jentrstno1

IPL After 2 Sessions - Atlanta, GA

Hi! I am glad that you were able to slowly recover. In order to speed my recovery, I slather on aquafor nightly for up to 5 days after treatment. It's vaseline-like and feels greasy, but it helps with cell turnover.

The other thing I completely forgot to mention, which has no use now, but in case you help someone else, is to ice your face after the treatment. My technician gave me an icepack after. I told her I didn't need it, but she recommend it since lasers were hot. I guess now I see why they would recommend it. Especially in your case. It would have helped speed the recovery.

Thanks for the update. It will get better. Let the lines and spots flake off on their own. Don't try to exfoliate so soon. You want your skin to do the work. I know I had to hold back from doing that.

Good luck!

Your welcome. The blackish spots are a sign that the freckles are working, although my guess is that they used a very intense beam. It will dissipate over time, eventually. Will you keep me updated on whether the lines fade in 2 weeks? I am interested in hearing about it.

I would suggest trying hydroquinone. It suppresses the melanocytes from producing more pigment. It is also a main ingredient in alot of bleaching creams/cosmetics. It does seem to do a great job on me because my face is lighter.

One word of caution, it has been associated with cancer in mice but there has been no association in humans. But, all the bleaching creams have 2% as their active ingredient and it is sold and used widely by women all over the world, and yet I haven't seen a link to cancer in humans. Maybe, it could be a long term effect.

I only use it before my treatments. I don't intend to use it long term. If after 3 months, you don't see improvements in the color of your face, I would suggest you to stop using it.

I have also tried clinique's even better serum - does not work for me.

These are my thoughts. Please read the research and get more advice from others to help you make a more informative decision. For beauty advice, I can recommend a great book - Don't go to the cosmetics counter without me, by Barbara Begoun. It's my beauty bible!

Hope it helps.

So far, I have had 3 treatments up to now,

Hi! The IPL shouldn't hurt so much. It could be the intensity of the voltage. That's probably why you also have the brown stripes. You shouldn't have them.

I tan very easily. The technician looked at me on my first visit and recommend that I use 4% hydroquinone for at least once a week daily before my treatment. Needless to say, I was bummed and had to reschedule. Well, it was for the best. I don't have the brown lines. The results were great.

After the IPL session, I went on the internet and saw some of the horrible stories about tan lines. I am pretty sure that the hydroquinone did its trick because I didn't have it at all. It is expensive, $45, but worth it if you are going to have more treatments.