Laser Treatment: Stories
Write a ReviewNd:yag 1064nm for Broken Capillaries on Nose: WARNING - Can Cause Scarring! - London, UK
- Sophie8
- posted 1 year ago
- Not Worth It
- Cost: $200
- London, UK
Some background: I am 30 years old and have been...
- 3 May 2012
Some background: I am 30 years old and have been suffering from moderate Rosacea for a few years and have sought various treatments with varied result. I had a series of IPL treatments two years ago, which initially helped, but then gradually my skin changed in texture, became much less elastic, more sensitive and rough (enlarged pores, more lines, more melasma etc). After having read about others with similar experiences on this forum I understood that this was due to the IPL and have ruled this out as a treatment. I also tried Pulsed Dye Laser, with bruising, with little results. My dermatologist suggested that this is due to the fact that my rosacea is not very severe and that the laser does not respond so well to smaller vessels.
The treatment: Realising that there is little I can do to radically improve my Rosacea, apart from antibiotics and observing a good diet and life style, I decided to just take care of a few persistent red veins on the side of my nose. My dermatologist recommended Nd:yag 1064 nm (I believe the make is Fotona). I had the treatment on Monday, it is now Thursday. The treatment was unpleasant and afterwards I was left with two hard blisters, on each side of my nose. These blisters burst by themselves - I believe in the shower - on the Tuesday and I was left with two scabs AND (to my horror) these scabs were formed in small indentations - looking as if there are chickenpox marks to be formed. I called my dermatologist who asked me to come in and see her. She calmly explained that this is very common (!), something which I was not at all informed about beforehand (would I have known I would never have undergone the procedure). She suggested we wait, let the scabs heal and fall off, and then lift the skin to make it even. She claims that it will go back to normal after this - something which I am VERY sceptical about. I have now read about others who were left with holes after burns - irreversible damage. I am absolutely devastated. From a few broken capillaries I am now left with potential pitted scars, for life. My advice to you: DO NOT DO IT! My dermatologist is, supposedly, one of the best in London. I did a lot of research before seeing her and she has years of experience. I wish someone would have told me about the risks.
Again, I am really sorry that you are in this situation. Don't blame yourself, I do that a lot too, but in the end this is not our fault - it is the responsibility of the practitioner to inform us of potential risks and to care for our safety. Also, some responsibility lies with the manufacturers of these machines and the bodies that approve them, but in the end money seems to, as so often, surpass ethics...
I had V beam too, without any problems and I so wish I would have stayed with that. The only reason I tried this is because my capillaries kept coming back after the V-beam, quite rapidly as well, and I was hoping this would make them stay away. Well, now they are still there and I have two dents.
IPL seems to be, despite all its promises, a quite risky treatment. It seems to be like a Russian roulette, sometimes all goes perfectly well, sometimes horrendously wrong, and the practitioner is not always to blame when things go bad - they can use the same settings as on a previous occasion on the same patient and all of a sudden there are irreversible side effects.
To be honest, I think these machines are approved too easily and then they use people as guinea pigs trying to learn how to use these machines properly. There are so many different models, working at different wave lengths, everything to make people think that this machine is the very "latest", when the very latest might be the option with most risks since it hasn't been tried out for a longer time.
The problem with IPL is that it offers treatment to Rosacea patients, like you and me, who are often lacking effective treatments and are desperate for improvement and so we take the chance and hope for the best, comforted by doctors saying how safe it is, not being a laser and all.
Regarding scar revision, I will keep you updated on how the subcision turns out. In the meanwhile I think the best all of us can do is to try to let time pass and the scars settle - even if it is disheartening and not fall into any "quick-fixes". Maybe retin-A might help a little, I have also read about people using Bio-oil/Emu-oil and/or copper peptides and needling for the same type of damage but I think it might be too early to try this out.
Thank you for sharing your experience. It is indeed sad we are here, but at least we can offer some support and hopefully make other people stay away from this procedure, and other similar ones.
All the best,
S
The odd thing is that I had a laser treatment (V-beam I think) done about four years ago on my nose just to get rid of the blood vessels, and everything went just fine. Some light bruising, but the end result was very positive. So I thought with the IPL being "so much better and safer" there would be no reason to be concerned. Boy, was I wrong! I do feel foolish buying into this procedure and wish now that I would have done more research on what could go wrong rather than how *fantastic* my skin was going to be afterwards.
Thank you again for sharing your experiences with me. It's sad that we're here, but at least we do have a forum in which to come together and talk (type) about what we're going through. As soon as I have more information I'll send and update.
I, too, am a victim of a laser treatment gone awry.
I recently had an IPL treatment performed to reduce some facial redness caused by rosacea, as well as razor burn on my neck. While I had good results with reducing the redness in my cheeks and neck areas, my nose wasn't so lucky and I now have three sizable "dents" in the area where my nose meets my cheeks (one dent on the right and two on the left). Sound familiar?
I'm pretty convinced that the physician assistant performing the procedure turned up the power on the laser to get rid of some rather large capillaries on my nose and this in turn caused the dents. It was very painful and I could smell my own skin burning. I didn't say anything right then and there because I didn't really see the damage until about three weeks after the procedure due to the fact that the areas kept getting scabs/white heads on them.
So I went back to the clinic and this time saw the actual dermatologist. He said this was very rare and that it happened in maybe every "1 in 1,000" patients. I was a bit peeved by this because, of course, I wasn't made aware of this potential issue during the initial consultation. Nonetheless, I wanted to focus on how to fix the problem and his recommendation is to perform Fraxel treatment (free of charge, of course) on me. The goal with Fraxel is to get the collagen in the area stirred up so that it plumps the skin up and gets rid of the dents.
Obviously, I’m very apprehensive about doing anything involving a laser again and was wondering how your treatments (subcision and Retin-A) were coming along? I’m considering getting a second opinion but want to learn more so I know what to ask this time around. This whole process has been very distressing as I’m sure you both understand.
First of all, I am very sorry to hear about your experience. I feel for you, knowing how distressing this situation can be. I blame myself a lot, thinking that I should have checked the procedure more carefully instead of blindly trusting my dermatologist. You go in for improvement and then you get this...
It is, as you say, very upsetting that none of us were properly informed about the risks - when clearly there are risks (I think often heavily understated by the technicians who perform these procedures...) Had I known that I could potentially end up with red/purple dents I would never have done this for something, which in the light of all this, very minor.
I would strongly advice you AGAINST any Fraxel treatment. I have read so many negative reviews about this procedure (and other lasers working with a pixel technique) with serious side effects that are irreversible. Even if you would not get side effects I really doubt that it would help with the dents on the side of your nose. It is just not worth the risk in my opinion.
The dermatologist who performed the nd:yag on my nose is now treating the scarring, which she still refuses to refer to as "scarring" or "damage" but rather she tries to frame it so that this is actually some sort of after care, just dealing with a rather normal outcome... This is particularly upsetting since I feel she is treating me as if I am overreacting to something that is in fact "normal", when clearly scarring is not normal. She has not reimbursed me for the procedure, but is doing the scar revision treatments for free.
I have had one subcision treatment with a very small amount of filler, hyaluronic acid (Stylage). Directly after the procedure I could see improvement, the scar seemed a bit raised and more at level with the surrounding skin, but that went down after a couple of days. I think it was the swelling from the needle that caused this.
My dermatologist told me that I need 4 subcision and filler treatments and that it will be a gradual improvement. Subcision works in the way that the needle cuts off the scar "fibres" to release the scar and let blood flow in so as to stimulate new collagen production. This process can take a couple of months. She claims the skin will go back to normal, which I know is certainly not true (once you have scarring it will never go away entirely), but I am hoping for improvement.
Retin-A might help in terms of mildly peeling the top layer of the skin and stimulating collagen, but I don't think it can entirely reverse the damage.
I have also read about TCA cross, performed on pitted acne scars. After what happened I feel nervous about any type of advanced procedure - and will certainly never go near a laser again - and I will wait and see if the subcision helps, if it doesn't I might try TCA.
Regarding seeing another dermatologist for a second opinion, I would strongly advice you to do so. I have not been able to do so because the dermatologists I have contacted (all with very good reputation) do not wish to treat another doctor's mistake, also they would of course charge me a lot if they would do so. But if you can find someone I would advice that you do so.
Please feel free to email me if you would like to discuss this further. Again, I am very sorry that this has happened to you.
Kind regards,
S
I am sorry to hear that you've had the same experience. I still have the veins too... Is it on the side of your nose? I went to the dermatologist today and she used a needle and went under the skin, to "lift the scar". I will need to do this again once a month for four months. I believe the procedure is called subcision. The idea is that by breaking the tissue that holds the skin down and letting blood flow under the scar the scar will raise itself.
I am VERY sceptical that this will help, as the surface of the skin is - naturally - also affected by the laser burn. I am very disheartened by this entire process. The dermatologist response to my expression of concern was to try to wave it off by saying "oh this happens all the time and it will be perfectly fine". If this happens "all the time" why did she not warn me before?! If I would have known I would NEVER have done this, as I am now left with red indented scars that are much more visible than a few broken capillaries, which by the way, are still there.
I have been tempted to ask for my money back and go to someone else, but it turns out many dermatologists are very resistant towards dealing with another doctor's "mishap" (as the receptionist of the renewed Dr Nick Lowe told me)
The strange thing in all of this is that my dermatologist is very nice and helpful, but she refuses to admit that she has damaged my skin and keeps up an act of "this is all normal", when clearly it is not.
I was told to stay away from IPLs, and thought this was the "safe" option, that it would just be a minor procedure with no downtime or risk of scarring. I was very very wrong.
Denise, if you don't mind, let's stay in touch and we can let each other know if we have any good treatments trying to heal and repair the scars.
Thank you for your comment. I am still letting the wounds heal, using Aquaphor ointment and putting on an antibiotic cream that was prescribed to me by my dermatologist. On the one side of my nose it looks as if it is healing rather well but the other still has a scab which is in an indentation with raised redness circling it.
On Wednesday (9th) I will see my dermatologist who will review and if the skin needs lifting she will do so - and she mentioned it might need to be done a few times to get the skin perfectly even. However, when I spoke to her again yesterday she said it is likely that when the scabs fall off the skin will just be pink and that will go away by itself - which, at the moment, seems unlikely.
This means that instead of removing a few - vaguely noticeable (but slightly annoying) broken capillaries - I am left with, at best, red marks that will take months to fade or, at worst, pitted scars, that need raising and that may never heal.
Regarding the dermatologist's credentials. She is a member of the British Association of Dermatologists. I checked her medical training, she is a member of several well-respected dermatology charities and affiliations and has received several awards. I also found very good reviews of her practice online - that seemed reliable.
What I would like to underline is that, despite experience and good credentials of the practitioner the use of lasers is unreliable. I actually do not blame my dermatologist - apart from the fact that she should absolutely have been more clear about the risks before the procedure.
As testimonials on this site shows, even the most experienced practitioners have caused damage to skin - not because they are not skilled - but because the machines are unreliable, and each individual can have very different reactions.
We are being used as guinea pigs for an industry that is only interested in generating money. While the practitioners may be certified and come with good credentials the equipment that they use is not put under the same type of scrutiny.
I would advice anyone who considers undergoing any form of laser treatment - unless you are suffering very much from your condition - to reconsider and find alternative treatments. If it is just something minor, let it be.
I am so sorry to hear what you are experiencing, and especially that you are still in that uncertain period where you're not quite sure how it will heal up. That can be a very tough time to be in.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience so others can be aware this is a risk.
Since you had mentioned the doctor you went to is supposed to be one of the best in London, do you mind me asking what credentials this person has, if you happen to know? I totally understand if you don't want to name the doctor, but it would be extremely helpful to others to know information such as if they are affiliated with a certain organization that led you to believe they were one of the best, or was it information on their website, etc.
Perhaps visiting another dermatologist for a second opinion might be a good idea?