Face Ruined After Gemini Laser - Columbus, OH

Have you tired doing and home peels to correct texture? It might help. I was left with scarring from ipl and gemini laser (2nd and 3rd degree burns) and they have helped tremendously for my 3rd degree burn and I'm working up the courage to use a stronger % to try and correct the superficial indentations. I've been using 70% glycolic acid, MUAC Fade Peel, The Ordinary aha bha and 30% TCA cross method for my 3rd degree burn. My gemini 3rd degree burn is about 90% better! I'll never trust another doctor with my face, again!

Because peels induce inflammation by way of penetrating the epidermis and doing basically a controlled burn (heat), I think using microdermabrasion, aluminum oxide crystals instead to manually polish your skin once a month will do wonders to ameliorate the indentions. The Need Crystals brand, 120 grit is a great product. Think of it like polishing a stone making it smooth. If you venture into using that I recommend applying a buffer to your face first to mix the crystals into, so the crystals don't have direct contact with your skin because that would be too abrasive. They typically recommend you use a facial cleanser as the vehicle, but I prefer to use hair conditioner (as crazy as that sounds) as a buffer in which to incorporate the microdermabrasion crystals into my skin, instead of cleanser so my skin doesn't get dried out. You want to polish in different directions, horizontally, diagonally and vertically giving yourself a very thorough polishing exfoliation, once a month to allow your skin to heal, regenerate and smooth over the indentions. Aluminum oxide crystals are ph neutral so they don't disrupt the skin barrier by being either acidic or alkaline. You can start out slowly until you get the hang of how to vigorously polish your skin to mimic a machine microdermabrasion. I prefer the crystals over the microdermabrasion machine because the machine suction can in itself be damaging causing vasodilation, capillary starbursts, etc. Initially your skin is pink when you get out of the shower but it's calms down very quickly and feels tremendously smooth. Part of healthy skin is exfoliating off dead skin cells so it can receive any great products that you're applying to it. So if you're not doing any form of exfoliation, I think the crystals would be the most non-intrusive choice.

You have a kind of rosacea from your skin being compromised. This same thing happened to me. I got a series of peels that made my skin super thin, starting to get that crepey, thin look. Then I did microneedling when it was still in that fragile state and I have track marks and scar lines all over my face now. It's been three years for me and I have researched a lot about what was happening to my skin in the aftermath. I learned about an organism called Demodex that all of us have. When our skin is healthy, the biome of our skin lives in harmony with these little bugs (gross I know), but as we age and our skin thins out, or our body starts to experience inflammation from sickness...or even if we're a younger person who has inflammation in their body from breast implants or an auto-immune disease...or we have destroyed our skin from these unneeded cosmetic procedures--well, the demodex can get way overpopulated and when it does that, it's very difficult to ever get it back under control because your skin is damaged, thinned out and inflamed. The older we get, these things happen anyway. Studies on Demodex show that children barely have any, with seniors having an over-abundance. Demodex cause our skin to look crappy--stretched out pores, pimples, inflammation and wrinkles. Google all of this. You honestly look like you have rosacea, just like I did--never had rosacea before but after my skin got destroyed, I started to get red patches in different places on my face with a lot of bumps everywhere that wasn't acne, tons of lines, big pores, crepey skin and more wrinkles and sag. Read the scientific studies, the one thing that helps rosacea is ivermectin--although doctors have tried to make it more complicated throughout the years with different treatments that aren't as effective. Ivermectin will help you because it will start killing the demodex so you can get control of the inflammation in your skin. There is a cream called Soolantra that you can get from a dermatologist but it's ridiculously expensive. It works well but who wants to pay $500 for one tube of it? Through a lot of reading I found out that you can get really cheap ivermectin, because ivermectin is off patent and IS very cheap. It is sold on Amazon--it's a paste that is made for horses to eat to kill little critters that bother them. This is all sounds crazy but this seriously works. If you even read the comment section, a lot of people buy this paste for themselves and their skin issues. Ivermectin is safe (research it) and will not give you any side effects. I have put on a thick layer of this paste almost every night for two years. After the initial purge of more acne, my skin improved drastically within a few days of starting it. I have to maintain it or my skin gets out of control again. Also, every few months I take doses of the ivermectin pill to start my body at baseline because it is difficult to keep my skin in a neutral state without it tipping back to looking bad. You have to be diligent. Another thing that has helped a lot is the candida cleanse by Dr. Axe because sometimes when my skin has tipped back to being gross again, I noticed there was almost a yeasty look to the rashes on my face. The DIM supplement has also helped me with the acne. I guarantee you your skin will start to look better if you try this. I know I'm opening myself up to ridicule by posting this. No, I am not one of those Morgellons people talking about bugs in their skin. Demodex is a real problem, I think it is more prevalent then dermatologists even admit and is the cause for a lot of people's skin problems. But Ivermectin in itself is cheap which is why pharmacies usually combine it with a bunch of stuff and sell it at huge mark-ups. If you decide to try this, it is called Duramectin on Amazon. You get three tubes for less than $12. I empty one tube into an empty container that I keep sealed and then when it is all used, empty a new one. I want you to have hope. This will not fix the scars--I still have line scars on my cheeks but I honestly get compliments on my skin all the time because I have very small pores now (demodex stretch out pores) and few wrinkles. I've asked a few people, don't you see my scars? They say no for whatever that's worth, probably because I keep my skin extremely moisturized with oils, rather than moisturizer. Also, one of my favorite products is the truth serum by Ole Henriksen. I've tried tons of products (TONS) and I always come back to this for that perfect glow without looking greasy. I also use Water Drench Hyaluronic Acid to help with the look of the crepey skin and scars and it honestly helps. Also, niacinamide is amazing for the crepey skin that comes with skin damage, and it is not expensive. I buy a cheap one off Amazon and put it on my problem areas--it tightens and instantly smooths out the crepey spots. Back when I would get botox it would help even more, and my skin would look like glass, but I'm at the point where I am resistant to putting anything in my body that can trigger all of my auto-immune issues. For what it's worth, I am getting out my breast implants this summer and am so excited about it. I don't know if you have implants, but that is definitely another thing that will be contributing to your skin not healing. All of the inflammation the implants cause make a perfect environment for the Demodex to go crazy. I think that's why I feel like I'm in a constant fight with maintaining my skin's balance. You're one of the stories that I always remembered when I was going through my RealSelf binge, looking for things to help the devastation I was going through with my skin being ruined. I wish the best for you and your son. No one should have to live with the crippling depression that a person feels when they feel they have destroyed their face unnecessarily through actions of their own. It would seriously be easier if we didn't feel like we made a bad decisions and brought this on ourselves. I understand--I have gone through all of it! Oh, one more thing, I have a prescription for the ivermectin pills because I have a doctor in my family who wrote me a prescription, but you can go to a dermatologist and ask them to scrape your skin and look for an overabundance of demodex. Sometimes dermatologists will get condescending about this for whatever reason, but sometimes they acknowledge that demodex are actually a huge problem for some people. Hopefully you can find someone with a good attitude, which can be hard and discouraging if you can't. I THINK you can buy ivermectin from pharmacies in Canada or abroad but I have never done this and I imagine it would be more expensive. Most of the time people will get these pills for scabies or things like that--they are inexpensive and not dangerous at all unless you take a TON of them within a short time. They have no side-effects, and believe me, I researched a ton because I am actually pretty anti-medication unless completely necessary. I take three of them and then ten days later, I take three more pills. It kills all the bugs and parasites in my body so I can start at baseline. Unfortunately, you will start accumulating the Demodex again very quickly because they love compromised skin and can proliferate fast which is why it is important to maintain putting the gel on. Then three months later I do the pills again--three and then ten days later, three more. I hope this helps you. Please research on your own and let me know if you have any questions. Your skin will improve a lot by bringing down the numbes of Demodex that have taken up residence in your pores.

Everyone with damage please look into Procell micro channeling. It's the thing that has helped me and I was in very bad shape. Just look at my pictures.

Hey, I read your whole story - REALLY heartfelt for you and your trauma. I warn everyone I can not to do lasers, having seen all the damage on here. At 2 years your skin seemed much improved - and then reverted? Were you using using ANY actives to cause even the slightest inflammation? Or, is your skin still sensitized (where you can actually still *feel* sensitivity) from the laser?

At this time you need to be very gentle with your skin. Perhaps oil cleansing with Jojoba oil and follow with something like Biologique Recherche creme masque vernix to help calm and restore your skin barrier. Psoria Gold also makes a gel called face ultra for severe skin. My prayers are with you as someone who was also damaged I feel your pain. Hugs