Fraxel? What is it?

[helen]

Hi guys.

I've been reading about something called Fraxel.


Is this similar to Photorejuvenation? Does it basically do the same thing for the skin?

[jomol31]

Hi Helen,


I've done a fair bit of reading on Fraxel. It sounds like its a bit like photorejuvenation on steroids.

Supposedly its really good for resurfacing the skin.

What it does is blast the skin with lots of tiny dots of laser energy that go all the way through the dermis and into the collagen. Most of the skin is actually left intact. When the skin heals these dots it tightenes and remodels itself.

Because most of hte skin is left intact it actually heals a lot faster than it would if you had just blasted off all the skin.


Thats my understanding of the matter

[gantily]

Hmmm sounds like a Piers Anthony book series.

But I'm assuming you aren't asking about that.

Btw they are really bad books so at least you know to avoid them.

[aaron]

damn I haven't read a Piers Anthong book since grade-school.

*quickly rustles through collection*

I got it you are talking about the mode stories right? I think Piers Anthony referred to a fractal world in that book - not a fraxel world!


Back on topic. I've read some amazing things about fraxel resufracing. I was seriously thinking of getting a CO2 laser resurfacing done for my face after seeing the results on a friend. I have a lot of pock marks from my teenage acne.

But I realised I would need 2 weeks off work and could never justify the time. Fraxel supposedly is every bit as good after 4 treatments but you can go back to work the same day.

[doctornev]

Fraxel is the most popular form of fractional laser resurfacing and is best thought of as a new form of laser resurfacing. Fraxel has the advantage of having virtually no down-time. This however is traded off for speed of effect. So intead of only needing one treatment necessitating an anaesthetic and a week off work due to redness/inflammation - fractional resurfacing requires virtually no time off work but needs 4-6 treatments 2 weeks apart.


Fractional resurfacing uses the same laser as traditional laser resurfacing only the light is delivered in hundreds of tiny pin-pricks of light, leaving an area of healthy untouched skin around each point of laser penetration.

As the skin repairs these little micro-injury sites the skin tightens, remodels the collagen and resurfaces itself. The results can be quite dramatic over a course of treatments and it is probably the future for all laser resurfacing.

[starfish]

So is it better than photorejuvenation?


can you do both together?

[gantily]

It looks like photorejuvenation will even up your pigmentation and destroy capillaries.

Fraxel will actually resurface your skin. I've also noted that on our sponsers website the fractionated laser resurfacing treatments are quite a bit more expensive than photorejuvenation.

I assume that makes it a lot better :)

[Emily]

I actually had the old Co2 laser resurfacing done about 3 years ago. My face looked like it had been dunked in boiling water, I needed to be put to sleep by an anethasist and I took 3 weeks off work.

But the results were stunning! I love my new skin and it was definitely worth it.

If fraxel can achieve the same results without needing to take anytime off work then you can't lose.


Is the skin red and sore after the treatment? I'm not sure I understand how fraxel differs from the old laser resurfacing

[sam@netball]

Hi Emily there's a really good explanation on the fraxel website www.fraxel.com


I was quite interested myself. Fraxel differs from the laser resurfacing you had in that it only burns off about 10% of the skin each time in little micro-dots. Each area of lasered skin is surrounded by healthy tissue and it allows the damage to repair much more quickly because there's still a lot of healthy tissue around to help repair the damage

[claudia]

I guess an analogy for fraxel to resurfacing would be


1. Burning a large area on your arm with a red hot saucepan leading to months of pain = old laser resurfacing

2. Burning a little dot on your hand with a red hot knife which gives a little bit of pain but it soon heals = new fraxel technology.

It sounds plausible.

[Princess4ever]

Fraxel is everything they say it is and I love it.

I'ld tried everything to rejuvenate my skin: microdermabrasion, heavy chemical peels, light chemical peels, facials monthly, photorejuvenation etc etc etc. You name it i tried it.

Fraxel was great. My skin tightened up immediately, the little acne scars were way less promininet, it reallly was like getting a new layer of skin.


I can't recommend it highly enough. I wish I had known about it before wasting all that money on the other stuff

[fweelove]

Sounds great princess4ever.


How did you find fraxel compared to say a deep physician grade chemical peel?


From what I can put together all resurfacing technologies arrive at the same endpoint (tighter, brighter skin) whether it be via laser resurfacing or chemical peel resurfacing.

[Princess4ever]

Well I've never had a deep chemical peel so I can't really compare

My sister had one though and I saw her immediately after - it was enough to scare me off permanently. It looked like someone had dunked her entire face into boiling water. Pretty scary.

[aurora50]

I had photorejuvenation and loved it. It really evened out my pigmentation. Its the best thing I ever did. It worked out cheaper than my usual regime. Prior to photorejuvenation I was getting a monthly facial.

The only disappointment is photorejuvenation didn't really do much to tighten my skin or decrease the pitting of the face. I knew it stimulated collagen and was hoping it would have a little bit of tightening effect.


Do people know if you can get fraxel after you've already had phtorejuvenation. Can the skin take the double dose of light?

[doctornev]

Hi aurora,

There is no problem at all getting both fractional laser resurfacing and photorejjuvenation together.

They are complimentary techniques and we offer both together in one of our cosmetic packages.

[Kristos]

I just saw this thread.

I had pretty bad acne as a teenager and got some deep pits on my face.

As I said in the laser hair removal thread my skin is very dark olive. Is Fraxel suitable for my skin and is it suitable for my scarring?

[amonster]

i have done 3 fraxel sessions out of 5 so far , for acne scarring..
my first one was at 20mj, second one was 30mj, and third was 40mj, all with 8 passes..was pretty painfull and hot but i could handle it..

i have olive skin and my downtime is about one week thats when i look "reasonable" to go out.

with my first one my face was swelled up for 5 days, but with my other treatments the swelling only lasted 2-3 days.
i have slight redness but im assumong that will go away after a couple of months.
after my third treatment i ve realised that my scars have smoothed out abit and are slowly filling up. you will see true results six months after your last fraxel treatment as collagen slowly rebuilds.

[Kristos]

How did you find the pain of the procedure amonster?

A couple of other people on the forum have said the pain is not inconsiderable.

Bot unbearable but not nice either.


Was the pain bad after the procedure? Was it the pain or the redness that kept you away from work for a week?

[Emily]

I haven't had fraxel myself kristos I had the old CO2 complete laser ablation of the skin.

The results were fantastic and I love my new resurfaced skin.

But my pain and redness was much much worse than what amonster's is describing.

Only 1 week off work sounds like heaven compared to what I went through with resurfacing

[amonster]

How did you find the pain of the procedure amonster?

A couple of other people on the forum have said the pain is not inconsiderable.

Bot unbearable but not nice either.


Was the pain bad after the procedure? Was it the pain or the redness that kept you away from work for a week?


the first two where the worst.. but the 3rd treatment wasnt that painful at all, maybe i have gotten used to it..

after the procedure it just feels like a sunburned sensation nothing major only last for a couple of hours..

it was the redness that kept me away from work...but the redness varies with different people.