I didn't like the way that the mole looked and there is a history of skin cancer in my family.
On 11/24/10, I went in to have dark brown spots (caused by sun damage/age) removed from my face with IPL. I am a 49-year old, fair skinned, blonde hair, blue eyed, freckly person; and I had developed a dime sized brown spot on my lower right cheek, a smaller brown spot over my left eye lid, and several clusters of brown spots on both cheekbones. Although I am freckly by nature all over, these spots were distracting and ugly because they were so much darker. I had to wear so much make up to cover them, I felt caked--and within hours the make up would cake or fade or migrate into wrinkles. Two days ago I had IPL on just those spots (not all over my face). Black goggles were put over my eyes and the procedure was uncomfortable, but not as bad as the Botox (or maybe I'm just getting more used to this stuff). The machine made a noise and the feeling was like very thin rubberband snapping my face. It made a crackling sound, and the more pigment there was the louder the crackling. There was some smokey smell, and that worried me because I'd read here about people being burned. I had about 350 zaps, but it felt like about 75. It goes very quickly. They dabbed on shiney stuff (sun screen? Healer?), and gave me a mirror. Where she zapped looked like someone had dotted my face with a brown sharpie. One cheek was red and welted too. I looked like one of those AIDS patients with liver spots all over their faces. I would not go to work like this. It was tender and a bit raw, and I would not want to put make up over it. The next day the welts and redness was gone, but the dark, dark brown spots were still there. It was Thanksgiving and I had some family coming over and I put make up over the spots and covered them pretty well. It took a lot of make up though. Today is day 2, and the spots are still brown/black and flat. I've been told they will scab up and fall off and there will be no age spot any more. It still feels smooth, but maybe there's a hint of texture. In three days I have to go back to work. I will update on the progress. Updated on 29 Nov 2010: On the 5th day, yesterday, the dark brown film for the most part peeled off. I'd been told it would scab, but it never really did, the 'scab' was very thin and slightly rough, more of a film than a scab. Except for the first day, I could cover the spots up with makeup and look fine. The dark spots on my cheek bones vanished. The one that was the size of a dime on my lower cheek was lighter and pinkish. I'd been warned about the pink. Hopefully it will fade. Today it looks very light brown, but still there. The one over my eyebrow is still there just a bit lighter. I have a feeling these two areas are going to have to be zapped again and that will take care of the problem. Updated on 29 Nov 2010: One more thing: without the dark spots on my face, my eyes look bluer and my lips pinker. I've also been using Replenix for Eyes for my undereye circles for the last two weeks. I think it has reduced my under eye circles by about 50%. I was going to have IPL on my under eye area over Christmas break, but if the Replenix keeps working, I don't think I will. It hasn't done a lot for the fine crows feet, but it's tightened and lightened the under eye area. Updated on 7 Dec 2010: It's been 2 weeks. My brown spots are gone, and while I still have freckles, they are all pale and even. I can see see the triangle over my left eyebrow, it needs another treatment, but the dime sized spot on my cheek is almost gone and it was so dark before. I don't need make up on either. The rest of the dark spots are just gone. I look younger and prettier. I've also been using a retinol product. I see a big difference from that too. I'm going to have IPL on the dark circles under my eyes. The retinol took care of my fine wrinkles and slight pouches under my eyes. Without the dark circles, I'll have the eyes of a 20 year old again. I'm very pleased.
I had Botox on my forehead and between brows done on 11/15/10. It's now been 12 days. I am very happy with the result. I did get some droopy lid that I noticed on the 5th and 6th day. It made me look mean and I was not happy about it. My upper lid, especially on my right eye seemed to rest on my eyelashes. I couldn't wear mascara. But by now, day 12, it's shrunk a bit to where it is acceptable. You can sort of see my upper lids again. I hope shortly I'll go back to normal. I've seen the future though of my upper eye pouches, Botox or not, and don't like it. Someday I'm going to have to do an eyelid lift. I wonder if it happened because after I got home from the Botox, I took out my contact lenses and pulled on the corner of my eye. They told me not to lie down for 4 hours after the Botox so it wouldn't migrate, and I didn't. But I wonder if that quick yank to get my contact out caused the problem. The needle hurt--but I'm a wimp about pain. I felt it go down to my forehead bone, even though I had the numbing cream. I got dizzy afterwards, probably from the adrenalin rush. I had a slight headache between the eyes on the bridge of my nose from about day 5 through 9. Just barely noticeable, but unusual for me, and the bridge of my nose felt 'thick'. I am 49 years old, fair skinned, freckled, blond, blue eyed and the wrinkles on my forehead were very deep. I started getting them when I was 26. I now have the forehead of a 25 year old. I would not want to go to work afterwards. I had little lumps where the needle went in and a 'ripply' forehead. It was also very shiny. That was all smoothed out in about 4 hours. I was told it can take 5 to 10 days to really smooth out your forhead, but mine was looking dramatically improved the next day. I will simply have to factor Botox into my budget. I am so happy with this. And if my eyes reappear, I'll be completely thrilled with the experience. I'll update about the eyelid and about how long this lasts. Updated on 29 Nov 2010: It's day 15. All physical symptoms of the botox are gone like the stiffness and heavy feeling in my forehead. It looks great! One eye has returned to normal and my right eye is still a bit droopy. I can mitigate it with makeup, but I don't like it. I showed it to the Dr and she said she had done my botox high. The before pictures showed me with a bit of a droop, so I don't know. It's just not the way it was yet. Updated on 7 Dec 2010: It's now been 23 days. The droopy eyelids are gone. The stiff feeling and tenderness in the forehead are gone. I love it. Just love it. Updated on 19 Jul 2011: I just had it redone. It lasted 8 months. I went to a different doctor this time and it didn't hurt at all this time. I didn't get the ripply effect as I did before, and it cost half as much. It's been 4 hours and all's good. The best recommendation is doing it again.
MOLE REMOVAL – dissatisfied with results She charged me $450 dollars to remove 4 moles no larger than a BB pellet. I had a mole removed from the side of my nose, my chest and two were on my knee. I am unhappy with the results, especially considering how expensive she is. I was given the choice of having the moles cauterized off or surgically cut out and then stitches to close the gap. Stitches for a tiny mole? I opted for cauterization, which uses electrical current to burn off the moles in addition to sealing blood vessel so there is no bleeding, nor are stitches necessary. The cauterization device is hand held much like a pencil with a fine wire on the end that sticks out the end about an inch or less. They also have to ground you because they are using electrically currents to cauterize the moles. The moles basically vaporize into smoke on the spot once the wire makes contact. Then the wire is moved around in a way that “whittles” the mole down to whatever size depending on the hand that is controlling the tool. With the wire being quite fine, about the width of 1/16 of an inch or less, one would think there is a great deal of precision that can be achieved with such a fine instrument. The goal is to not only remove the mole, but to get a pleasing aesthetic result the best as possible. My idea of ideal results would be having the wound heal flush with the skin, not depressed or raised. However, I was not expecting perfection and perfection is certainly not what I got. Although my expectations were realistic I was quite disappointed once arriving back home from having my moles “removed” only to find the two on my knee were still there. She only burned the tops of the moles off with the cauterizer. The mole on my chest left a wound the diameter size of a pea, which did surprise me considering the size of the mole was smaller than a BB. And the wound on my nose was actually quite large after she removed the mole, leaving an elongated groove down the side of my nose. In other words it is a depressed crater. I did think a plastic surgeon would be able to do a far better job than that, but I was mistaken. Unlike the moles on my knee which she did not remove completely, she went over-kill on my nose removing far more flesh than necessary. I later told her I wished she had been more conservative on my face just as she had been on my knee. She said she did not appreciate my insult. I told her it is not an insult to express disappointment with such poor results. I’m must being truthful, not trying to be mean. She doesn’t seem very professional and certainly cannot handle an honest critique of her work. I don’t believe a confident, competent doctor would be offended so easily to honest feedback. So, I guess she can’t handle critiquing or honest feed back from patience being disappointed. I didn’t make a big deal about the gash she left on my nose, but I did expect her to remove the two moles on my knee I had already paid for. Remember, I paid $450 to have 4 tiny moles removed no larger than a BB and 2 still remain. When I returned for my next visit to have her remove the 2 moles, she refused to remove one on the knee, but insisted to use a scalpel on my other mole on the same knee and said it would require stitches. The mole is only the size of a grain of sand and I said I wanted her to just finish whittling it down with the cauterizer. She said, “no”, and that she can’t because the cauterizer could not go that deep. I reminded her it did go that deep on the side of my nose. She ignored the comment, so I repeated it. She just refused to use the cauterizer. Now bare in mind, when I agree to pay $450 to have 4 tiny moles removed, we also agreed to not use the knife and to cauterize. It was my call. The moles on my knee still remain, not because they are too deep, but because she only burned off their tops, when really she needed to just go down a bit further with the cauterizer. I couldn’t help but think if she struggled with precision on using a fine wire, I just wasn’t comfortable with her taking a razor sharp knife to me even on just my knee! No thanks. I would have thought a plastic surgeon would have more finesse with such a fine instrument with only a wire tip. It isn’t a chain saw. You hold it like a pencil. Sorry, but I couldn’t help but wonder if she was one of those children who could not color within the lines. Now to end on a humorous note in a disturbing type of way, when I went back the second time to have her remove the two remaining moles she did not remove completely, she read me my test results saying they were benign. She said that as if I should be so relieved! That is when I told her that we never even tested the moles. They were never sent to the lab because they didn’t even exist after being cauterized into smoke! She looked confused and said she was going to go check her records. She came back saying I was correct and we never sent the moles to the lab. But, I was CHARGED for it. I asked her what the lab fee usually costs and she told me “about $75”. However, that was figured into the $450. Whose test result was she reading or was she just making it up as she pretended to look at a piece of paper from my folder? Was she reading somebody’s else test result? If so, how careless that would end up in my medical folder. How unprofessional, so careless and dare I even say shameful. I feel totally ripped off. The experience was very impersonal. She kept coming in and out of the room, meanwhile sending her assistant in to do her dirty work and tell me she refused to complete the removal of one of the knee moles and on the one she agreed to remove, she refused to use the cauterizer and wanted to use a scalpel instead. That is not what we agreed to upfront when I paid that woman $450. Talk about the bait and switch. I am totally unimpressed with her as a plastic surgeon when she cannot even remove a mole very well. She has poor aesthetics results...especially being a plastic surgeon and her works ethics are non-existent. LASER HAIR REMOVAL – dissatisfied with results When I had her laser hair removal technician treating my legs one time, she confessed that Janee told her to use fewer laser “zaps” on the patients. The woman told me she didn’t know why Janee would say such a thing. Each zap removes hair in an area about the size of a dime or less. I told her the answer in obvious to me. If you use less zaps, you are doing a patchy laser hair removal job, therefore removing less hair and therefore, you’ll need to go back more than if you were more thoroughly treated. When I told the technician she missed some spots of hair on me, she acted like she was blind and couldn’t see them, but basically refused to removed the remaining hair that was clearly still there. On another occasion, when I pointed out she missed removing some areas of hair, she told me, “I’ll get that next time”. I didn’t pay $600 that day to be told by some lady she’ll “get that hair next time”! Next time?! I was thinking there will not be a next time and even told her that in a very direct manner. These are not impressive work ethics. The laser hair technician spends most the time bragging about how great her results are, as if she is the best in the world. She sounds foolish and needs to remember that results speak for themselves and bragging sounds a lot more impressive when someone else is bragging about you instead of you going on and on about yourself. She is the only laser technician to leave hair remaining behind on me AFTER being treated to remove the hair. So if you do not mind strips of hair left behind then she is the laser technician for you. What is funny is how on one occasion she wanted me to watch the hair disintegrate into thin air once the laser zaps it, showing me how powerful the laser is. But yet when I pointed out hair that was left behind in areas that she missed, she just said she did laser the hair acting as though she could not even see the hair! I wondered if her vision was poor. I’m serious. How can hair still be present immediately after the laser hits it if the hair disintegrates once the laser touches it? The reason the hair was still there is because it wasn’t even touched with the laser. Duh. I know, because the area was not even red like all the other treated areas…and the treated areas had no hair. When I would point that out to her she just kept parroting the same thing back I’ve heard a dozen times. She said the laser only kills the hair in the active growth phase. However, whether the hair is in its active growth phase or not, the laser does disintegrate the hair when it touches it, even if it is in the dormant phase of growth. Yes, that hair will come back later if it is in it’s dormant stage when treated, but that hair will also be burned away down to skin level meanwhile once the laser does zap the area. So, there should be no hair visible immediately after your treatment. And the hair I did have present AFTER my treatment, continued to grow and was clearly not in the dormant phase anyway. I have had about 6 different laser hair treatments with a few different laser technicians and using different lasers even, so I have an educated opinion on what good results look like. I spent over $3,600 on laser hair removal treatments and still have hair. After 6 treatments? I talked with some people elsewhere that had their hair removed for a fraction of the cost and fewer treatments. When I complained about the technician to Janee she just told me nobody ever really complained about her laser technician before. Well, guess what? Not everyone has the guts to speak up and some people just don’t bother if they feel it’s a waste of time. Furthermore, some people have lower standards and are satisfied with pretty much whatever they get. Hell, some poor soul out there may even be enthralled with poor results just because the do not have any experience to help them even determine what good or bad results are! I’m no rookie and my opinion is an educated one. I just want the service delivered that I paid for it. Not half-way service, full service. When I did complain to Janee about the laser hair removal technician, Janee did admit she could see the hair remaining behind that was missed. Janee did offer to correct this and to treat me for free to remove the hair. So for someone who says nobody ever complained about her technician, even she acknowledged her technician did not do a thorough job and did offer to correct it. Even her laser hair removal technician warned me not to have Janee remove my moles saying she is “soooo expensive” and that if I choose the cauterization I would be sorry with my results. I agree. Hind sight is 20/20. Also, if you go there, expect getting the up sale. They will try to sell you services you do not need or want. For example, if I go there for a mole or hair removed, I do not need someone trying to sell me botox injections. LASER TATTOO REMOVAL – dissatisfied with results I also had a tattoo removed there. Typically tattoos are supposed to be removed in a few treatments and black ink responds best. I had a black tattoo the size of a quarter. Janee used her laser and after 15 treatments I still had my tattoo, along with permanent pigment damage she caused. Horrible, expensive results. People, there are better places you can go, for affordable, effective treatment, with pleasing results. I also think these technicians and plastic surgeon ought take a more humble approach and pipe down on the bragging…because results always speak for them self. Updated on 14 Oct 2011: After being terribly disappointed with my "mole removal" costing $450, I decided to try an at home remedy that totally works! But, first, let me say I had 4 moles cauterized by a dermatologist and 2 were still present the very day AFTER they were supposedly "removed". She only removed the tops of two of the moles. To remove them myself I used apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball, over the mole and then covered with bandage or tape. Keep doing this for as many days as it takes for the mole/wart to fall off. It is that simple and mine took about 1 week. Save your money and don't bother with the dermatologist. I went to the Cosmetic Laser Center with Dr. Steinburg and her husband Jay Shorr. Horrible experience. Horrible. I do not have a history of complaining about service as I have usually gotten good service and results in life...over all and generally speaking. Not so at the Cosmetic Laser Center. I have another post of my full story. It even resorted to her husband call me at home with a blackmail threat. He said if I post negative reviews about them I'd be sorry and and would post information about my checkered past. Seriously! This happened and we have it on record to boot! Creepy. These people know where I live. These people have personal information and records on their patients and then resort to THIS when someone complains about their crummy ethics and poor results? Unbelievable.
