Trace, thank-you for the comments in your post. I am also in Alberta and recieved my treatments at Looking Good Cosemetics, here is their website: http://www.lookinggoodcosmetic.ca/

I do need to post a recent photo, I will try to do that soon. But I just wanted to post that I won't be having another treatment until early spring of 09. I was extremely busy in November and I don't want to do it this close to Christmas now, and in February we are going on vacation somewhere warm and figured I shouldn't expose myself to the higher UV's right after a treatment if I had it done in January, so I will probably go in March for my 5th treatment and then not again until June for my 6th and final, at that point it'll have been 15 months since I had my 1st. So I guess we'll see the results of large gaps between treatments, where as many people go as often as every two weeks x6. Anyways, I figured there may be a few people watching for an update so I didn't want anyone to think I'd disappeared!

4th Treatment

Okay, my goodness, it hurt this time. 1200 at 7by7, three stacks on my cheeks. I spent 30 minutes with the blow dryer on cool on my face when I got home, and I'm still hurting just about an hour later. I am hoping for some good peeling this time!!!! A light microdermabrasion is planned for next week, I'll take another photo a few weeks after that.

So here is my makeup free face prior to my fourth treatment. My right side is in a bit of a flare up, which I haven't had for a long time. The doctor today gave me some retinol A stuff to try to deal with it. Besides the acne flare, I do think there is an improvement in the texture of my skin. Atleast I hope it's a noticeable one.

Break Times Over

So I took a 6 month break from Pixel. And just now booked my fourth appointment for October 10th. I do think there has been changes in my skin in the last 6 months since my last treatment for the better, but I am still hoping for a more drastic change in my deeper scars, and hope that by the end of my 6th Pixel the shallower scars are almost gone....I guess we'll see.

I will post au' naturel pictures the day of my next treatment, so come back soon.

So here is a comparison of the right side of my face, which had more issues to start with, and is showing the most improvement. The left picture is today, 3 days since my 3rd treatment. The picture on the right is the one I posted when I started the blog, the day before my first treatment.

I'm not crazy am I??? There's a huge difference????

It's two day later and this is what my face looks like. I'm not bothering with makeup but I'm not really leaving the house either, just dropping my kids off at school and not sticking around to talk to anyone!!!

3rd Treatment

Okay, this time HURT, it HURT so badly. They used the 7by7 tip at 800. Last two times they used the 9by9 tip at 800 and then 1000. The 7by7 ends up given a thicker beam, and I guess it goes deeper too. Anyways, it HURT!!! At first I thought "this isn't as strong" and I was disappointed, but less than half way through I was dying for it to be done. Two layers of topical freezing didn't make a difference. I was on fire. By the time I got home 20 minutes after it was done I wanted to cry. I ended up putting my hair dryer on the cool setting and blowing it on high on my face for a good 30 minutes, even after that it still hurt like heck but I was so wind blown I had to stop!!!

Day of Treatment 3: 4 weeks since treatment 2

Comparisons

Okay so here it is, I hate all these photos, close up, non-smiling, hair not done pictures make the best of people look like crap!!! But this is me, so I should just get used to it. The first picture is me today, exausted and ready for sleep, no makeup and some eyebrows in need of some plucking ;)....

This second photo is of me last year, just after my first of four glycolic acid peels I think...it's just about 10 months ago, you can see slight differences I think...my forehead looks better now and my right side (left side in photo) I think shows better?
Remember to click the pictures to make them large to see the real differences....

Now here's the clinker.... this is me 5 years ago after just having my first child. I'm in the hospital holding him for one of the first times ever, and I always look at this photo and think "omg my face is a mess"...I never want to look like this again :(

Right Side

Left Side

One week after 2nd Pixel treatment, just home from microdermabrasion.

48 hours after 2nd

So what do you think??? Noticeable difference yet????

I feel dry, and tight, and it's slightly red, I didn't bother with makeup today although I guess I could have worn it if I wanted too. I only had to take my son to and from school, if I had to see too many more people I probably would have worn some. Cassandra asked a question about makeup, I would definatly have the procedure on a friday if you had to be at work on monday. Just make sure to bring your makeup with you and some lotion, I would guess that you will feel really dry by lunch and want to wash, lotion and reapply your face.

30 minutes after 2nd treatment

Today they used 1000 units at 9by9...She said that they rarely go over 1100, although I know it can go up to 1400. They stacked it three times on my cheeks...YOWCH!!! Last time they just did two times on my cheeks and it was at 800 power... She said next time they would maybe do 7by7..I think it's slightly larger beams that way although I thought I read 9by9 was best for scaring, so I'll have to look that up. I love how the redness really makes the icepicks stand out and look worse!!! lol oh it's joy people!!!!

Day of 2nd Treatment

I know it's a lot of pictures, and not a lot of changes that are going to be noticeable, especially after just the one treatment, but here is my face right before my second treatment. I have noticed what I called my "Blackhead digging it's way to China"....COMPLETELY go away on my forehead. I have seen a reduction in one icepick scar which I call my "arrowhead" since it's shaped like an arrow...and I have seen a overall smoother look to my complextion, as well as smaller pores on my nose.

So here is without make-up. Next Pixel is March 17th. I'll post again then....

After Microdermabrasion

So I am five days after the first treatment. I went in today for a complementary light microdermabrasion to get rid of the tight dried up skin, I feel so much better now although I am still dry, I can apply makeup and not look all flakey, but I am sure I will still continue to peel. I asked today the strength of my first Pixel, and it was 800 whatever the units are that they use. The max is 1400 and they will do 1000 the next time...I may ask them to do 1200 though....

It may be because of swelling, but I have three ice pick scars on my left cheeck that were quite prononuced, and they seem WAY less visible now. On my right cheek I have one icepick that is not as old as the others, it is also harder to point out now. Which leads me to be VERY excited...I hope it's NOT swelling, and that if I already see a difference in one treatment that by 6 I will be extremly pleased with the results.

I asked today about my brown acne scars, and those will probably need to be treated with IPL for 250 a treatment on my cheeks, maybe needing 2-4 treatments....so we'll see how I do after these 6. IPL may be on my list for next year....

I am wearing makeup in these photos. I went out to lunch with some friends within 30 minutes of my microderm, so I wanted to apply makeup. I'll take a pic without makeup later... remember to click on the photos to get the huge size where you can see the scaring better.

48 hours

Top: Before

Bottom: 48 hours after first treatment.... I'll do another one at 1 week, and right before my second treatment at 2 weeks.

Today my face feels very tight and "thick", although touching it, it feels just dry, not leathery. I have had slight peeling around my eyes and lips....

I had to take the make-up off, my face was CRAVING lotion, it felt soo dry. It was not fun washing. I would recommend a VERY soft wash cloth and still be very careful about doing anything more than dabbing your face!!!! I used Impruv cream extremely liberally, and my face was burning for 30 minutes, tolerable, but not nice either. My face feels better now, but I am going to go put on some bactroban cream now and spend the rest of the day making sure it's kept moist!!!

Make-up

24 hours after the first treatment. I put lidocaine on as I was sore this morning, I woke up a few times during the night slightly uncomfortable. I should have gotten up and put on some lotion but I was half asleep. I made sure to use 30SPF sunscreen today, then used lotion, then a cream foundation and then powder!!! It took me forever to get ready today!!!

You can see some redness still and can see some of the lines from the procedure if you expand the picture you will see it better.

So here it is just 10 hours after. You can see some slight redness. (the shine is from the moisturizer and lidocaine that is slapped on every hour for the next three days). I am slightly swollen, and blotchy, but tomorrow I can put on make-up, so I'm sure it won't be noticeable, plus no one will be looking that close anyways!!! My face is tender, but I should be able to sleep just fine on it....

Am I crazy or are the brown spots not as noticeable already??? maybe it's just the lighting!!!

Me

Oh, I thought I should mention. I am a 27 year old married mommy to three kids, 5 years, 3 years and 7 months old. I have had acne issues since junior high, and scaring in highschool, ice-pick scars and depressed scars on my cheeks are my biggest problem spots. I have had a wack of hormonal changes in the last 6 years being pregnant 4 times, breastfeeding and such for 2 kids....I have found glycolic acid as my life saver, doing peels and using a toner called Boldcare with clyndamacin which my doctor gets from I believe Israel. I have been using Boldcare for the last year, and have had huge improvements in my acne...my cystic acne is basically totally gone. In the past I have tried Benzoyl Peroxide products with lots of drying and redness, and I have used Salicylic Acid products with less drying and redness but still no real long term results. Glycolic Acid is a miracle if you ask me!!!

Procedure one

So it's 4 hours after my first treatment. I am no longer all that red. The picture was taken 1 hour after treatment. I hurt a bit..tender. But I can touch my face just fine. I was worried I was not going to want to take my daughter to preschool tomorrow morning due to the extreme redness for the first 2 hours after the pixel, but atleast for me, it's gone away. During the treatment, you lay down, with suntanning googles over your eyes, it takes about 20 minutes. They did one pass over my whole face, and two over my cheeks, it's like very tiny elastic bands slapping your face, and a slight smell. It hurts the most at the hair line, around the eyes and chin, but it's totally tolerable.

Here We Go..........

So here I am, the night before my first Pixel 2940 Skin Resurfacing appointment. I am obviously not very pleased. I HATE taking these photos before my treatments. Here is my front, and left and right check shots are below. My right side is in much better shape them my left side.

In the past I have had Blu-U therapy x4, with no results of any kind. I have had 4 glycolic peels with microdermabrasion. My first glycolic peel was so uneffective in causing any peeling or redness that we decided to do a full stretngh micro derm first and then we left the glycolic on for double time. The peels were done about 1 year ago and they basically cleared my face up from cystic acne. I will maybe post those "before" pictures at a later date. For starters you get my "before pixel" pictures as I find those embarassing enough. I am going to write in this blog only because when I went looking for personal stories about pixel, I only found stories about C02 and Fraxel, and found things quiet confusing. So what I had done was this:
Alma Laser's Pixel 2940nm Er:YAG Module is an FDA-approved fractional ablative skin resurfacing laser that represents a new option to perform skin resurfacing on aged and photo-damaged skin: it's a safe and effective treatment with no patient downtime, and no gel or consumables required. Plus, since it's a part of the Harmony multi-application, multi-technology platform, it's an affordable and easy upgrade to keep your practice absolutely current with the latest technology.

So tomorrow morning I go for my first of six treatments, at a cost of $4000.00 CAN. I will go monday afternoons for the pixel and on friday mornings I recieve a "free" microdermabrasion to help with the peeling. I go to a family doctor who now practices 100% in dermatology concerns. He has been wonderful in the last year. His "magic" glycolic toner along with the glycolic peels has given me total confidence in him. I would not get a treatment like this done anywhere. And in the past have been to other total idiot dermatologists. So hopefully things work out this time for this treatment, and then I can get over my insecurities and live my life!!!!!