my before and after fraxel

In this blog ill be showing you my before and after photos when i got treated for fraxel laser. this is just my first treatment and i'm excited to see if results are for real. my large pores and scars were the target, to lessen them or make em disappear. i hope we will all get to see dramatic results.
ill be showing daily photos from post treatment till the 7th day which is one week from treatment. so people can also be aware of how the skin looks and when they can start going out again once the ugly stage is done.
this is my before-

as you can see i have obvious issues with pores, redness and scars.
no make up on these photos. were taken 2 hours before i went to my dermatologist. taken-march 20, 2013.

this is my after treatment-

 yes you can see lightly the laser dots on my skin.

 i'm not sure if there was a major improvement on the cheeks yet.

on the nose obviously some major results, it was smoother and close to becoming pore-less.
these photos were taken in about an hour or two after the procedure. march 20,2013.

---> day one, 12-24 hours after. march 21 2013. i wake up to this super sunburned and bruised face-

 it is more sunburned than it was yesterday.

i can see i little bit if shrinking in the pores.

 the swelling started to go down too, i think.

on the cheeks it's starting to heal and form patches.
the laser marks are more visible now. it's starting to show white dotted prints all over the face which will peel off in a few days.
i was allowed to wash my face after 24 hours only, so i'm still not touching it till now since it's still a bit early.

---> day two, march 22 2013. i noticed last night that my skin was starting to get grainy&rough maybe it means it's starting to repair itself.
true enough i wake up with super tight skin the upper layer has started to form a hard, rough surface and yes i did wash my face already 24 hours after treatment. after washing my skin felt kinda tight.

 no more swelling.

 sunburn effect is more darker.

 the laser marks are more visible now. but i feel maybe we should have been more aggressive on the procedure because i saw some you tube videos that went as much as 8 passes compared to mine. now i felt i was being too mild on my skin, should have watched the video before i had it done. plus i am expecting value for my money, i just hope the results are dramatic too even if it was not as aggressive.

---> day three, march 23 2013. last night after washing my face and putting on my night cream i felt my skin get really super tight, i felt it was hard to make faces or smile. it also started to get itchy a little bit on my nose.
today i wake up to this skin that was already peeling itself. yehey! just on time the 3rd day peeling starts. it's not painful it's just a bit flaky here and there, as my derma said don't try to peel it off just let it be so i'm leaving it alone. let it take it's course.

i can't really see overall results yet maybe when all the peeling is done but i did notice my pores did some major shrinking! that's good news. plus my skin is so much tighter now.

---> day four. march 24, 2013. my skin is still peeling, more now than yesterday. last night it got a bit itchy on the cheeks and nose. my skin is only tight on the peeling parts (cheeks) the rest of the face like forehead&chin has no tightening whatsoever. since i have oily skin i feel its kinda helping with the peeling not to be painful, it's not the same as chemical peels where its so irritating when peeling.

 scars are still very much visible even after peeling.

 my chin is starting to peel too.

 no activity at the forehead yet.

as you can obviously see i have oily skin that's how it looks after washing the face. i'n not sure if i have any progress from what i can see underneath the peeled skin it's still the same as it was before, what do you think?
that would be very sad if these scars were still the same after the treatment. i would feel like it was a waste of money, it's so expensive! i'm still hoping in the next days to see more positive improvements. cause right now i'm not so happy with what i see.

---> day five. march 25, 2013.
today i noticed my skin started to change and the new skin from peeling is a lot whiter and the texture is softer although it's still not done. my forehead still hasn't peeled yet, my nose and cheeks on the other had has revealed new skin already. i think once the peeling is done it only gets better from there on. i'm still hoping a lot of improvements will bee seen in the next few weeks. skin is a lot pinker now rather than sun burnt hehe

 i put sun block everyday and it makes the peeling more obvious-

it just looks better now but a bit more obvious cause of the matte sunblock the peeled skin starts to form from it. still gets a bit itchy but not all the time.

---> day six. march 26, 2013. today and last night my face was a lot itchy i'm not sure it's because of the meds or because i actually went out yesterday. yes i had the courage to face the outside world with that face on the picture above. i was wearing sun block, maybe it's normal to itch since it's peeling already  my cheeks are still red till today it looks like i have blush on hehe my forehead seems to be the last part to peel it still has no reaction whatsoever.

i'm not sure what to expect in the next days, my face looks kinda the same i think. my face is still patchy here and there cause the peeling hasn't stopped yet. the skin on my cheeks are super soft but i can still see the scars, which makes me sad. i'll be starting my toner tonight as prescribed by my derma start on the 6th day. lets hope i get the result I've been waiting for.

---> day seven. march 27, 2013. yey! one week went by so fast. my skin is micro peeling now it's not the same as when the scabs were there now it's milder peeling and no more itching but still red here and there. i think all the laser marks are gone i can't feel any rough skin anymore my cheeks are still peeling, this time it's more of the same kind of peeling we get from chemical peels tiny bits of skin peels off. i can say i did already get to go out two days straight. the horror moment would only be the first days post fraxel cause i looked terrible after the scabs are gone it's fine to go out cause people are used to seeing micro peeling rather then scabs on the face peeling off.

i'm not sure if this is the end of seeing improvements since the burnt skin is already completely gone so i don't know yet if this is it. i know i will be peeling and peeling off more skin because of my topical medications but with regards to the scars i'm not so sure if this is the final result. cause if it is then i'm one sad lady, they are still very much there! :(

i guess ill be going weekly updates from now on since there won't be any major things happening in the coming days the ugly stage is over, i'll just be peeling from now on. lets just hope they d something for the scars.

April 3, 2013. two weeks post treatment.
yes i am still peeling for some reason but it's fine i think it's because of the topical meds i'll just wait till i finish the bottle of toner and cream.
as for any progress in the scars and pores well i can't say much has been going on cause i'm just peeling now a days and the scars are still very much visible. i don't think there are any major improvements as of the moment, sad to say.

and yes i did break out a little bit, like maybe 4-5 small zits. i really didn't feel like taking pictures or making updates at this time cause i felt that i was not having any improvements or i didn't get the result i was expecting. i was actually really regretting having the treatment done cause it's sooooo expensive!
so there you have it my two weeks post treatment and still no major improvement.

April 10, 2013. this is my third week post treatment and i still am peeling but only in some parts like my chin and upper lips. i'm still not sure if anything has changed since i got treated cause the things i wanted to be gone are still very much visible.

you can see some of my break outs from the meds 3 mini zits. i just hope this whole phase can be over so i can wear make up again. i'm not expecting anymore improvements because i'm just only peeling.

so what do i think of the whole process? umm..expensive!
but it has not yet given me the result i wanted to i'll just wait till all of the topical medications are over and then decide what to do with the obvious end result.
oh why did i waste so much money on this, i keep thinking that everyday.