Third Time Was Not a Charm! - New York, NY

I had two treatments last year by dermatologist, MD. My initial complaint was they did not use numbing cream and the procedure was very painful. I have had three children I can tolerate pain. In addition, they hand you a post care sheet that says 24 hrs at home and you can go back to work on the 2nd day. Yeah right. Not true. It took at least 5 days before you can actually put make up on and not use the post laser gel. Plus you look red, puffy and peeling. I decided to wait a year before doing the third treatment.

This time I had read about the numbing cream and requested it. It made the procedure much more tolerable. Felt pretty good the first day,then it started. I was in severe pain, terrible swelling, my eyes were so red and swollen my vision was blurry. My neck swelled up so much I had a pocket of fluid under my neck. I didn't sleep for three nights from the pain and burning. My whole face and head was throbbing. Advil did not help. By the third day I went back to the Dr office and they took samples off my face and sent them out for analysis. Still no results yet They gave me a strong antibiotic and sent me home. The nurses kept saying "oh you are going to get results, the more swelling the better the outcome." yeah ok.

By night time I felt so bad I called my internal medicine dr because the swelling and redness started to spread down my neck and to my chest. It looked like a lumpy red rash. they told me to double up on the antibiotic and to starting taking Benadryl. I applied cold packs as well. I felt so sick and terrible. I was so scared my face was going to be scarred, not to mention my eyes were affected. I would wake up in the am eyes swollen with pus on them. After 48 from listening to my dr it started to slowly calm down. It is now day 5 I still have a way to go but it is starting to heal. I am still nervous that it won't totally clear up. I so regret doing it. Ladies when this happens it makes you step back and appreciate what God gave us. Let's just enjoy who we are and stop looking for perfection. I will keep you posted and let you know my progress. Think very carefully before doing this!! I do not recommend it especially because the dr does not even have an explanation of why this happened.