Does Fraxel work on acne scars?

I use the Fraxel restore for acne scarring routinely. The results can be variable. If the treatment settings used are the same as the settings for patients with sun damage and fine lines, then the results are very marginal. However, if settings such as 70mJ (a high setting) are used, then the results are much more impressive.

Acne scarring requires a higher intensity of treatment than other conditions. It is very important to seek out a very competent physician to perform the treatment. High settings can have higher side effects and longer "down-times," and are not suitable for all individuals. If you decide to use Fraxel for acne scarring, make sure to go to someone recommended on Fraxel.com, have a consultation, make sure the physician does his/her own treatments, and then go for it.

Fraxel is effective for acne scars once the acne is no longer active.

You should consult with a board certified physician to deternine whether Fraxel or another treatment is more appropriate for your particular needs and lifestyle.

First of all your acne should be under control before embarking on laser treatments for acne scarring or you may:

1. Have acne breakouts from the treatment and post treatmnet wound care.
2. Continue to have scarring acne and need further treatments down the road with additional costs.

Secondly, the generic term Fraxel can be very misleading as there are 3 new "Fraxels" out there, none of which are created equal. 

• The original Fraxel is nonablative
• The next generation are re:store re:fine and re:pair, the last of which is abalative and as for the "Fraxel" family is clearly their best laser at treating acne scars. 
• The other great laser for treating acne scars in the Sciton Profractional laser. It is an erbium yag laser (not CO2), heals quicker and is less painful than the Fraxel re:pair CO2.

So, the technology is out there to treat scars quickly and safely with minimal downtime.  The only downside is the high likelihood of the need for more than one treatment with some of these devices, especially the non-ablative Fraxels.

Lastly, there is the gold standard full ablation lasers by Coherent CO2 or Sciton Erb Yag that will get great results in one treatment, but require wound care for 10-14 days. These results are far better than any of the other treatments discussed... when it comes to lasers, remember there is no "free lunch,"  i.e. more downtime = better results but higher chance of complications versus little to no downtime = need for multiple treatments and lower risk of complications. 

Ask your doctor what he or she thinks is best....and be weary that although the rolled scars may do great with lasers, the "ice pick" type scars do not do very well with any of these lasers; they often need small punch excisions with or without a stitch to fully improve their appearance. This can be done at the end of your laser treatment series. 

Good luck and be sure if acne is still active to get the acne under control with medications, etc. before starting any of these treatments!

Both Fraxel lasers can treat acne scarring very well. The newer Fraxel re:pair CO2 ablative laser penetrates up to 1600 nanometers (1.6mm) deep (as compared to 300nm (0.3) for Active FX, and 600nm (0.6mm) for Deep FX).

Good luck and be well.
Dr. P

Fraxel is quite effective in reducing acne scars; it is not very effective in treating active acne though.

The scars are not going to completely disappear, but they are usually going to be better. A higher power setting may be required. The results are not immediate either. It takes 6-9 month to get the full effect, so you must be patient.

Fraxel is probably the Gold-Standard Treatment for Acne Scars.

Our clinic has the Fraxel and the ActiveFx lasers. Fraxel, by far, has the most studies and the most experience with Acne Scars. ActiveFx MAY be an excellent alternative. We are using both lasers to treat Acne Scars and we are seeing nice results with both.

If someone wants one treatment with 4 days of downtime, we use the ActiveFx. If someone wants 1 day of downtime x 5, we use the Fraxel. ActiveFx gives more skin tightening and Fraxel is safer in patients with darker complexions (skin type 4-6).

Reliant (the makers of Fraxel) just came out with a new CO2 Laser which is like the ActiveFx but goes "deep" and Lumenis (the makers of ActiveFx) has just come out with a new attachment for their ActiveFx which makes it go deep. Deeper treatments may work better because more collagen is stimulated.

You can't go wrong with either laser for acne scars.