IPL: Stories

I hv hyper pigmentation from sun exposure since my teenage yrs. I am 41, had 2 ipls done in last two months. My first one was with a professional surgeon for $450 - extremely painful felt like someone using a stun gun on your face. He burnt corner of my lip, both sides and forehead. All my friends gasped when they saw me. I couldnt leave the house for two wks. On the 3rd wk, my face start to return to normal, I saw a lot of pigments dissappered! Very happy! Found a highly recommended aesthetician who had yrs of Laser training and now train others @ local laser training ctr, so I did one session with her - she charges $175 instead of my whopping $450!! She was very careful, used gauze to protect areas she didnt want to hit. My cheeks were extremely senstive this time, had some swelling after but definitely tolerable this time as I wasnt burnt. She also recommended I continue with my Retin A to help healing process, which works wonder! The surgeon did not even tell me about after care because he was so busy selling his "obagi" products which I refused to get. As the dark brown spots start to peel it exposed the new skin which is obviously red and "raw" so a bit painful. I started using Neosporin (the one with painkiller) all over my face. To my surprise, when I touched my face after like 10mins, the brown spots just rolled off! Maybe something inside neosporin that cause it but at least with the help of light massaging, all the browns came off and I just piled neosporin on my face for the next 24hrs to help with tenderness and infection prevention. :) In summary, very happy with my ipl. I had spent hundreds on products including prescription products to help my hyperpigmentation. For me IPL is the only way to go, rather short down time and tolerable pain and fairly affordable if you find the right person to do the job.