IPL Fotofacial - Colorado

I am 44 with Irish-Scot ancestry and the brown spots on my face have been bothering me for the past few years, so I signed up for 3 treatments for fotofacial including a laser for fine lines following each treatment. I could not find any negative reviews on the internet, but now that I think about it, anytime I googled it, a website came up with reviews from a fotofacial provider...which of course will all be positive. And they make it sound so safe with very little risk, so all the more reason to think it is ok.

Anyway, things went as they were supposed to...had slight sunburn after the fotofacial and this redness went away in a day or two. The brown spots sloughed off in a couple of weeks which was nice. I did feel dry afterwards for weeks (I still feel dry now 5 weeks out) which is a bummer because I live in a dry climate which makes matters worse.

I had signed up for 3 treatments, but decided to stop at 1 treatment for the following reasons...

The next morning afterwards, I did notice lack of plumpness in my skin, then continued to notice more hollowing around my eyes and still lack of plumpness that I had before the fotofacial, especially at nasal labial folds. I am 100% sure I lost plumpness, and it has never come back. I feel like I look older because the result of my fotofacial has been a more droopy look and some continued dryness (even now 5 weeks since the facial). It is driving me crazy & I just want my plump and pigmentated skin back! This was totally a bad decision!!!

The doctor's office made me feel like something was wrong with me for being so anxious about this, and perhaps my stressing about it so much has made me look worse. BUT I know how I looked before...I have a very detailed eye and I am 100% sure I did not have this droopy look before. I am thinking it may be due to dryness, which they told me would go away after 2 weeks, but it hasn't.

I keep reading horror stories on the internet about fat loss as a result of a fotofacial, and some sites say it can happen, and a few plastic surgeons seem to indicate fat loss can happen, but then the consensus of most doctors is that the laser could no way get to the fat layer. I don't know what to think who is right or who is wrong, but at this point I do not believe I have fat loss, but why are my eyes more hollowed and why is my face not getting back to its normal plump self? I have been drinking a ton of water, eating great, taking vitamins, getting sleep, & doing everything I can to feel healthy. But still it feels like my skin cannot produce moisture like it used to...it feels dry on the inside.

Anyway, so I would definately NOT recommend doing a fotofacial. It is TOTALLY not worth all of this anxiety I have felt, and I feel like a fool for doing something that isn't permanent anyway. I feel like a fool for being brain washed by Hollywood that I have to be perfect. It's a crock! I think at this point a will try to grow old gracefully and if I do anything else it will be facial massage (many websites talk about how to do this yourself) and cosmetic acupuncture. I may try cosmetic acupuncture to help improve what the fotofacial did to me.

So my words of advice are to accept yourself and all your faults. We are our own worst critics! People don't look at us the way we look at ourselves. They see beauty we don't realize is there because we are so focused on the negative.