
Hi! I’m Hannah! I’m a pharmaceutical scientist and I chat about all things beauty on Instagram.
I’ve had freckles my whole life, and just before lockdown I had Fraxel 1927 laser to even out my skin tone and reduce the appearance of some freckles and sun damage.
Growing up in Australia, and given the harshness of the sun here, it’s pretty inevitable that we accumulate pigmentation and sun damage, but there are some really wonderful clinical options to reduce their appearance.
Watch: How to protect your skin from the sun. Post continues below.
I’ve been teased about my freckles since I can remember, and as I age, some sun spots are joining them for a pigment party.
For reference, I’m 32, I have Fitzpatrick skin type I (very fair), I never tan — only burn, and I’m prone to freckles and redness. I’ll never have skin completely clear of sun damage and freckles, but they can be dramatically reduced with regular treatments.
Fraxel is a non-invasive, fractional laser skin resurfacing treatment.
It uses microscopic-sized columns of heat to induce micro-injuries to the skin. This then triggers the skin’s healing processes, stimulating collagen production while resurfacing the skin’s top layer to lift pigmentation and minimise wrinkles and texture.
It can be used at the 1927 wavelength to specifically target pigmentation, or at the 1550 wavelength to target acne scarring or deep wrinkles.
I was pretty scared of the laser used in the treatment, so we used it on the very lowest setting, but it was actually fine — I wish I’d been braver!
Downtime was around a week for me, with full results a month after the procedure.
That's it in a nutshell, but below you'll find my full, honest diary during and after treatment.
Here's my bare skin before treatment:
Day 0. Image: Supplied.