Face Looks Worse and Now I Have Undereye Bags - Gulfport, MS

Damaged
Not Worth It
Cost: $2,800
Gulfport, MS

It is 6 weeks post treatment and I still have to...

2 Jan 2013

It is 6 weeks post treatment and I still have to pack my eyes with ice every morning to reduce the bags under and over my eyes which were not there before. (Note: I didn't even have the treatment on my eyes.) I also have dark circles under my eyes now - I never had dark circles before. Even with the ice packs, the swelling is still noticeable throughout the day and does not diminish entirely. I always wore hats and sunglasses and had no issues with the skin around my eyes until now - now I have lizard eyes and my face looks damaged and 10 years older. I am doing everything I can "internally" to help my face heal. I would be happy just to go back to what I looked like before the treatment - I thought I was doing some maintenance work. It has been painful to look in the mirror. I am doing the following to give my body what it needs to heal - Vitamin C (Emergen -C) & mega doses of collagen I, II, III every morning and night (GNC brands - Resvitale & NeoCell); protein shakes in the morning, Vita E, Omega & Vitalizer multivitamins & Vivix (Shaklee brand); Dr. Perricone hypoallergenic skin care products & another dose of his skin care vitamins, Skinceuticals vita C products, Trivita's Nopalea and Adaptuit for inflammation and stress. And lots and lots of PRAYER and trying to get adequate sleep. I am spending hundreds of dollars to help just get me back to where I was. I have seen some improvement since the first four horrid weeks. By improvement, I don't mean through Thermage - but through my internal regiment. Face is still damaged - far from what it looked like before the treatment, but I can look in the mirror now (still with regret) but not with such despair. I just wish I had done this internal regiment with my healthy face instead of after I microwaved it with Thermage. Doctor is blowing it off and commenting on how good the picture looked (he was looking at my "before" pictures) and then walked out of the room before I could compare the before and after and discuss the damage. I hope this helps others who are desperate and feel helpless on what they can be doing to help their healing process. I also believe my lymph nodes were damaged. The treatment was extremely painful on my neck. I asked for it to be turned down, and they would not saying I wouldn't get any benefits from a lower setting. I have had a few lymph massages which have temporarily helped drainage for the day, but the next morning the puffiness and bags are back. If anyone is interested, I can keep posting progress to let you know how I am healing and if I still regret it months down the road.

7 months update

14 Jun 2013

No improvement. Only worse. Grid-like squares appearing on the left side of face. I have report to Solta (the Mfg) and to the FDA. If you have had problems, please report to the FDA. People need to be able to make an informed decision about medical devices. I was not given appropriate information. There are a lot of people on this forum, which is wonderful that we are sharing, but it is also important that the FDA is informed so that these products can be made safe or taken off the market. At a very minimal, a patient should be given all of the facts so that they can make an informed decision. Please report to the FDA. It is very simple to go.

Comments (13)

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Tiandra
December 22, 2013

I am so sorry this happened to you. I wish you would share who the doctor is. No I am not going to get this done but would be meeting with a local doctor on the Gulfcoast for a consult and would hate to be meeting with the same Dr that is not addressing your concerns.

Damaged
February 21, 2014

There is only one doctor on the coast area that I know of that offers Thermage from his facility, Dr. Wyble, and he doesn't perform the procedure himself, but his technician does. The only reason that I mentioned his name this time, is because I have tried to rectify the situation with his office and at least get a refund to help pay for my ongoing repair treatments, but no response. They even sent me a survey to my email of which I responded the same, and still no reply from them. I would never consider using his clinic again and would not throw good money after bad. I plan to do a post year update to my posting to let everyone know how I am doing and the responses from Solta the manufacturer as well. Currently, I still have the eye bags every morning resulting from slow drainage of damaged lymph nodes and I have the imprint of the Thermage grid indented into the left side of my face. I can refer you to another doctor who is helping me if you are interested. I hope I am not too late in responding to your inquiry. Others may have had good results with this clinic, but if you happen to have a bad result, there is no accountability. The doctor just says he didn't know what I looked like before, and he referred me to a dermatologist because he didn't know what else to do.

MsGulfport
April 13, 2013

I was looking in to having it done. Maybe not. Would you tell me what doctor you used? I don't want to get ripped off. Thanks!

Damaged
April 19, 2013

Don't be worried about who the doctor is - DON'T do the procedure. I am 5 months past now, and my face has improved some with time. I have had to become used to morning ice packs on my eyes for 20 mins as an every day ritual now. The face breakouts and cystic acne far exceed what I experienced pre-acutane treatment (4 years ago) and are now leaving scars. My face was much better before the Thermage treatment. Do yourself a favor financially and emotionally, don't get your face microwaved "cooked/aged". I took the RealAge test for my skin, and while last year before treatment my skin tested out 9 years younger (tested as age 40 although I was 49). Now with the skin changes after the Thermage, I just retested recently for my 50th birthday, and my skin age is now 51. I aged my skin 11 years and am now a year beyond.

MsGulfport
April 20, 2013

Thank you for the warning. I have sensitive skin and had a facial years ago and it took about a week for my skin to get back to "normal". I'm looking for a place in the area to try again just because my skin is getting saggy around the neck and cheecks. I'm have not used anyone in Gulfport and was trying to find a good place to go. It does not swem like many people from our area post on this site.

Damaged
May 16, 2013

Update 6 months: I have very fair and sensitive skin too. Nothing was wrong with my skin before the procedure, just a little droop starting around checks and jowls. (Now my whole face is drooping.) I already looked in my 30's although I was nearing 50. No problem with the eyes whatsoever; they used to be my best feature - no visible aging there as I always wear sunglasses, a hat and sunscreen. As gift for myself for coming upon 50, I thought I would do some preventative maintenance work and freeze time - no downtime (yeah right). I can say this is the #1 regret of my whole entire life. Now 6 months post procedure, I need a facelift just to get back to where I was before the procedure. I only thought I had a little sagging before. Saw my doctor for my 6 months checkup today, and he is still puzzled about my now severe acne condition. He wouldn't link my bad results to the Thermage treatment. I told him I had things happening to my face that weren't there before but now are immediately after, and I know it is not a coincidence. While he at first did not acknowledge my complaints, when I said ok what it is going to take to fix my face, he started pointing out all of the areas of my face that I was just complaining about telling me it was fat loss and that what I thought were swollen areas are actually now visible fat pads that have come into sight since the fat loss around it. It would take filler injections to fill in the hollows around my eyes. He finally did validate me when he acknowledged that he couldn't see the pads in the before pictures, but they are immediately visible in the post pictures and have remained until this day 6 months later. The texture of the face has gotten worse. I can't even stand to look in the mirror or have pictures taken of me. My skin has aged 15 years. People always asked me before when I was going to age because I took such good care of my skin. I can't believe I actually paid to look this haggard. I don't smoke, drink, or subject my face to the UV, but now my face looks as damaged as those who do. I don't even know what kind of money or pain it is going to take to get me to feel ok about myself again. For work, I have to present in front of groups of people, and this has caused me to lose confidence in myself.

LibraLove10
December 31, 2013

If you want ppl to be aware why not share the doc info .

Damaged
February 21, 2014

I was giving the doctor an opportunity to do the right thing. People can mess up but if they do the right thing afterwards that means a lot. He did not. I did provide the doc information to Tiandra because she is getting ready to do a consult. Everyone might not have the negative results as I did, but when negative results do occur, having a doctor who will work to help you get back to normal is invaluable.

Damaged
January 18, 2013

Update: Week 8 - Still packing eyes with ice in the morning and have added Prep H to help shrink the swelling. Add 30 more minutes to your morning to get ready. The days of moisturizing and going are gone. When swelling goes down now I have loose baggy skin. Acne breakouts worse. Skin looks creepy and like a prune where it used to be tight. Smooth cheek surface now looks like someone layed a textured paper towel against it. Eyes still dark underneath. If I could just get back to where I was before I had the procedure I'd be happy. This has taught me a big lesson - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Megan P
January 18, 2013

I'm so sorry to hear. :-/ Would you post some pictures so we can see what you are describing? It would be really helpful.

Damaged
May 16, 2013

I don't post pictures of myself on the internet; however, I would be happy to meet with anyone in my area that would like to see my before pictures and now my actual face if they are contemplating this procedure.

LibraLove10
December 31, 2013

This seem odd? Became ladies with meeting ppl off the internet

Megan P
January 3, 2013

It is always a disappointment when you don't get the results you were hoping for from a treatment, but even more upsetting if you feel things actually got worse because of it. :( I'm glad you are doing everything you can to help heal. Please do continue to let us know how you are doing. We will definitely want to know.