POSTED UNDER Vbeam Reviews
V-Beam Way Too Strong to Treat Minor Spider Veins - Georgia, GA
ORIGINAL POST
I've been having pulsed laser treatments for tiny...
$150
I've been having pulsed laser treatments for tiny spider veins in my face about once or twice a year for around 20 years - mostly by my dermatologist and then more recently from an aesthetician in my newer derms office closer to my home. The first couple treatments with her with the old laser resulted in more than normal tiny swelling and scratch marks where she followed the tiny veins in my face. I suggested a lower setting and lighter pressure and then the results improved. Anyway, yesterday I asked for another round of laser at lowest setting reminding her of my prior issues. She tells me she wants to try Vbeam -says it will be more gentle with better outcome and fewer "cat scratches".
After the first blast or two, I told her I had meetings all day at work tomorrow and perhaps we should just try those couple spots and see how my skin reacts - because it felt much "stronger" than the other type of laser - and sort of "blasts" an area - doesn't follow a vein so I wasn't even sure what to expect. She insisted I'd be fine and kept on across both cheeks and up under my eyes. When finished, she said it looked like I might have one tiny purple bruise on my mid-cheek but otherwise should be fine. I asked about icing my face and she said you might want to do that, then seemed to reluctantly fish a couple ice packs out of drawer for me to take home (old derm used to have me sit in office and ice immediately after for about 10 minutes before I left). Within an hour after being home - even with immediate, my face was starting to swell quite a bit and large red/purple round sores were appearing on my cheeks. I continued with the ice, etc.
Day two is today, and I have a huge amount of ugly distorting puffiness across both cheeks and especially under both eyes. Under my left eye, the puffiness is turning purple and it appears I will end up with a small black eye there. The large red/purple scabbing spots, and of course swelling, don't cover well with make-up. Not a pretty picture. I would say will take at least a week for this to heal.
I did not have large spots of clustered redness like rosacea, but very tiny spider veins spread out across my cheeks. I would say never use this type of laser for this type of problem. Perhaps if you have really dense areas of spider veins/rosacea it would be worth it, but definitely not for these tiny spider veins I tend to get. And be prepared to hide for several days. This is a horrible thing to have to go through for something I've been treating for 20+ years without this type of issue. DO NOT USE USE THIS VBEAN LASER TO TREAT MINOR SPIDER VEINS ON YOUR FACE!!!! STAY AWAY.
When all is healed I may end up with a good result, but I had the same good result without all of this nightmare, so why do it?
After the first blast or two, I told her I had meetings all day at work tomorrow and perhaps we should just try those couple spots and see how my skin reacts - because it felt much "stronger" than the other type of laser - and sort of "blasts" an area - doesn't follow a vein so I wasn't even sure what to expect. She insisted I'd be fine and kept on across both cheeks and up under my eyes. When finished, she said it looked like I might have one tiny purple bruise on my mid-cheek but otherwise should be fine. I asked about icing my face and she said you might want to do that, then seemed to reluctantly fish a couple ice packs out of drawer for me to take home (old derm used to have me sit in office and ice immediately after for about 10 minutes before I left). Within an hour after being home - even with immediate, my face was starting to swell quite a bit and large red/purple round sores were appearing on my cheeks. I continued with the ice, etc.
Day two is today, and I have a huge amount of ugly distorting puffiness across both cheeks and especially under both eyes. Under my left eye, the puffiness is turning purple and it appears I will end up with a small black eye there. The large red/purple scabbing spots, and of course swelling, don't cover well with make-up. Not a pretty picture. I would say will take at least a week for this to heal.
I did not have large spots of clustered redness like rosacea, but very tiny spider veins spread out across my cheeks. I would say never use this type of laser for this type of problem. Perhaps if you have really dense areas of spider veins/rosacea it would be worth it, but definitely not for these tiny spider veins I tend to get. And be prepared to hide for several days. This is a horrible thing to have to go through for something I've been treating for 20+ years without this type of issue. DO NOT USE USE THIS VBEAN LASER TO TREAT MINOR SPIDER VEINS ON YOUR FACE!!!! STAY AWAY.
When all is healed I may end up with a good result, but I had the same good result without all of this nightmare, so why do it?
Replies (4)
She did went too high on the settings. I get a full face v beam treatment with minimal redness and swelling, and awesome results. It took me a long tie to find somebody who really knew what they were doing, but I am so glad I did.
Update: It took over three weeks for all of this to heal. About midway during that time, weird red/purple spots popped up randomly where things were healing. Aesthetician says they are deeper bruises rising to the surface - lovely. Anyway, I only have a couple small red spots up near my eye now, and still some small spider veins on my cheeks. No way was what I went through for this end result - one no different than the end result I normally got with the pulsed laser. I highly, highly recommend people avoid this laser for this type of treatment. And I highly recommend aestheticians start people with the lowest settings possible on the machines they are operating and always go conservative. You can always up the strength if they are recovering nicely, but not enough improvement. I should never have had to go through this - especially given the history she was already aware of.
What was the laser you were using prior that you always had good results with?
Thank you for sharing your experience here on RealSelf. I hope you are happy with the outcome once you are all healed up. Are you comfortable sharing photos with the community?