POSTED UNDER Reviews REVIEWS
Worst Dermatologist Experience Ever - Atlanta, GA
ORIGINAL POST
I went to Dr. Duvall because my normal...
hamonrye1May 27, 2014
$150
I went to Dr. Duvall because my normal dermatologist was all booked up. I went in because I had three persistent pimples on my neck. She suggested that she inject them with cortisone to make them resolve faster. I seriously regret allowing Dr. Duvall to perform this procedure. Though I have had pimples injected before by my normal dermatologist and I never had any problem when Dr. Duvall injected mine I experienced bad side effects. Immediately after the injections the skin surrounding the three pimples became red and inflamed (a sign that too much cortisone was injected, I have had this confirmed by other specialists). Over the course of the next few days the skin around all three lesions began to atrophy, meaning essentially, that my skin began to disappear. I went back to Dr. Duvall and she apologized and offered to give me laser treatments to reverse the damage she had done. "Thanks, but no thanks" I respectfully declined. I have since gone back to my normal derm and she hopes that the damage Dr. Duvall did to my skin will resolve over the course of the next few months, if not I may have to spend thousands of dollars to get my skin back. In my opinion this woman is careless and should not be practicing medicine. It should be stated that she never explained that deep, dermis atrophy could be a side effect of the injections, before she injected me.
Replies (1)
UPDATED FROM hamonrye1
4 months post
3 months later, still experiencing some atrophy
hamonrye1July 5, 2014
Just an update on my healing. It's now been a little over three months since my neck was injected with cortisone to treat three pimples and my cortisone skin atrophy first appeared. The area is definitely not as purplish and sunken looking by it still is far from being 100% restored. I hope that in time it will completely resolve. If not, I may consider saline infiltration of the sites in hopes of promoting healing. If any doctors have experience with this procedure or people who have had saline injections to reverse skin atrophy are on this site, please let me know of your experience and results.
Replies (20)
August 16, 2014
Any updated? How are you doing...My skin got totally screwed from an injection too I am beyond depressed
August 21, 2014
My skin has definitely healed/improved over the past 5 months. It still doesn't look like it did before the injection but the atrophy is so hardly noticeable now that I think I'm the only one that sees it. Where was your injection?
August 21, 2014
I am at month 3 and it hasn't started to heal yet, I heard the next 3 months are pivotal to see if it will get better, Its on my cheek, and I work in skincare and beauty- i look like i have so weird scar on my face, extremely upsetting...
August 22, 2014
What seems to have helped me is keeping the area covered with sunblock. I usually use 30-70 spf depending on how long I'll be in the sun. I also used a silicon scar ointment at night. I also massaged the area at least once a day. Not sure if the massaging does any thing but I guess it can't hurt. I also bulked up on my vitamin C. I take almost 2000 Mg I day. It's supposed to aid in healing.
August 26, 2014
NewGel+E at night and Biocorneum Plus SPF 30 during the day if my daylight exposure was minimal.
April 25, 2015
Hi did your athropy fell in yet I hope so could you please let me no thanks I'm panicing as having the same problem
May 3, 2015
My atrophy has greatly improved but my neck still isn't back to the way it was before the cortisone shot. It's not really noticeable to anybody but me but it still stinks.
May 3, 2015
Ahhh I'm sorry to hear that big hug I know how you feel and it really gets you down! It's taken over my life so depressed some days it don't seem so bad then bam next day it looks dreadful again and make up seems to make it look even worst :-( have you got any tips of things you Tryed to make it better that would be great? And also how long till it got better I'm at 2 months now and I just feel so low about it everyday I wake in hope it's gone thank you for your reply :-)
May 4, 2015
Give it a solid 6 months to 9 months before you lose hope. Mine took forever and then one day 6 months later I was back to perfect skin. I thought I was ruined for life as well!
May 4, 2015
Thank you for your reply I'm glad your skin back to notmal again that's great to hear happy for you and also gives me hope can you give any tips for helping it repair quicker ? I like I'm making it worst and just making my skin in whole face worst never cried so much
August 13, 2015
Hey! So good to hear! Do you recommend getting saline injections or leaving it alone?
November 8, 2015
Same here. I literally can't sleep. I know it sounds crazy but I'm severely distressed by the dent in my face. The main reason is because it is hideous and the second reason is because I all but begged the doctor to be careful to avoid atrophy. She sort of mocked me when I asked her to dilute the kenog past what she normally would and said out loud "I've never known anyone to get atrophy like this, I've diluted it a lot", but in a sarcastic tone, I should have run away , my instincts told me to but I froze. I'm so traumatized. I look so ugly and it's causing me to pick all over my face at any imagined imperfection because I can't stand this dent and then I feel even worse for damaging my own face. I hate doctors. Things have changed, there used to be some good ones. But those in dermatology are the worse. They are so arrogant and callous towards patients . It's like they enjoy making people ugly. And I'm in NYC, the hell hole when it comes to derms, they can get away with butchering because there are so many people here and sub-standard care is commonplace . I wish I was still on the west coast. I'm so upset. And I'll be ugly like this for at least 6 months. To make matters worse, I also got hyperpigmentation in the atrophy and 3 weeks later hypopigmentation around the atrophy. Yeah, she really diluted it. And the acne lesion was small. It was sitting under the skin for a month so I was so stupid to trust a NYC derm. I just wanted a tiny amount to give it a tiny boost in healing . Instead I have the Grand Canyon, purple inside and stark white outside. Looks great with olive skintone.
November 8, 2015
Hey guys, i did not do saline. I have a few recommendations, i think I already emailed you back personally. I do the Candela Gentle Yag laser for my broken capillaries around my nose and had my atrophy blasted 2x. around month 5 and month 6, i think maybe that helped get the scar tissue to pull up to the surface...or maybe it just was the right amount of time. Yes completely gone now, not a scar nothing, but it was a traumatic experience, i work in beauty too so i mean to say it affected me both personally and professionally is an understatement. I do swear by Caudalie skincare, and used the premier cru moisturizer with all its incredible ingredients throughout the process and lots of sunscreen. Take a deep breath, also don't waste ur money on injections seriously let the area be. Finally rentin-A isn't a bad idea to also stimulate collagen production! stay strong xx- liz
November 8, 2015
Hey everyone my skin took 6 months but is back to perfect. Just give it time. I promise it's a horrible experience but magic does happen around month 6 and 7. Stay strong!!
Keep us posted on your progress and if you need to seek addition treatments, fingers crossed for you that this issues corrects itself.