POSTED UNDER CO2 Laser Reviews
Age 45, CO2 fractionated laser with only topical numbing - extremely painful!
UPDATED FROM SaviBlu
5 months post
5 mos
SaviBluDecember 26, 2022
$700
My skin is very thin. Lymphatic drainage under my left eye is disrupted. A pocket of fluid will form at random. Grid line scars are still apparent. Breaks my heart that my fiancé says I don’t look the same. He doesn’t mean it negatively. He’s simply stating the fact that my face is damaged.
UPDATED FROM SaviBlu
2 months post
Grid lines
SaviBluSeptember 16, 2022
Had an appointment Labor Day weekend with the nurse. She thinks my skin looks great but then got teary eyed when she said just don’t look in the mirror. She knows she ruined my skin. She’s offered multiple free products and lasers but I have lost my trust. The grid lines are white, difficult to cover. The hard lines are still grossly apparent. I look older and tired.
Replies (2)
September 16, 2022
I feel your pain. I had a lot of damage done to my skin from a CO2 laser about a year ago. At a few months you are pretty early along in the healing process. It can take a long time for the skin to heal and build collagen after a CO2 treatment. It can take months and in some cases more than a year.
I saw a plastic surgeon about the damage done to my skin at one year. His advice was to give it 6 more months to heal. I have been giving my skin more time to heal, avoiding the sun, lots of moisturizer, and not doing anything that would cause any kind of irritation. My skin is slowly improving. I feel like one of the mistakes people make with the CO2 treatment is if the results are not good they follow it up with harsh treatments before their skin has had a chance to heal possibly doing more damage.
One thing I noticed from your photos is that your face in general looks thinner and there are wrinkles in the non-treated area too. Did you have a recent weight loss? That can cause a temporary volume loss in your face which will lead to skin laxity and wrinkles. I mentioned that because I had a weight loss due to depression after my treatment and it made my skin look much worse. Gaining the weight back improved the appearance of my skin.
My advice would be to give your skin a year to heal. If it doesn't improve by then there are good doctors out there that can help you fix it. I know that it is hard not to feel depressed about the results. Try to keep a positive outlook and hope for the best while your skin is healing. Surround yourself with good friends and family. My close friends and family don't even notice that anything has happened to my skin unless I point it out.
I saw a plastic surgeon about the damage done to my skin at one year. His advice was to give it 6 more months to heal. I have been giving my skin more time to heal, avoiding the sun, lots of moisturizer, and not doing anything that would cause any kind of irritation. My skin is slowly improving. I feel like one of the mistakes people make with the CO2 treatment is if the results are not good they follow it up with harsh treatments before their skin has had a chance to heal possibly doing more damage.
One thing I noticed from your photos is that your face in general looks thinner and there are wrinkles in the non-treated area too. Did you have a recent weight loss? That can cause a temporary volume loss in your face which will lead to skin laxity and wrinkles. I mentioned that because I had a weight loss due to depression after my treatment and it made my skin look much worse. Gaining the weight back improved the appearance of my skin.
My advice would be to give your skin a year to heal. If it doesn't improve by then there are good doctors out there that can help you fix it. I know that it is hard not to feel depressed about the results. Try to keep a positive outlook and hope for the best while your skin is healing. Surround yourself with good friends and family. My close friends and family don't even notice that anything has happened to my skin unless I point it out.
September 16, 2022
In 6 weeks I did not lose any weight to cause laxity. I have had several dermatologists and a plastic surgeon look at my skin. They all agree it is a severe burn that needs treatment tone before further scarring takes place. I am seeking legal counsel as well. The nurse who did this should never again have an ablative laser in her hands. The reason they tell us to wait so long before seeing results is because the statute of limitation on cases like this is two years: Those that see me regularly say I look much different than before. Not horrible but definitely tired and wrinkled looking. My entire head was swollen for 2 weeks requiring steroid intervention as it began to compromise my airway. I have a wedding to plan and someone will be paying to immediately correct this damage.
September 16, 2022
I didn't realize you had severe burns to your skin. It was hard to see in the photos.
In California, where I live, the statute of limitations is 1 year for medical malpractice and it is nearly impossible to win a malpractice suit for damage caused by a laser. Lawyers in the area aren't interested in taking on such a case. My only course of action is to file a complaint with the medical board and get the word out on websites like this one.
There is documented research out there that collagen growth continues up to 18 months after CO2 laser treatment. The CO2 providers don't always say give it more time to cover their butt. There is research out there to support it. The doctor that told me to let my skin continue to heal was a plastic surgeon that I sought out to fix damage due to the laser. He recommended no treatment but more time to heal.
In California, where I live, the statute of limitations is 1 year for medical malpractice and it is nearly impossible to win a malpractice suit for damage caused by a laser. Lawyers in the area aren't interested in taking on such a case. My only course of action is to file a complaint with the medical board and get the word out on websites like this one.
There is documented research out there that collagen growth continues up to 18 months after CO2 laser treatment. The CO2 providers don't always say give it more time to cover their butt. There is research out there to support it. The doctor that told me to let my skin continue to heal was a plastic surgeon that I sought out to fix damage due to the laser. He recommended no treatment but more time to heal.
September 16, 2022
Depending on your age, I wouldn’t accept that answer to wait. Cold IPL laser can decrease the lines and increase the collagen to the proper level of dermis. Yes collagen continues to propagate but is it building scar tissue in micro pockets or forming the fibrin layer to create a youthful appearance. My grid scars are already becoming lumpy. The lymph glands around my eyes are damaged so after a 13 hour shift, I look like a raccoon with edema around my eyes.
Are you now pleased with your appearance? Does your makeup lay neatly on the areas treated?
Are you now pleased with your appearance? Does your makeup lay neatly on the areas treated?
September 16, 2022
I will turn 50 in a few months. I definitely don't heal as fast as I used to. I had a minor burn on my arm about 6-8 months ago. No blister or anything formed immediately after. That area is still red and some white collagen is forming around it. My skin tends to form a lot of collagen due to even minor injuries. I was probably not a good candidate for microneedling I had done 3 years ago and the laser I had done last year.
So I had texture issues before the laser treatment from microneedling. The laser didn't help the texture and may have made it a little worse. My biggest concern is the volume loss. It has made some of my acne scars from the past more deep and noticeable. It has also flattened off my round cheeks and if I lose some weight that area looks weird and kind of bunches up or wrinkles easily.
You might be suffering from volume loss around your eyes which is causing your skin to wrinkle up more than usual. Volume loss is a risk of treatments like rf microneedling and laser that heat up the deeper layers of the skin. Probably more likely if the treatment is overly aggressive.
Here is an interesting blog post and discussion from a doctor that admits some of his patients were suffering from facial volume loss after laser treatment. He no longer uses lasers because of that risk.
https://www.cosmeticsurg.net/blog/why-laser-resurfacing-can-cause-facial-fat-loss/
To answer your question I am not happy with the damage that was done to my skin. I have had treatments from several different doctors in the San Diego area. Doctors that are highly rated and have people fly out from different states and countries to see them. Even if they do everything right there are risks. I could seek more treatments but there is a risk my skin could get worse so I have chosen to do nothing. I am a 50 year old male living in Southern California. I have friends that are in their 50s and have destroyed their skin in the California sun. That and the fact that my wife and daughter don't really care what I look like makes it easer to do nothing and stop worrying about my appearance.
So I had texture issues before the laser treatment from microneedling. The laser didn't help the texture and may have made it a little worse. My biggest concern is the volume loss. It has made some of my acne scars from the past more deep and noticeable. It has also flattened off my round cheeks and if I lose some weight that area looks weird and kind of bunches up or wrinkles easily.
You might be suffering from volume loss around your eyes which is causing your skin to wrinkle up more than usual. Volume loss is a risk of treatments like rf microneedling and laser that heat up the deeper layers of the skin. Probably more likely if the treatment is overly aggressive.
Here is an interesting blog post and discussion from a doctor that admits some of his patients were suffering from facial volume loss after laser treatment. He no longer uses lasers because of that risk.
https://www.cosmeticsurg.net/blog/why-laser-resurfacing-can-cause-facial-fat-loss/
To answer your question I am not happy with the damage that was done to my skin. I have had treatments from several different doctors in the San Diego area. Doctors that are highly rated and have people fly out from different states and countries to see them. Even if they do everything right there are risks. I could seek more treatments but there is a risk my skin could get worse so I have chosen to do nothing. I am a 50 year old male living in Southern California. I have friends that are in their 50s and have destroyed their skin in the California sun. That and the fact that my wife and daughter don't really care what I look like makes it easer to do nothing and stop worrying about my appearance.
January 5, 2023
UPDATED FROM SaviBlu
1 month post
I was pretty and confident
SaviBluAugust 26, 2022
This photo was before the CO2. Minimal fine lines and my eyes do not sag. Photo was taken January 2022. I always avoided the sun, wore high SPF sunscreen, sought regular facials and light chemical peels. Botox since age 30. Now I feel humiliated and have anxiety and bouts of crying whenever I try to apply makeup.
Replies (2)
August 27, 2022
I had a very painful treatment and will never go back to the doctor who gets such rave reviews from her patients. Not enough pain relief during the procedure. It was awful. Never going to her again.
February 17, 2023
Where did you get your treatment please My plastic surgeon was just suggesting this to me today smh now I am scared
Replies (4)