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Scar procedure had a lot of issues
I had a scar treatment procedure with Dr Shelton in late August and I have waited three months to let everything settle before leaving this review, which unfortunately showcases my personal unpleasant experience with this doctors office which certainly won't be the case for everyone.
I will say that the Dr and all of the office staff were very nice. I initially contacted this office because I have a hypopigmented (white) surgical scar on my face from a lip lift done three years ago. It's a relatively minor issue but if I don’t wear makeup on the scar people often stare at it and comment on it frequently so I was hoping to have some sort of procedure done that could help its appearance. I wanted to go to the Laser & Skin Surgery center because it seemed like a real doctors office and not just another med spa. I found it on Google and then checked real self trying to find out which doctor specialized in scar treatment as it wasn't totally clear from their website. I made an appointment over the phone to see Dr Shelton and the initial appointment went well.
One of my concerns at the appointment was that I had had micro needling on the scar done in the past at a med spa and that the surrounding area had become very hyper pigmented/dark which then made the contrast with the white scar more prominent and the Dr reassured me that they used a very precise single needle and that wouldn't be the case if I did RF micro needling with them. Which turned out to be an inaccurate statement as I had a very pronounced hyperpigmentation mustache all around the treatment area for the better part of two months. At the consult I was recommended a course of RF micro needling with Latisse/bimatoprost applied to promote pigmentation formation which is a new yet fairly standard procedure for scar repigmentation. Each treatment would cost $1200.
At the appointment I was 'prescribed' a cream which turned out to be a $170 over the counter lightening cream with niacinamide and tranexamic acid. That I could buy in office of course. I'm sure it had nice ingredients but pushing overpriced skin care makes me think med spa. A very nice woman working at the office gave me a very small free sample which I used dutifully on the treatment area before the procedure although it did give me a couple small pimples. Another issue I had with billing was that I was told the consultation exam would be $500 over the phone but could be applied to any procedures I decided to get. But when I got to the billing room I was told that because I had mentioned Realself (I told the doctor the same story of how I had found the clinic on Google but his specialty on realself) that I would be getting the realself special price which was $180. But that wasn't applicable to future procedures. So I was being asked to pay $180 on this visit and $1200 on the next visit for a total of $1380 instead of the $500 on this visit applied to the $1200 procedure and $700 on the actual treatment day for a total of $1200. When I complained that this was different and more expensive pricing than what I was told initially and I was in fact being penalized for mentioning realself the billing person relented and agreed to let me pay the $500.
On the actual treatment day my only complaints would be that I waited almost an hour to receive the numbing gel and then I wore it for over an hour, I was left alone in the treatment room and just took a nap because I was so bored. The actual procedure was extremely quick, 5-10 min in length but I left the office almost 3 hours after I got there. The RF microneedling itself wasn't too bad pain wise and like I said it was over very quickly.
The healing phase however was very rough. Although I followed the post op instructions religiously the next day the entire area developed a bunch of tiny whiteheads and bright red pinprick track marks all around the treatment area and they stayed that way for a week and half. The red dots finally faded but the red aura around the area persisted and finally faded to a dark mustache sitting slightly below the scar. Which is what I was worried about in the initial appointment and was reassured wouldn't happen. I could see by the positioning of the track marks exactly where the needle went into my skin and it was an area far overlapping the original scar and the fact that bimatoprost was applied to that whole area causing it to darken significantly was a huge bummer. The actual white scar itself didn't appear to have darkened at all.
Anyway three months later and the dark mark has finally faded a bit (it was even harder to cover with makeup) and the white scar looks worse than ever. Yay. And I'm out $1200. Thank you for reading my novel. If anyone has any advice or suggestions please leave them in the comments.
I will say that the Dr and all of the office staff were very nice. I initially contacted this office because I have a hypopigmented (white) surgical scar on my face from a lip lift done three years ago. It's a relatively minor issue but if I don’t wear makeup on the scar people often stare at it and comment on it frequently so I was hoping to have some sort of procedure done that could help its appearance. I wanted to go to the Laser & Skin Surgery center because it seemed like a real doctors office and not just another med spa. I found it on Google and then checked real self trying to find out which doctor specialized in scar treatment as it wasn't totally clear from their website. I made an appointment over the phone to see Dr Shelton and the initial appointment went well.
One of my concerns at the appointment was that I had had micro needling on the scar done in the past at a med spa and that the surrounding area had become very hyper pigmented/dark which then made the contrast with the white scar more prominent and the Dr reassured me that they used a very precise single needle and that wouldn't be the case if I did RF micro needling with them. Which turned out to be an inaccurate statement as I had a very pronounced hyperpigmentation mustache all around the treatment area for the better part of two months. At the consult I was recommended a course of RF micro needling with Latisse/bimatoprost applied to promote pigmentation formation which is a new yet fairly standard procedure for scar repigmentation. Each treatment would cost $1200.
At the appointment I was 'prescribed' a cream which turned out to be a $170 over the counter lightening cream with niacinamide and tranexamic acid. That I could buy in office of course. I'm sure it had nice ingredients but pushing overpriced skin care makes me think med spa. A very nice woman working at the office gave me a very small free sample which I used dutifully on the treatment area before the procedure although it did give me a couple small pimples. Another issue I had with billing was that I was told the consultation exam would be $500 over the phone but could be applied to any procedures I decided to get. But when I got to the billing room I was told that because I had mentioned Realself (I told the doctor the same story of how I had found the clinic on Google but his specialty on realself) that I would be getting the realself special price which was $180. But that wasn't applicable to future procedures. So I was being asked to pay $180 on this visit and $1200 on the next visit for a total of $1380 instead of the $500 on this visit applied to the $1200 procedure and $700 on the actual treatment day for a total of $1200. When I complained that this was different and more expensive pricing than what I was told initially and I was in fact being penalized for mentioning realself the billing person relented and agreed to let me pay the $500.
On the actual treatment day my only complaints would be that I waited almost an hour to receive the numbing gel and then I wore it for over an hour, I was left alone in the treatment room and just took a nap because I was so bored. The actual procedure was extremely quick, 5-10 min in length but I left the office almost 3 hours after I got there. The RF microneedling itself wasn't too bad pain wise and like I said it was over very quickly.
The healing phase however was very rough. Although I followed the post op instructions religiously the next day the entire area developed a bunch of tiny whiteheads and bright red pinprick track marks all around the treatment area and they stayed that way for a week and half. The red dots finally faded but the red aura around the area persisted and finally faded to a dark mustache sitting slightly below the scar. Which is what I was worried about in the initial appointment and was reassured wouldn't happen. I could see by the positioning of the track marks exactly where the needle went into my skin and it was an area far overlapping the original scar and the fact that bimatoprost was applied to that whole area causing it to darken significantly was a huge bummer. The actual white scar itself didn't appear to have darkened at all.
Anyway three months later and the dark mark has finally faded a bit (it was even harder to cover with makeup) and the white scar looks worse than ever. Yay. And I'm out $1200. Thank you for reading my novel. If anyone has any advice or suggestions please leave them in the comments.
Provider Review
Dermatologic Surgeon, Board Certified in Dermatology
317 E. 34th St., New York, New York