“Not Happy”

It's now been close to 4 months since I had the Active FX. I am still dealing with the hyperpigmentation problems. I've been using Hydroquinone 2x daily for almost 3 months. The pigment has improved, but my skin still is not back to being as clear as it was before Active FX. For the first 2 weeks your skin looks like the wrinkles and marks are gone. Once the swelling went down everything came back on my face. I have a fair/med skin tone. I was told it was the perfect tone for the procedure. What I found out later was that almost 30% of the people who have Active FX will get hyperpigmentation. I had a very high power #9 and two passes. Plan on at least 3 weeks to look normal assuming you don't have any problems. The mental anquish of not knowing if your face will ever return to normal is not worth any benefits that you may experience from the procedure. I am supposedly at the point where you see the most benefit. Other than some slight tightening around the cheek area, I haven't seen much improvement. No matter how skilled your doctor is you just don't know how your skin will react. If you are going to try it, make sure you don't plan anything where you have to look good. The only people I know who have had Active FX and didn't have a very long recovery period are fair skinned and had a low power. The problem with that is they haven't experienced any lomg lasting improvement. I'll update again at 6 months to see if there is noticeable improvement.

Hi, Sorry to hear about your face. My situation right now is okay. I've had 3 IPL treatments and that has helped a lot. Right after the first treatment the hyperpig really was reduced. I've had two more since and they haven't helped as much as the first one. Most of mine is around the jawline, so it's easily covered with light makeup. Overall my skin looks nice, but not much nicer than before I did the Active FX. I'm very sensitive to most of the cremes I tried. I used a bleaching creme for about 3 months. It helped a little, but not as much as the IPL, which my doc did at no cost to me. I use tretinion every other night. I used to use it every night, but since the procedure, it irritates my skin too much. I'm going to have one or two more IPLs. It really is just a matter of time, so I wouldn't worry about it not going away or at least lightening up to where it can be easily covered. Of course, you have to use the sunscreen on a daily basis. I try and use Vaseline on my face everyday. I just put a very light layer on. It has helped with the dryness and made the texture really nice. My doc and his staff are terrific. They geniunely feel bad about the results I had, and are willing to do anything to correct it. Two months is still not that long into it. Try and use the bleaching creme for a few months and maybe get some IPL and you will hopefully be satisfied. Keep us posted and good luck.

hi maxine , thank you so much for your reply ! my doctor didn't offer me IPL . i concern the laser bring us the hyperpigmentation , if i try the IPL (it's also laser), then it'll bring me more hyperpigmentation . the doctor suggested me to do the diamontome wand for few times and use the hqra creme , but it seems nothing change . i'll see my doctor tomorrow and have the treatment . "patient" is the only thing that i can do . good luck to you and me !

I would ask your doctor to do a few IPL treatments. I don't think you can get hyperpigmentation from IPL treatments.

hi maxine ,i went to the doctor today and he offered me IPL this time , but i just tried in small area because he had same concern as mine (get hyperpigment from IPL). i'll see my doctor next month and wish IPL works on me . good luck to you and me again !

I had another IPL yesterday. I told my doc. to be very aggressive. When I got home I thought I had burnt because my face was so swollen and red. Later that night most of the swelling and redness disappeared, but I have so much browning it almost looks like I had another Active FX. They say makeup easily covers it, but I have a lot of makeup on today, and it's still very visible. It takes about 10-12 days for the brown scaling to all disappear. This is the first time I even got red. The other 3 times I just got slight brown spots on the places with the hyperpig. I don't want to keep getting the IPL so I asked for a very powerful one. I don't think I will need anymore after this one. How is your redness today? Usually they start with a low test power to make sure you will do ok. Good luck with your IPL.

hi maxine ,i have little bit concern about you . is your doctor said that IPL is alright to be very aggressive on your face . has you face turn brown after IPL before ? my doctor just treat a small area of my face , but i didn't get any redness or brown , it seems nothing change after the IPL . pls let me know how's your browning on your face after 10 days. good luck !

I'm fine. I didn't mean my whole face turned brown, I meant the areas that were done. That's what is supposed to happen. The spot treated gets red, then brown and forms a very light crust and then flakles off in about 10 days. If your face doesn't turn red or the spots don't turn brown , the hyperpigmentation won't flake off. So, your doctor will need to turn up the power little by little to make sure you get the browning but not burnt. You want to form a scab over the hyperpigmentation, so when the scab falls off there will be new skin without hyperpigmentation, but the browning is not as thick as a scab. My previous treatments formed the browning, but not enough to make the hyperpigmentation completely disappear. It did lighten a bit, and that is why I wanted a more aggressive treatment this time. I know that my skin doesn't get hyperpigmentation from the IPL. It takes a few treatments to get the power correct.

Today is day 9 since the last IPL. The hyperpigmentation is barely there now. There are really just two light spots by the jawline, which are usually covered by my hair. The rest of my face looks great. I think I'm done with all of this now. It's been a total of 8 1/2 months since the Active FX. I have seen much improvement as far as texture and overall color, but would I do Active FX again. Definitely NO. Too much stress, downtime and fear of the unknown. Seeing how well the IPLs have worked, I probably would do that again, but I think I'm just going to stick to Restylane.