First she went to the Dermatologist and board certified Cosmetic Surgeon whom she had been at his office but seen by the NP for years.

She went to reduce pre-cancerous spots and also to reduce a few fine lines around her eyes. She didn't know what procedure.

Fraxel was recommended and for six treatments, 1 month apart, she would pay $3300.00.

She went in for the first treatment, had numbing solution put on her skin for an hour, and also shots of Novocain. She had never had it, they recommended it.

Then a blue dye was placed on her skin that she was told would take 2 - 3 days before it wore off so she would not be able to be around people if she didn't want them to see that. But after that, everything would be fine.

She was also told that there would be no down time except for this. There may be some swelling and perhaps some flaking in 7 – 10 days, but nothing else.

She had the procedure. It was performed by a nurse. The doctor was never around. The nurse went over her skin at 15 six times each area.

Afterwards, my friend had the blue face and very bad red marks all over her face.

Three days went by, the blue did not go away, and the red marks kept getting worse.

10 days went by and the blue was faded, but still very present and she had very dark brown and red marks on her face. She called the doctor during this time and he wanted pictures, so she went in. They said in the years they have been doing this, nothing like this had ever happened. They even saw the blue still on at 13 days.

Additionally the goo, made up of Vaseline and cortisone that my friend was supposed to put on her face several times a day caused severe acne, something she has never had.

The doctor prescribed Alacore (bleaching) for the dark red and brown all over her face and a special acne regime from him that cost over $400 additionally.

Six weeks later, the acne was still very present, the red and brown marks were very noticeable and she still is embarrassed to go in public. She went back to the doctor and he prescribed IPL and said it would do what the other treatment would for the wrinkles and fine lines as well as cure the acne.

Another $1100.00. The first IPL caused no problems, but no results. Eight weeks later, my friend has switched to ProActive and is excising the acne herself with a special tool her facilist had given her several years earlier.

The bleaching is beginning to work, the acne is starting to disappear, but is still noticeable after a week of proactive, and the wrinkles and fine lines, which were minimal are now very noticeable and there are more lines than before the first Fraxel treatment.

It was noticeable to her, her husband and me, so we compared pictures taken one week prior to her first Fraxel procedure two months ago and pictures taken in the same spot with the same light and same camera and there are wrinkles, when before in the picture there were none.