Jerome Obed, DO, FAOCD

I had a small mole on my arm. It had always bothered me but I didn't want to have a scar. After injecting the area to numb it, the doctor cut the mole out and stitched it up. Came back the next week to have the stitches removed. It healed so well you can barely see the scar. He recommend a scar cream, bio-corneum, which worked really well.

2 years ago when I got engaged and I started my mission to cure my reoccurring cystic hormonal acne. Like clockwork on my period I would get a HUGE cluster of cystic acne half an inch from my nose under my eye. After trying every over the counter cream and medispa treatment I could afford, I went to Dr. Obed. He prescribed me 40mg of Oracea 1x daily and topical epiduo. It took about 6 months for me to see an improvement in my skin and it did get worse before it got better. On my wedding day I was acne free and it was a huge blessing not to worry about constantly covering up acne. I stopped taking the antibiotics and only use the topical cream for the rare occasional pustules. However the years of self medication and squeezing my pimples left scars in this area. Today I started my journey with Picosure to eradicate whats left of my battle with acne. On August 2nd I went in for my 1st Picosure treatment. The nurse applied numbing cream on my face. 15 min later the nurse comes in and wipes the cream off with alcohol. The Doctor comes in and reminds me to avoid the sun for 7 days and make sure I moisturize, stay well hydrated and recommend I skip the gym today. He hands me tiny goggles similar to what you would wear in a tanning bed and does a test area with the laser. I was expecting it to be a lot more painful, it felt like hot rubber bands snapping on my skin. Each side only last about 1-2 minutes, but he did 2 passes with the laser, the 2nd pass over the same area was more uncomfortable than the 1st but I wouldn't say it was painful. After treatment he gave my 2 ice bags and I iced my face for about 5 minutes. The nurse came back in and applied cooling cream and I was on my way. After treatment I expected my face to be A LOT more red and bleeding but it wasn't (I have very sensitive skin) It's been about 4hrs since my procedure and my face is still red (comparable to running outside on a hot day) I have my 2nd Picosure treatment in 6 weeks! Updated on 5 Aug 2018: It's been 3 days since I had Picosure. On Friday I had redness and small bumps appearing on my cheeks. On Saturday I experienced sensitivity and severe itchiness mainly around my cheekbones and under my eyes. Saturday night I had difficulty sleeping, I would wake up w an extreme urge to itch my face and I could not get comfortable. I've been moisturizing my face 3-5x a day, avoiding the sun and icing my face to help with the redness and sensitivity. Currently my face is not as red but the rash and bumps on my face are much more pronounced. I've tried to research if what I'm experiencing is normal but from what I've read it sounds like I'm having an allergic reaction to the treatment or the numbing cream. Thankfully tomorrow the office opens and I plan on calling 1st thing in the morning to discuss my side effects from treatment. This whole experience has been very disheartening. I feel like I spend a lot of $$$ to disfigure my face, I'm really hoping this rash goes away and doesn't leave me with more scars than I originally had. Updated on 9 Aug 2018: It's been a week since PicoSure and all the negative symptoms of the procedure are gone. My face feels tighter, in a good way. The acne scars and discoloration have not changed much and my skin texture feels similar to how it felt before I had picosure. I do not think I will have the 2nd treatment done, I honestly don't want to go through the side effects I experienced again. I believe my skin is just to sensitive for this procedure. The experience made me realize that removing my acne scars is not worth the boils, bumps, itchiness and redness that I had to deal with. Perhaps someone with less reactive skin would benefit from this treatment.