I am 50 Years Old with Large Pores, Sun Damage, Broken Capillaries and hyperpigmentation. I saw all the options that Dr Lee offered on his website and cross referenced the most “worth it” options in realself.com for my needs, that wasn’t plastic surgery. He offers well reviewed laser options and booking online. He also has a confidential patient portal where you fill out all the paperwork before your appointment.They require a $50 deposit to schedule the appointment, which can go towards treatment, should the time come. The office is located in a strip mall and is immaculately clean. He had several offices for different procedures and every room had enormous air filters. Dr. Lee also told me that their HVAC system has advanced filtration that includes UV to create very sterile airflow. All staff wore masks and they schedule appointments far apart to address social distancing.The staff brought me right back without having to wait. Dr. Lee got down to business gave me a consultation for his recommendations and the pricing. He recommended both BBL and Halo. My chest and neck are in bad shape so I wanted them done at the same time. Cost for halo on face, neck and chest is $1700 and for BBL on the same areas was $500. If I wanted to also do bbl on my arms, which have plenty of age spots that would have been $400. I chose to wait on getting my arms done.I was able to schedule for later that same day. He offered to have me come in 1 hour early to apply numbing ointment or give it to me to apply 1 hour before the appointment. I chose to self apply. Dr Lee was very kind and checked on my comfort level throughout treatment. He started with the BBL which gave a pain level of 0-1. Very mild and completely tolerable. Dr Lee worked proficiently and covered the same areas multiple times, which I appreciated.After BBL he did the Halo. First he measures specific areas with the machine so the machine will beep once finished with a section. Then on to the next section. This allowed him to give the same level of treatment in each area. Each section got quite a few passes, going up and down and side to side.The pain level started very mildly at a 1. I was pleasantly surprised because I expected a lot more pain. However, there are so many repeated passes, the pain started ratcheting up to a 3. Once the numbing ointment (lidocaine) wore off, the pain was a 6. He gave me a hand held AC, which was very helpful to cool down my skin that felt like fire. The feel reminds me of when I eat super spicy food and my lips burn.That’s the same feel but all over my face neck and chest. When the doctor asked me how I was feeling, I told him, “my face feels like you rubbed jalapeño juice all over it.” He told me to take my time if I needed more AC. After the treatment my face was bright red and swollen. I took Advil. The hot skin was very much soothed by using damp hand towels with ice packs inside. I laid down for 2 hours like this. Then I was able to get up and finish out my day. I kept a fan blowing softly in my face, which helped. Updated on 2 Jan 2021: My face no longer hurts but it feels tight, the texture feels like an orange peel in some areas and big flakes in other areas and the color is still very red. I’ve seen others’ pics and people don’t look as red as me. I’m washing twice daily with a very mild cleanser and I’m using aquaphor ointment. The ointment is super thick and my skin feels so delicate I pat it into my skin instead of rubbing it on. Updated on 2 Jan 2021: I left the house the first time since having the procedures. I used 50 spf sunscreen and it was very difficult to apply because my skin is so flaky and delicate still. I noticed my chin got a small wound not sure how that happened. My suspicion is that a flake came off and took new skin with it. My face is still swollen and super flakey. It’s starting to itch now, which adds a level of discomfort. Updated on 2 Jan 2021: The itching is getting annoying. The flakes are coming off quite a bit now. When I put the four days’ pics together I can tell I’m “bronzing”. I’m still very red and still swollen so I didn’t realize it. However, I can all of the darkened hyperpigmentation has added to that bronzing effect. Updated on 2 Jan 2021: My face has peeled most of the way but my neck and chest have not peeled. Neck and chest are rough, feeling like orange peels still. My hyperpigmentation is still dark. My face’s redness has improved but still red. My neck and chest are still red. My eyes are still puffy due to swelling. The itch on my face has subsided significantly. However my chest and neck still itch pretty annoyingly. I’m still using the aquaphor ointment. If I wanted to wear foundation it still wouldn’t look good because I still have some flakes here and there on my face. Updated on 2 Jan 2021: Through the day my redness has subsided more since this morning. The itch is super annoying still and my chest has started peeling. The peeling skin appears to be the MENDS sloughing. I’m relieved because it seemed like my chest was going to look like this indefinitely. Updated on 3 Jan 2021: The itch has stopped on my face but not my chest or neck. I clearly had more damage that needed correcting on my chest as it’s still feeling quite rough and many of the brown spots are still very present and prevalent. I seemed to slough off more on my chest yesterday than today. Hoping things get better. Face has dramatically improved from just twos ago. I am so relieved at the sudden jump in improvement. I was worried my face was forever going to be rough and red. I’m not even a week into treatment and I’m noticing my pores are more refined and my skin texture is smoother. Updated on 4 Jan 2021: Taking Zyrtec was really helpful. Then it wore off today and the itch started again, but not as badly. My face is less red and my neck is smooth and appears fully sloughed. Both are clearly still healing though. I can’t tell a big difference with my neck. However, the biggest issues I have with my neck have been the deep creasing and sagging, so I don’t know how much of an impact the Halo laser would have on those issues since Halo is not used for sagging. My chest is still slow going with sloughing the MENDS. It still feels rough and still has a lot of hyperpigmentation that is very prevalent, along with being red. Looking forward to the final result, hopefully soon. Updated on 5 Jan 2021: I’m not seeing any big improvements at this point. My face is still a little pink and my chest still has a lot of hyperpigmentation. I saw a slight improvement in one spot on my chest that was most reactive to the treatment. The pink area looks less raw. The skin is also quite rough on my chest still. During a meeting today my staff, who hadn’t seen me since the treatment, asked if I had been skiing because I look like I got sun. So I’m not imagining my redness. I keep hoping that I get more improvement. I don’t want all of this pink skin with brown hyperpigmentation polka dots. Updated on 6 Jan 2021: Reduced pinkness. Almost no itching. Increase in chest sloughing (yay!). A bit of acne on my face. By the way, I need to mention that in every picture, in all of my updates there is no face makeup, including: no foundation, powder, primer, bronzer, blush or highlighter. The only thing on my face is moisturizer. My eyes have my eyebrows filled in and mascara. One picture has lipstick. Again, all of them I have no face make up. Updated on 7 Jan 2021: The itch is gone and I had a big jump forward in sloughing the MENDS. The polka dots of all that hyperpigmentation are dissipating dramatically since my last post. Still some pinkness and improving every day. My face is calming down with little hyperpigmentation and almost normal skin tone. If I were a wearer of face makeup, I could have started wearing it several days ago. Updated on 12 Jan 2021: I saw my Dermatologist for my 14 day follow up today. We both agree that my skin is looking better. I am still healing, especially on my chest. He said the chest always takes a lot longer to heal than the face. He told me he used a fairly aggressive setting for my Halo treatment, so that will also stretch the timeline for healing. When looking at my forehead and chest, we can still see lines of demarcation from where the wand delivered the laser compared to non-lasered skin; further proof that my healing journey continues...although, I am mostly healed now. I will post another post treatment photo after those lines of demarcation have dissipated, which will tell me I have finally cross the finish line. In the meantime, I definitely notice significant differences in several areas. 1. Difference in skin texture. My skin is so much more smooth. A couple years ago during my skin cancer check up, my dermatologist at Kaiser told me I had, what she called, "barnacles" on my face, which are rough, dark spots. I have zero barnacles now. I don't have rough or bumpy textures anymore. Additionally, my pores are visibly less pronounced. 2. The constant red tone to my face and chest is better, even though I am not yet fully healed. 3. The age spots/malasma have significantly reduced. They aren't completely gone but a pretty big improvement nonetheless. My chest had a lot of melasma due to poor sunscreen habits. My face wasn't as bad because I often wore hats while outside but my poor chest had significant sun damage. In the past, I've had chemical peels and notice fresh glowing skin after, but I've always been disappointed that no one else notices the difference, not even my husband. With this treatment, he noticed. We were in the harsh light of Home Depot and it was only 6 days after treatment when my husband said, unprompted, that he noticed a big difference in my face...my chest was still a bit of a mess at that point. Two nights ago, he commented that my chest has caught up and he now sees "new looking skin." The treatment was painful and the first 4 days of recovery were humbling and scary. I was so crusty and rough, I worried that my face was damaged. I looked on realself.com for other women's recovery journey. I saw women who said they were wearing makeup by day 2. There is no way I could have worn makeup for at least 5 days. I don't think I would have felt comfortable going back to see people at work for 2 days due to my face being so crusty, swollen and red. Now that I know that my doctor used an aggressive setting, that explains the pain and longer recovery time. It's not the least expensive treatment around, so I am glad that he used an aggressive treatment intensity, especially now that I see the results. All of my pictures, I am still not wearing face makeup and I use zero filters or touch ups. Just mascara and eyebrow liner. I actually don't think I need to wear face makeup now that I am mostly healed. My skin looks so much more even, smooth and bright. Updated on 9 Feb 2021: The redness has finally subsided. I had striations and hyperpigmentation in my chest. Both have improved but the striations in my chest are extra specially improved. My pores have improved. Overall the texture is better and the tone of my skin glows. A lot less dullness. Updated on 23 Aug 2021: I thought the redness from the treatment would never go away but it finally did. Prior to the procedure, I used a rentinol cream on my face each night. After 1 year I was very unhappy with the retinol because my face was always a flakey mess. I couldn’t exfoliate enough to get it to look healthy without hurting my skin. So not only did my skin look dull but it also looked flakey. I also struggled with uneven skin tone and melasma. Getting this procedure really helped with the uneven skin tone, texture and ability for my skin to renew itself. What I mean my renew itself is that I no longer have dull flakey skin and all the products I use can really soak in better than ever. It’s such a pleasant surprise. I guess I thought the melasma and uneven skin tone would improve but the ability for my skin to look fresh is fabulous. I don’t wear any foundation or powder so fresh skin is the best!! The treatment didn’t get rid of all my dark spots on my chest but I do see improvement and my husband really notices the chest has significant improvement.
In my teens (I'm 39 now) I have always had large pores, moderate acne, and then cystic acne and scars. I would love to do anything to rid myself of the scars (icepick, rolling). I dream of having skin I don't need to cover in makeup. I have tried numerous beauty products and nothing has helped with the discoloration or scars. I've paid exorbant amounts of money for utter disappointment. Now I am back to my basics for my face routine and I've decided to spend my money on the Vampire Facial in hopes it will remedy at least 50% of my scars. I called Dr Lee's office and booked the first appointment they had for a Monday. I felt good about this improving my skin, so I booked my consult and facial for the same day. The wait felt endless, but finally arrived! Day of my appointment: I was early...I always overestimate my drive time. Dr Lee is very informative and explains in detail. I was not nervous, I was super anxious to get started. He wiped my face clean, smeared numbing cream on, and his assistant came in to draw my blood. While my blood spun in the centrifuge, Dr Lee told me about some other procedures he does. I do have a saggy neck that I have been very laxe on, and he suggested Kybella...I'm debating doing this since I'm not extremely bothered by my neck. He also told me about the O-Shot...THIS I am very interested in, and have scheduled to have it done at my next Vampire Facial appointment. Because I want the most benefit from the facial, I opted to buy a package of 4. I have to wait 4 weeks inbetween, which I didn't check my calendar before, and I'm moving out of state in June...so I am going to beg him to let me schedule my 3rd and 4th facials between 3 and 4 weeks so I can fit them all in before moving. So, after my blood was done spinning, he put the "liquid gold" in a string and dropper thing. He wiped the numbing cream off and began with dropping drops of the prp on my face and using the Eclipse pen. I don't think I was as numb as I could have been, and it hurt. I'd say a 5/10 on my cheeks and chin, 8/10 on my forehead and around my nose. He explained as he was going that in certain areas he was more aggressive due to the amount of scarring. I'll take the pain as long as it rids me of hating my skin! When he was finished with the Eclipse, he injected PRP into the scars on my cheeks, near my nose, and temple area. I'm not supposed to touch my face...but I did! And even with the trauma caused...it feels soooo smooth! I can still see the scars, but I can't feel them! That's a great start to me! My face is definitely more red than it was last night after my appointment, and I wouldn't want to be seen in public right now. Thankfully, my kids are on spring break and I don't have to go anywhere, but my next appointments I will not be so lucky. I'll deal I guess...maybe I will be able to slather a little tinted moisturizer with vitamins on by then. ***I did read that a chemical peel is good to have when the facials are all finished, so I may look into that after I move. I am also contemplating having the Vampire Facelift done as well. ***I will more than likely write a review on the O-Shot after my next appointment, but I may have to reschedule it since I'm having surgery to have my tubes tied the week before and I don't know if that will be toon soon. I forgot to take before pics, but I did take some this morning of post treatment day 1. I'll post these after the redness goes away and I can take some more pics. Plus I really hate the way they look. Updated on 8 Apr 2016: Updated on 8 Apr 2016: Super red, no peeling yet. Skin felt like light scabbing. I was told to not use anything other than a gentle cleanser or water on my face. Updated on 8 Apr 2016: She must have poked through my vein because I've never bruised this badly from a blood draw. Thank goodness for Arnica 30x! Updated on 8 Apr 2016: It took at least 4 days before I had a light peel start, and my sling would not absorb any type of moisturizer, lotion, serum or oil. It's been almost 3 weeks and I can say my scars do not seem any more filled in yet. It can take up to 3 months to see any results. My skin does seem to be more even toned, maybe radiant? But I am having some breakouts (minor) along my jawline and chin. One bad cystic between my eyebrows that started just before or after my first treatment. Almost gone now though :-) I have been using Ole Henriksens See the Difference Serum as well as a serum with EGF. Next treatment on the 18th!
