Best Laser Recommedation for Pigmentation

[kkruz77]

Looking for advice and personal experiences with photofacials for pigmentation.

[agegracefully]

I just got my first Fraxel Thilium laser treatment done today. Will post here with my evaluation in several days, which is how long it takes to heal.

FYI, the Fraxel Re: store Dual is actually 2 lasers, only one of them is the Thilium (I forget the other type right now, but it's for wrinkles and building collagen). Anyway, a treatment consists of 8 laser passes on your face, and you can choose to have all 8 passes with just the Thilium laser, which is specifically geared for pigment. Or you can have four with the Thilium, and then 4 with the other laser.

The Fraxel promo photos show two women who had this lazer at 10 MJ, which is what I had, but they had theirs at treatment level 7, whereas mine was at level 4, which is all the PA would recommend (average is 3). She was looking at the guidelines for melasma patients in picking my treatment level. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it turns out. So far I feel fine; earlier I felt very sunburnt. I had my treatment about 6 hours ago.

[agegracefully]

Had the 8 passes with the Fraxel Dual Thilium laser last Friday afternoon. It's now Tuesday evening, and most of the skin has peeled off (I have some on the outer edges of my cheeks and also quite a bit on the forehead). So far as I can tell, this laser did a great job of eradicating the blotchy pigment I had. I have some red blotches on my nose, a little bit of breakout here and there, that still needs to heal, but most of the skin looks new and fresh.

I'll write again with an update in a few days, but so far so good.

[agegracefully]

OK, it's about 2-1/2 weeks post treatment and I'm still liking what I see. I am still worried about bounce-back hyperpigmentation, and so am applying sunscreen and avoiding the sun as much as possible. Still looking good so far, though. The other thing I notice is that my skin is still fragile. If I try to extract a blackhead, for example, it is very easy to damage the skin and make it bleed a little. So I avoid doing that, and hope my products will keep my skin clear enough. I am using Triluma at night, as directed, in hopes that this will stave off the bounce-back pigmentation. I wonder if that also makes the skin more fragile.

Now I'm trying to decide whether to go for a second treatment -- perhaps a true "dual" this time, with 4 passes of the Thulium laser, and 4 of the regular Restore laser. But given how fragile my skin seems, I think it's too soon to even schedule it.

I'll check in again and let people know how it's going, but still, so far so good!