I had IPL in Bristol, in the UK. Mine was just like yours - awful purpls marks that were gooey in the middle and took ages to dry out properly and scab. When they did, like you said: exactly like choc chip cookies stuck on the face. Dropped off after 3 weeks leaving red marks and deep holes. Red marks took months to fade to pink and a year later are still pinkish. Now have mottled complexion, cheek fat loss and facial numbness. The salon said it was an unusual reaction. Mmmmmmm DON'T DO IT, IT IS NOT WORTH IT.
I had IPL in December 2010 for red facial 'spider' veins. I had a test patch, about the size of a 5p piece which went purple and this disappeared competely within a week. Then I had the full facial treatment on cheeks, chin and one tiny spot on the forehead. Everything went purple, but much deeper in colour, like maoiri tatoos. The therapost covered the marks in lycogel. I wasn't worried when I was told that the laser setting was a bit higher than the test had used and that it would therefore take 2 weeks to heal this time. I was on holiday, resting at home for a month, so that was not a problem, as going out would have been impossible looking as I did. Within days, the purple marks seemed to be 'soggy' so I plastered more lycogel on them, as I was told this would speed healing. They looked liek they needed to dry out. By the 2 week point, my face was a mass of crusts between 5 and 10mm wide, soggy in the middle, and I was terrified. The therapist was on Christmas holiday and no one was able to advise me from the salon. I was distraught. I was scrupulously careful not to allow the scabs to fall off, contionually plastering them with lycogel and not washing my face at all for fear of damaging the skin or scabs.Understanding these things a bit I felt that hanging onto the scabs for as long as possible could minimise scarring. All in all, it took 6 weeks for the scabs to dry out, harden and fall off, leaving dark red marks where they had fallen from. After about 4 months, the redness had gone, but there was some acne like scarring in the form of dents, like those left from spots. My skin is now rather mottled in appearance - definitely negatively different in texture than before. The red veins remained wonderfully unaffected, in fact the trauma caused additional ones to form! I now had (and still have) far more. Also, I have super-sensitive skin, which reacts to many things and flares up in excema like spots out of the blue. This was not the case before. I have read about fat-melting and am seriously worried that, as time passes, I will get more side-effects. I stupidly went with the therapists's 'spin' and did no research - until it went wrong for me. While the side effects for me seem to have been not as bad as others that I have read about, I understand that this treatment is untested and no one knows the long term effects really. Certainly I can't now have electolysis for red veins anymore, which used to do a good job, even if it was time-consuming. I had hoped for a quick fix - haha! My old therapist won't touch people who have had IPL and says she wishes I had spoken to her before having it, as she would have shared with me her views of it - and why she won't touch it in her salon. If I could wind the clock back, I would stick with the electrolysis. This treatment gave me zreo positive benefit and loads of negatives, with the potential for future side-effects to become apparent as time passes - I am scarred and scared.
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