i have had 5 full face laser hair removal treatments with gentlelase candela, 9 months ago and now i notice some changes in my face. my right cheek looks thinner and flatter as if the fat is being reduced and i think that it is progressing as months are passing by. as a result, the right side of my face looks disproportionate to the left side. i had a very round face with full cheeks although i am thin. i have even tried to gain weight, and it seems as though all the fat is deposited on my left cheek only. that makes my two sides look even more disproportionate. the derm said - not the one who performed LHR on me - that lasers for hair removal cannot penetrate that deeply, in the subcutaneous fat layer to cause such a damage. but yet i am not convinced. can such a bad thing happen or has it happened to anyone else?
Hi Vanessa.
It has been said many times that we just don’t know all the facts about laser hair removal potential side effects for the long term. Every abstract I have read on the website www.pubmed.com will say something in the conclusion part like “laser hair removal, using laser brand x, APPEARS to be safe and effective”.
I hope it is just your imagination and nothing has happened to the fat deposits on your face. I do support your efforts to question this and hope very much that you can discover if something is going on. Some lasers do penetrate deeper to stimilate production of collagen and elastin. It is my limited understanding that hair removal software does not allow this to happen.
Did you ever follow-up on contacting the consumer complaint division with the FDA? If so, did you get any feedback about whether they have had similar consumer complaints?
Have you posted this question on other websites to get maximum exposure? Maybe there are others out there that may have this concern and you just need to bump into each other.
There are a lot of “laser experts” on www.consumerbeware.com
that may be able to give you some feedback, but hold onto your head. Another idea: while you are waiting for a some responses to your question here, why don’t you contact Candela and tell them about your problem.
In the meantime, we have Andrea who is always in the fore front, reporting any new news about findings related to any form of hair removal, including laser.
Dee