My BEFORE FRAXEL PICTURE–ABOVE. Acne scars on my skin. It looks the same way on the other side of my face too. And my forehead is terrible. My chin, is scarred the least. Yes, I’ve learned many “camera angles” and “makeup tricks” to help disguise this.

Sure, not anything to complain too much about here–there are children dying in other countries due to starvation,--but I did suffer intensely from rejection, bullying and hate throughout my childhood and teenage years. I know full well what it’s like to be discriminated against because of my skin–especially as a female. Your self esteem goes down. Your job opportunities go down. You have a harder time making friends…the list goes on and on. Acne is nothing. It’s the scars that cause the long-term (and short-term) difficulties.

I had my first Fraxel LASER skin resurfacing treatment this past Friday (Nov 17, 2017). It’s has been 3 days since my treatment and my face still looks pregnant. The swelling is intense! With the exception of the severe and constant cystic acne I experienced during my teen years, my face has never looked so deformed and disfigured in my life. I don’t mind the intense redness, it’s the inflammation—especially around the eyes—that causes the most grimacing from family members, even the baby. They have learned to put up with me these past few days and I have remained strictly inside the confines of the house. The Fraxel LASER is no joke. For me it has been several days of recovery.

After arriving at my LASER appointment Friday, the technician applied a thick layer of numbing paste over my skin. I had to wait for 1 full hour before my treatment began. Once numb, the technician came in and applied a device to my skin, somewhat like a scanner or wand, which was attached to a large LASER machine. She then carefully and thoroughly passed this wand over my face. She started at my forehead and proceeded to my cheeks and chin. I made sure to ask that my “nose be avoided” since I didn’t have any acne scars there and even more, wasn’t fond of the idea of a massively inflamed nose. I would highly recommend doing this if you decide to get FRAXEL. There is no need to experience a swollen nose for several days.

For me, the Fraxel LASER hurt quite a bit—especially at the beginning. I could feel bursts of fiery hot, almost searing pain with each pass of the LASER. As the treatment went on, my face started to adjust and I didn’t really feel the pain anymore. All I could think about was a LASER breaking down the fibrotic scar tissue and puncturing microscopic columns into the depressed scar tissue helping break it from its tethering to the underlying dermis. This brought me great joy! The LASER treatment took about 1 hr and 15 minutes.

The technician was very accommodating and wanted to help me in every way possible. I had purchased a discounted series of Fraxel LASER (face and neck) treatments and 1 Clear and Brilliant treatments for $1,359. She realized that my neck didn’t need the treatment as much as my face and decided to add 2 more Fraxel treatments to the series that would address my face only, replacing the neck treatments. This was extremely generous! SO now I get a total of 4 Fraxel sessions (next one is scheduled for January so watch out world) for $1,359. The actual market price for 4 Fraxel treatment sessions is around $3,200.

I will keep you updated on my progress and what I think about the results. I was told that it will take at least 4 Fraxel sessions to see any noticeable improvement to my acne scars–but I think I will see mild results with just one treatment. I look forward to future sessions and am willing to put up with the 3 days of recovery that follow this procedure.