Palomar Starlux 500 IPL - Miami Beach

I had damage from using products found on skinbiology. Loren Pickart is the "promoter" of these products which are copper peptides. His theory is that wrinkles and ageing is actually injury and as copper peptides are used to treat burn victims and post ablative laser he presumes that they will likewise help the skin heal. Problem is that it actually, in the strengths he suggests, is used as with the above legitimate reasons as a way to slow down collagen so as not to keloid or scar. I am a "jump in head first" girl and I had really great skin, used these products for three months and my skin was as bad as my mother's. It literally was crepey and awful. I was devastated. Worse yet I used these products all over but for my face (luckily). I tried all sorts of creams, I did read a lot on the internet about other women who had similar experiences and though Loren Pickart calls these "the uglies" claiming you should stick with the treatment and it will look worse then better, it usually does not. Some people still swear by them but I live in a sunny climate and found out the copper interacts with UVB and degrades collagen. Anyway I finally found someone who said he could improve this. He worked for a doctor and was a medical aesthetician. Well he did indeed do my body from top to toe and even the souls of my feet. I also went into a hyperbaric chamber which allegedly helps healing. It burned a bit like a sun burn BUT that said, it was not overly painful. I am only a bit over a week out but a "lunchtime" treatment is not exactly what I would call it. It is far more involved. I do have areas that look "burnt" but not wounded really. Scabby is a good description. So far all dark freckles are starting to come off and my skin looks slightly better. I was told ideally 3 treatments would do and no sun and it takes 4 weeks to notice a difference. So far I do not see a huge difference and it is hard to wear normal clothes in the summer heat because I do look scabby in areas. The crepey look is still present but he claims it will slough off and that he heated the under part of the skin so this is just dry dead skin. He did show me his skin and he is a lot older than me and has done it on himself so I can say his skin looked amazing. I will see in time I suppose but do not think it is a no side effect treatment. Updated Sept 2 2010 I wanted to report back. Due to my moving out of the country I had my first treatment and as I saw the results asked if I could do a second sooner. I went to a clinic called White Lite on Washington and 2nd Street in that strip of stores under The Cosmopolitan. Long story short, I am addicted! The first treatment too YEARS off my sun damaged skin. Dark freckles I have had since I remember, like those on my shoulders, as well as my decolletage and entire body slowly peeled. Some areas were a bit deep and look depigmented but should recover in time completely. My face, ironically, did not need it, but my body did both for the crepey skin as well as the pigmentation from years in the sun. In any event, I have, after the first treatment and one microdermabrasion which Eduard threw in so as to be able to do the second treatment quickly, become a definite proponent of this treatment. I think a lot is down to who you go to as well. My aesthetician used the Palomar Starlux 500 and it is an "all in one". All lasers and IPL devices heat the skin thereby stimulating collagen (they actually heat the liquified area under the skin which is like a controlled damage which in turn creates collagen). The crepey look, just about one week later looks MUCH better. All those freckles and what I call "permatan" is slowly going away. The second treatment was for the lighter depigmentation as first you must treat the deeper pigmentation issues. I am almost positive I will fly back for a third treatment after this though my skin looks so good that while I used to get carded with full clothing on, it rarely happened with my body skin, exposed but the other day a woman was talking to me and told me "you are in your early twenties you have plenty of time" I asked her if she knew how old I was, it turns out she too was in her late 30's and was amazed. I now am once again in the convalescent stage, I will confess, being a do it yourself kind of girl, I did hurry things along by using 50% glycolic acid from make-up artists choice mixed in gently with my moisturiser and left on overnight. It did not itch too much but it did the trick and speeded up the exfoliation. Once the initial pain subsides (and yes there is a degree of pain similar to a sunburn for some days later) I intend on doing the same. Would I recommend this, ABSOLUTELY! But beware, not all technicians/aestheticians are the same nor are all machines. I have heard good and bad about different machines, but by and large I think the operator is the more important factor as well as their experience. I will update again after the second peeling occurs. If this goes as well as the first I will be restored to a very youthful skin age and my face and body will match in terms of looking younger than my years---which is all of our objective I believe!