I am in need of urgent, good and hopefully positive advise.
I am male, south-asian origin, skin colour (approx IV on the FP scale). I have coarse and dense black hair.
I underwent LHR treatment for my cheeks and neck with the coolglide (ND:YAG) laser 4 days ago. The treatment was fairly painful, especially as the laser acted on the dense and coarse hair on my upper neck and beard. Immediately after the treatment, I was pleased to see abundant loose hair follicles that I easily wiped off my skin with clean wipes that were provided to me. Later I was asked to apply Aloe Vera gel over my skin which was quite red and slightly mottled.
I was told that the redness take a few hours to disappear. However, four days on, I still have some red patches which are slightly sore as well. Yesterday, I went to see the doctor again and she felt I have hyperpigementation (which is a rare occurance with Coolglide). However, she tried convincing me that all this was aonly a temporary thing and would sort out. She however refused to give me a time-estimate for the recovery. Can anyone help me here?
Since the treatment is on my face and neck (probably the two most visible parts), I feel quite awkward with the red/brown patching. Images can be seen here: Images
Has anyone experienced / dealt with this before? Please can someone reassure me???
Hi CoolGlide, saw your images. it looks very painful. I am assuming you had this reaction because your hair was very coarse and you may have shaved it on the day of the laser?
continue applying aloe vera to it, it will help the redness calm down and dont scratch it even if you find its itchy.
It’s difficult to say without knowing what fluence/pulse width you were treated with, but it does looks as if you were over-treated. These are not burns, but a temporary purpura that can take as long as 2-3 months to resolve. Yours look as if they are resolving, and you must be patient, wear a 30spf daily and talk to your practitioner about lower fluence levels (we treat a coarse male beard, regardless of skin color, as if they are Fitz 5-6), possibly at a 30/30, or 30/35 setting. This will clear up - be patient and keep us posted.
Hi: I am glad to be of help. A setting of 35/30 could have been a little too high, considering the extreme density of your beard hair. However, the pigmentation will clear - it will take patience and sunblock. Perhaps a setting of 30/30, or 30/35 would be better, but you could also be that rare patient that, regardless of setting, has an extreme reaction to any heat applied to the face. The area behind the ear does not have the same amount of hair as your beard, nor is the texture the same, so it’s not unusual that you didn’t have a reaction to the test spot there. So, wear your sunblock. Ciao!
Hello Markov, I’ve had this twice when too high settings were used by the clinic. I was really scared the first time it happened (less so the 2nd time). It took some weeks to clear in my case.
Hyperpigmentation is more common the darker your skin is. One way to avoid and improve it is to avoid any sun for at least a week before and after treatment.
It’s also possible to reduce the redness with products like hydroquinone, but these should be used only after consulting a physician.
Hyperpigmentation can last for a few days to a few months. Using a powerful sunblock is your best defense against this problem.
Hello Markov, another important thing is to shave very very close prior to the treatment so that the skin doesn’t burn. Even though I do shave at the clinic as best as I can right before my appointment the nurse still shaves me some more…
