the kilo joules on the intensity. It hurt. Hahaha. Man did it hurt. My face is still swollen but the pain has subsided. After the first treatment my skin was looking really good. I was on accutane the previous year and it left me with some slight scarring. This was the best option on getting rid of that according to my dermatologist. I will post more results when the redness and swelling go down.

I am also getting cool touches done in b/w my fraxels to help out with breakouts. I have had one new (just one!) pimple and that went away after one day. I have had 2 cool touches so far as well. Seems the treatments are working good. I'll keep everyone updated.
 
Westlake dermatology is where I go and I have seen an improvement on my skin texture. I don't know how severe your scars were but mine were not bad and I had some skin pigmentation issues where big cystic acne used to be back in the day. This has definitely been helping a lot but I believe that getting a cool touch treatment in b/w my fraxels has increased the effects. I go in for my fourth cool touch this next week b/c I just got my third fraxel yesterday. My gf has told me that she could tell that my pores shrunk and that my texture of the skin looked more refined and less oily. See how many kilojoules they are using on your face, they have used 8kj the last two times I believe. Whatever it was, IT HURT. No pain no gain though. If you want a referral, I can tell you who to contact. Does your insurance cover Fraxels?
 
It's day 4 since my third Fraxel and my face is peeling like crazy. Must be working but I got a couple of new pimples but that was caused by shaving prior to the treatment. My face is still red but hopefully that will go away after today. One bad thing about Fraxels is that it leaves you red like you just got sunburned from skiing or something .. :rolleyes:
 
Realistically how much time should you spend indoors after the procedure? Is it very blue? Like do people look at you when you are leaving the clinic???????????
 
turbonamja, do you know if the results of fraxel are permanent (meaning the scars won't come back slowly)? thanks.
 
Hey all, I know I've been lagging on the fraxel updates....so I'll get y'all up to date with my situation. I have had 3 fraxels so far. Honestly, I can't see a HUGE difference in my skin. I have scarring on my cheeks...some areas deeper than others. About the blue dye thing....I get most of it off before I leave the doctor's office. The nurses give me dawn soap and some gauze to wash it off, which works pretty well. Of course its hard to get all of it off right then, but i've never had it still on my face the next day. However, the redness does last about 5 days for me. After this past treatment, I actually went out the next day, to my surprise, since i get so self conscious about it. I don't know when I'll be able to get another treatment though, as I've been getting them done in Houston, and I live in Austin.
 
did you scars improve after having 2 fraxels? what kind of scars do/did you have?
 
Hey Suecarlson,
Good to have a person from Austin getting the Fraxels done too. I will ask the next time around about how strong my procedures were done at, but right now I forget exactly. I went through all 4 and I am currently off the Fraxels now. I am up for one more cool touch, probably in two weeks. The results have been really pleasing to me. I am happy I did it and I have seen results. The Dr. told me that I will continue to have increased collagen growth for up to 5 months which is great. I just had it done about a week and a half ago and you can barely see where it was done by the outlines from my face. The scars have diminished, pores are smaller, pigmentation issues are almost extinct ... good stuff. I might start doing some vitalize peels to keep up the regiment so I can have flawless skin, I think I am getting addicted haha. It's probably because I haven't had this great of skin in a long time.

I am very surprised you went back to work. I swelled up almost an hour after and my face was severly red. You must have a better threshold for pain than I do haha. Keep us updated on your progress and I wish you the best!
 
What level are you doing? maybe you are not doing it high enough? Overall, I have heard people get good results from fraxel after the 3rd.....next time go higher and see if you see a difference. Good luck
 
Turbonamja--I'll be at Westlake Dermatology for my first Fraxel tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 10 a.m. for the nurabing creme--wish me luck! I'm going to ask about joule strength. Your posts have been very helpful. Thanks.
 
I had my first Fraxel last Wednesday. The pain was bad during the procedure and for about an hour after, but after that no pain. However, I don't remeraber reading or hearing about the swelling. I went to work directly after the procedure because my face was merely (very) red. It started swelling toward that afternoon and by Thursday morning was as swollen as my skin would allow. It stayed like that through Friday. I didn't go to work on Thursday or Friday. On Saturday the swelling started to go down. Now (Monday) it is only slightly swollen. My face is still blotchy/red, however. I don't expect it to be normal-looking for another several days--probably not until just before my next treatment on Feb. 16. Turbonamja--I asked about joules. The technician said he was setting up the machine to be 20 millijoules. I forgot to follow through and ask the doctor if that is what he used. A millijoule is 1/1000th of a joule. A kilojoule is 1000 joules. Are you sure you had 8 KILOjoules? I'll post the results of my Feb. 16 session.
 
Second fraxel update but not much to tell. Less swelling this time, but I had a different person do it this time. The first time I asked for the doctor. This time a technician did it. The technician didn't seem to go over where he had gone before as much as the doctor did. Also, there was less pain during the procedure. I don't know if that's because I started with nurabing creme at home or because the technician went over my face fewer times. I'm still slightly swollen and so can't tell if the scars on my cheeks have gotten better. I don't when I'll be able to tell if I've gotten the results I want--maybe not until a while after the fourth treatment. If there's anything interesting about my third treatment around the first of March I'll post it. Turbonamja--have you got more to post about your results?
 
Hey Turbonamja. I got the scoop on millijoules vs. kilojoules. They set the machine to deliver so many millijoules in (I guess) each laser pulse, but they measure the total amount of energy delivered in kilojoules. The doctor I had this time said they shoot for between 6 and 7 kilojoules, so if you got 8 kilojoules, you go guy. This last time I asked her to max out what she thinks I should have on my face, and I wouldn't have wanted her to deliver any more energy. My "score" was 6.something kilojoules. I was as red and swollen after this third one as I was the first one and wasn't fit for public view for 3 days afterward. I was OK to go out on the 4th day. I still can't say I see a lot of improvement, but I see my face every day and didn't have anything dramatic that needed fixing. As I said before, I'll have to see my before and after photos to compare. I'm still red, but I think the brownish sun damage marks on my forehead might be pretty much gone. I'm sure my 4th treatment in mid-March will not be interesting enough to report, so I'll wait until my before and after photos in May or June.
 
anachron, the reason why the blue tint is still on the face after the procedure, is because you pretty much took off a part of your skin it feels like so the skin is verrrry sensitive to the touch. so you can't wash your face and scrub to get it off. you have to gently wash off, so in effect, the blue tint will not come off easily. you have to keep washing gently until it starts to feel better and then eventually the blue tint will come off. took several days for me for the blue to completely go away. there was not too many people there at the clinic so not a lot looked at me but i didnt care because it hurt too much hahahhaha ... so i just kept walking with an ice pack on my face to calm the swelling caused by it. my face is looking real good right now and you can still see where it was done on but the redness fades well and looks like a bronze tint like you tanned after a week or so... hope that helps.

plainbagel, they told me they are permanent. of course over time, wrinkles and age spots will probably come with age, but the acne scars should not come back. my scars are noticably getting better and getting smaller. hopefully it gets better on my last two fraxel appointments.
 
I had small scars and pigmentation issues around the jawline where I broke out back in the good ol' days really bad. I just got my 2nd fraxel yesterday so my face is still red and I can't see anything but RED haha. I will let you know how it is. Usually, they say 4-5 treatments will give you tremendous results. Do a search on google or yahoo for before and after pics.
 
turbonamja: Thanks so much for your posts. I'm in Austin as well and will have my first Fraxel on Feb. 1 and then three more every two weeks thereafter. I sure hope that I can go to work the same or next day--I was planning on it. I didn't know that the blue would still be there, though. Rats. Do you have another treatment before February 1?
 
Hey Amy, I live in Austin as well, any reason why you go to Houston? My skin has not looked any better in years. I am really happy with the results and I am going in for my 3rd Fraxel this upcoming Wed. The second one really hurt ... they turned it up to about 8 kilojoules. Hurt like hell. I will keep you guys posted
 
I had my last of 4 Fraxel treatments in mid-March. I was told that I would improve for several months following the last treatment. This is my last update. I had this done because of slight scarring on my cheeks and to look 10 years younger (as the ad said). I still have slight scarring, and I don't know if I look 10 years younger. However, I'm told by others that there is a difference. I believe I look as if I've been "photoshopped," as another ad says. My skin is slightly smoother. Other than that, I still have some brownish sun damage patches on my forehead, and, as I mentioned, the minor acne scarring on my cheeks. I didn't have any other procedure along with the Fraxels. The ad said this is the best treatment for acne scarring, but there must be something better than this. I wouldn't do it again for that. I would do it again if only so I will never regret having done it and because I do believe my face looks a little better. But no great improvement, and I probably don't look 10 years younger (I'm 59). If someone asked me for my advice about getting rid of acne scarring and looking 10 years younger, I'd say find a better way. Sue
 
I get it done in Houston bc of a referral. I don't ever know what levels they are doing the Fraxel treatments on, I'll have to ask next time. But this will be my 4th treatment, and I can't say thus far its been worth it. Do you know if the skin is supposed to get better progessively, like throughout the year or are you supposed to see results within the first few days after? It is kind of a pain to find time on my schedule to go back to Houston to get them done though.
 
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