Be Very Careful with IPL Lasers! - Scarborough, ON

I saw an ad for 75% off for laser skin tightening and as a fool I fell for it. It said Grand Opening at a laser Spa so for a limited time skin tightening was $60 for the tummy with an IPL laser. I thought "WOW, what a good deal!" It was too good to be true. I called the number in the ad and the lady was nice on the phone, told me a little but about her, so I asked her if I could come in for a treatment. I told her I have dark skin, and asked if that was ok, she assured she had many clients who had dark skin and there was never an issue. I also asked her if there were any pre-treatment instructions or things I should know prior to the treatment, she said no.

I get in, she gets me to sign a waiver. She doesn't really prepare me for anything. Put ultrasound gel on my tummy, then zaps me. YIKES! I nearly jumped off the bed! That was the most excruitiating pain I have felt, and I gave birth to 2 kids naturally! She turns down the settings and tries again. AGAIN I nearly jumped off the bed. I mean I could feel the jolt as if I was getting an electrocution! She turns it down once more to the lowest setting according to her. Then zaps again, and words can't describe how much it hurt. So I ask her to stop. I wipe off the ultrasound gel and I see a black rectangle that is in black on my skin on the places she zapped. She says she can turn it down more and that I should try again because IPL lasers are not painless. So she does it again, this time she's zapping really fast and I'm screaming "ooh, ow," the whole time. Until I finally had enough and ask her to stop for good. She says she's sorry about the burn marks and can get me a few free treatments after they heal. I think she's done enough damage and I will not be going back to her, although she did not charge me after. Because she had realized how badly she burned me, I had not until I got home.

I have since e-mailed her telling her what happened. She has said all sorts of nonsense. She said: maybe I have thin skin, maybe is was the cream you put on before you came here, she has never seen these before, she has never personally burnt anyone, it's supposed to hurt a little, I had you on the lowest setting possible, maybe I should do a patch test first, I don't know what happened, it's rare, what can I do, I've heard of burns from my teacher and he says they go away, I found stretch mark cream for you. She also said she had a friend who spilled tea on his foot and got second degree burns and that I would be shocked to know that they healed so fast.

She has not acknowledged the fact that she did this to me. Which means, she will definitely do this again to someone.