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86 reviews

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Photofacial Cost ≈ $600 average cost

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Why Didn't I See Results After Photofacial?

I recently had a Photofacial on my upper chest area and saw no changes from it. I previously had some on my face at a different clinic years ago and remember getting really dark spots where damage was healing.

I’m wondering if the technician just had the settings too low or if the wavelength was different? I thought I remembered seeing flashes of blue light when I had my face done and it was certainly more painful. I could be wrong about the blue but I remember being surprised when I kept seeing flashes of red light at each pulse this time.

It’s been several days and absolutely nothing has happened, no redness, no spots, nothing. Would this be the intensity or the wavelength that is off because I have plenty of sun damage? Thank you so much.

Asked 36 months ago by prettylady101 in dallas, TX

Optimizing results of Photofacial treatment

It takes a few treatments with Photofacial to attain the desired results. As to your concern about not seeing darkening this time could be due to the different sun damage on the chest vs the skin in your particular case. Most likely you had some dark spots on the face, that typically get darker or might even form some superficial "coffee grind" crusting. On the chest we typically see more of a vascular type of sun damage, which responds differently... more

Boris M. Ackerman, MD

Newport Beach Plastic Surgeon

ASPS

Why IPL didn't help

IPL machines do use both red and blue light so it's possible that your observations are correct in that you are seeing a different type of light for each treatment. In addition, if you have more redness on the chest than you had on your previous facial treatments, it's possible that the practitioner was using the different colored (wavelength) of light because he/she was going after a different target (vascularity of the redness vs pigment of the sun damage). Another possibility as you have... more

Harold J. Kaplan, MD

Los Angeles Facial Plastic Surgeon

Results after photofacial

Sometimes it can take a few weeks to really appreciate results after a photofacial. The skin should tighten a bit, and redness, blood vessels, and brown spots should begin to fade. That said, often 3-6 treatment sessions are required for optimal results. At the same time, the type of machine, settings, and the experience of the person administering the treatment are very important parameters.