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Awesome Results and Dr. Shanthala is the Best
Video of results ~ 1 week after
I had the UltraClear laser resurfacing done on my face and neck a couple of weeks ago and am very happy with the results. I didn’t see a lot of reviews or info about it when I went in, so I figured I’d write up my own experience in case it helps others.
More specifics: I am female, 40 years old, and have had a little botox, fillers, and microneedling in the past. I was looking for an overall refresh of my skin, just make it look a bit brighter, tighter, and more uniform. I was noticing some areas where pores looked bigger, or I’d have a random red spot, etc. I also have Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a genetic condition where your body doesn’t make enough collagen, so your joints become extra flexible and your muscles have to tense up to hold you in place as a result. It can also affect how stretchy your skin is, and how it feels to the touch (often extra velvety, even without putting on moisturizer).
A friend who’s really tapped into the aesthetics world had recommended Dr. Shanthala to me. She’s in Peabody, MA. The results she had gotten with lasers were pretty unparalleled and amazing, so I booked a consultation with her. It was a paid consultation, I think like $200, but I was happy to do it because she spent a lot of time with me going over everything in great detail. She took photos of my face from all different angles and with and without lighting to see shadows, and then discussed what she saw with me, comparing my own reactions and observations on what I’d like to improve with her own. She was super professional and conscientious, yet very direct. Like she was clear about what she wouldn’t do, which was also nice; she is definitely not a doctor who will just do whatever the patient asks for if she doesn’t believe it will actually lead to a good result, so I appreciated that she has strong values and boundaries.
She gave me the pros, cons, recovery/downtime info, and pricing for several different options. We decided on the UltraClear laser at a medium depth/intensity, which would be just one session with several days of downtime. She showed me a lot of examples of other patients who had had that or similar treatments done so I could see their results (which were all quite awesome). I liked that it was basically “one and done” for several years.
She was also open with me that she hadn’t done this type of treatment on someone with Ehlers-Danlos before and couldn’t guarantee the results. I have had Sculptra before, which is a filler that stimulates collagen production, and had very good results with it despite my body’s own issues with lacking collagen. So because of that and because of how comfortable Dr. Shanthala made me feel, I decided to go for it. I appreciated that she was willing to try something unknown with me and I reciprocated.
When I went in for the procedure, she put numbing cream on my face and let it sit for about 30 minutes. We talked about the post-care and different products that were important for it. She had also given me this info during the consultation, but it was nice to hear it multiple times because the healing is key to get right. She had lots of top-of-the-line products and gave several of them to me for free, or at least without an added charge. Basically the healing meant doing vinegar-soaked gauze pads to provide cooling and help hydrate and clean the skin, followed by antiseptic spray, then heavy amounts of moisturizing balm (basically similar to Aquaphor). You’re doing that every couple of hours when you’re awake, sleeping like normal, and repeating when awake. She also wrote me a prescription for a medication which is commonly used for laser treatments to prevent infections from breaking out.
During the procedure, which I estimate took about 45 minutes (but my sense of time was weird because of my mental state), she covered the entire surface area of my face with the laser. It would beep every time and it felt like there was a little jolt of electricity under my skin, like lightning. The one negative about the whole experience was the pain. Even with the numbing, it was really, really intense. To put this in perspective, I have a lot of tattoos (probably 30 hours total, including on some really painful areas), and I’d put the worst tattoo at like a 5 and this was an 8, even with the numbing. I didn’t expect it at all, because the reviews I’d read said UltraClear was like a 1-3 on the pain scale.
Maybe it’s because of my genetic condition, or because it was at a more intense depth, or maybe I’m semi immune to numbing cream or something….but I basically white-knuckled my way through it. Dr. Shanthala gave me a hose that blew cold air that I could use if I wanted a break, which helped somewhat. At the end, I was sitting there just feeling my face burning and trying to get a grip, and she said that the next step was to put on some exosomes to help with the healing. They make a big difference and putting them on open skin means they’re absorbed really effectively. She said it would burn, though, and increase the pain. I was kind of like, wait, MORE pain than I’m in right now? Cause I feel like I am pretty maxed out on pain at the moment She said it would intensify and last 10-20 minutes.
I was like, okay, we better do this thing then. So I focused on breathing and trying to get into a sort of meditative state with it. The burning increased, and it was bad, but I got through it. I’d estimate it was about ten minutes at that heightened state. Afterwards, I started to feel cooler/more numb and more back to normal. Dr. Shanthala was very patient with me and had allocated an hour for after the laser for me to recover in order to drive back, which I appreciated. I only took like ten minutes to feel good enough to drive, though, so she summarized the recovery instructions and gave me the products I needed, and told me to check in with her every day by sending pictures and asking whatever questions I had.
The next few days were definitely a lot–I stayed on top of the healing procedures, and the dead outer layer of skin started peeling off and itching. It was really hard not to scratch it but I didn’t want to mess anything up. The medication I was on to prevent infections also gave me insomnia, so I was laying awake trying not to scratch my face, but feeling slightly insane because I couldn’t sleep. Fun times! My skin got a lot redder as part of the healing process, and the outside layer came off completely. I would text Dr. Shanthala every day and she was really helpful and encouraging about the progress.
By about day four, I was starting to really see the results and was super happy. I’d say by day seven, I was completely healed and very pleased. Literally everything I had hoped for with this laser turned out the way I wanted–you can see from my before and after pics. It’s been a few weeks since the procedure and I’m glad I did it. I feel refreshed. I like how much benefit I got out of just that one session.
So TL;DR: pros were my results and Dr. Shanthala every step of the way. Con was how painful it was, which may have something to do with me personally because of my condition. Next time I'd want a stronger and/or different anesthetic.
More specifics: I am female, 40 years old, and have had a little botox, fillers, and microneedling in the past. I was looking for an overall refresh of my skin, just make it look a bit brighter, tighter, and more uniform. I was noticing some areas where pores looked bigger, or I’d have a random red spot, etc. I also have Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a genetic condition where your body doesn’t make enough collagen, so your joints become extra flexible and your muscles have to tense up to hold you in place as a result. It can also affect how stretchy your skin is, and how it feels to the touch (often extra velvety, even without putting on moisturizer).
A friend who’s really tapped into the aesthetics world had recommended Dr. Shanthala to me. She’s in Peabody, MA. The results she had gotten with lasers were pretty unparalleled and amazing, so I booked a consultation with her. It was a paid consultation, I think like $200, but I was happy to do it because she spent a lot of time with me going over everything in great detail. She took photos of my face from all different angles and with and without lighting to see shadows, and then discussed what she saw with me, comparing my own reactions and observations on what I’d like to improve with her own. She was super professional and conscientious, yet very direct. Like she was clear about what she wouldn’t do, which was also nice; she is definitely not a doctor who will just do whatever the patient asks for if she doesn’t believe it will actually lead to a good result, so I appreciated that she has strong values and boundaries.
She gave me the pros, cons, recovery/downtime info, and pricing for several different options. We decided on the UltraClear laser at a medium depth/intensity, which would be just one session with several days of downtime. She showed me a lot of examples of other patients who had had that or similar treatments done so I could see their results (which were all quite awesome). I liked that it was basically “one and done” for several years.
She was also open with me that she hadn’t done this type of treatment on someone with Ehlers-Danlos before and couldn’t guarantee the results. I have had Sculptra before, which is a filler that stimulates collagen production, and had very good results with it despite my body’s own issues with lacking collagen. So because of that and because of how comfortable Dr. Shanthala made me feel, I decided to go for it. I appreciated that she was willing to try something unknown with me and I reciprocated.
When I went in for the procedure, she put numbing cream on my face and let it sit for about 30 minutes. We talked about the post-care and different products that were important for it. She had also given me this info during the consultation, but it was nice to hear it multiple times because the healing is key to get right. She had lots of top-of-the-line products and gave several of them to me for free, or at least without an added charge. Basically the healing meant doing vinegar-soaked gauze pads to provide cooling and help hydrate and clean the skin, followed by antiseptic spray, then heavy amounts of moisturizing balm (basically similar to Aquaphor). You’re doing that every couple of hours when you’re awake, sleeping like normal, and repeating when awake. She also wrote me a prescription for a medication which is commonly used for laser treatments to prevent infections from breaking out.
During the procedure, which I estimate took about 45 minutes (but my sense of time was weird because of my mental state), she covered the entire surface area of my face with the laser. It would beep every time and it felt like there was a little jolt of electricity under my skin, like lightning. The one negative about the whole experience was the pain. Even with the numbing, it was really, really intense. To put this in perspective, I have a lot of tattoos (probably 30 hours total, including on some really painful areas), and I’d put the worst tattoo at like a 5 and this was an 8, even with the numbing. I didn’t expect it at all, because the reviews I’d read said UltraClear was like a 1-3 on the pain scale.
Maybe it’s because of my genetic condition, or because it was at a more intense depth, or maybe I’m semi immune to numbing cream or something….but I basically white-knuckled my way through it. Dr. Shanthala gave me a hose that blew cold air that I could use if I wanted a break, which helped somewhat. At the end, I was sitting there just feeling my face burning and trying to get a grip, and she said that the next step was to put on some exosomes to help with the healing. They make a big difference and putting them on open skin means they’re absorbed really effectively. She said it would burn, though, and increase the pain. I was kind of like, wait, MORE pain than I’m in right now? Cause I feel like I am pretty maxed out on pain at the moment She said it would intensify and last 10-20 minutes.
I was like, okay, we better do this thing then. So I focused on breathing and trying to get into a sort of meditative state with it. The burning increased, and it was bad, but I got through it. I’d estimate it was about ten minutes at that heightened state. Afterwards, I started to feel cooler/more numb and more back to normal. Dr. Shanthala was very patient with me and had allocated an hour for after the laser for me to recover in order to drive back, which I appreciated. I only took like ten minutes to feel good enough to drive, though, so she summarized the recovery instructions and gave me the products I needed, and told me to check in with her every day by sending pictures and asking whatever questions I had.
The next few days were definitely a lot–I stayed on top of the healing procedures, and the dead outer layer of skin started peeling off and itching. It was really hard not to scratch it but I didn’t want to mess anything up. The medication I was on to prevent infections also gave me insomnia, so I was laying awake trying not to scratch my face, but feeling slightly insane because I couldn’t sleep. Fun times! My skin got a lot redder as part of the healing process, and the outside layer came off completely. I would text Dr. Shanthala every day and she was really helpful and encouraging about the progress.
By about day four, I was starting to really see the results and was super happy. I’d say by day seven, I was completely healed and very pleased. Literally everything I had hoped for with this laser turned out the way I wanted–you can see from my before and after pics. It’s been a few weeks since the procedure and I’m glad I did it. I feel refreshed. I like how much benefit I got out of just that one session.
So TL;DR: pros were my results and Dr. Shanthala every step of the way. Con was how painful it was, which may have something to do with me personally because of my condition. Next time I'd want a stronger and/or different anesthetic.
Provider Review
Physician, Board Certified in Anesthesiology
194 Newbury St., Peabody, Massachusetts