Had IPL Today

[LaserThemOff]

I had my first IPL treatment today. My symptons include permanent redness on the nose and cheeks, broken capillaries, and some flushing. The practitioner used a higher setting than usual(I stressed the importance of getting the most for my money). She said the setting was 38 joules and that the norm is 32.

The treatment was 5 hours ago, and my face is still very pink as suspected. The most concerning thing is that I have some bruising. There are three spots on my face(one on right cheek, two on the left) that are dark and raised. It looks like I will have to find a way to cover them up for work this weekend.

How long will it take the bruising to go away?
How long will it take for the redness to die down?
Does anyone know of a good way to hide bruising?
When can I expect to see positive results?

Thanks alot!

[WrinkledClue]

I've had almost a hundred IPL treatments, but my rosacea is probably more horrific than most people's.

Bruising can take from 3 days to 3 weeks to fade. It depends on how deep the bruise is, and how many blood vessels it eradicated.

The redness also takes from a few days to two weeks to settle down.

I use low dose over the counter steroids for NO MORE THAN TWO DAYS afterwards to help it calm down.

I'm sure you know by now that long term use of steroids on the face thins the skin and causes rebound vascularization that worsens rosacea. I've never seen any evidence, though, that short term use NO MORE THAN TWO OR THREE DAYS ONCE A MONTH will cause that problem. Your mileage may vary. This is just my two cents.

To hide the bruising, I first moisturize the area with Aveeno Baby Natural. Let it soak in. Then make a dilute mixture of calamine lotion and rubbing alcohol and use your finger to dab a little bit on the bruise. My skin is so pale, so white, so almost blue, that the pale pink of the diluted calamine lotion matches my skin tone perfectly.

I saw positive results with my first IPL. Got them monthly and sometimes twice a month for years. They helped a lot. Unfortunately, I started having horrific hot flashes associated with ovarian failure of menopause and that, combined with over vascularization from repeated sinus infections, caused my rosacea to worsen more rapidly than the IPL could mop up the mess.

Now I'm experimenting with purpuric V Beam in the hands of a magnificent practitioner.

It's early times to tell results yet, but so far I'm impressed. As I've said before, it's not for the faint hearted; my face is swollen like a balloon right now from my second purpuric V Beam, and covered with purple bruises. I know, like the first one, that when it heals in about three weeks, my flushing and burning will be considerably lessened.

Thanks to all the folks here who convinced me to try purpuric V Beam, you know who you are!

Kind regards, I hope you heal rapidly.

[LaserThemOff]

Thanks WrinkledClue! I might try calamine lotion to conceal the bruising because right now I look like I've been changing oil.

It has been a little over a day since my first IPL. My face is definitely less pink, and I think it might already be back to normal if not already a little better, from a redness standpoint. However, I do still have dark bruising that doesn't appear to have gotten any better. The bruising will take some time to fade, but what is the best technique and product to cover this up? I'm a guy, so I don't have a lot of experience with make-up. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Melissa W]

Hi LTO,
You may want to try tinted zinco- some men here have had success with that.
Here are a few threads you may find helpful.

http://www.rosaceagroup.org/The_Rosacea_Forum/showthread.php?t=14786&highlight=makeup

http://www.rosaceagroup.org/The_Rosacea_Forum/showthread.php?t=18502&highlight=makeup

http://www.rosaceagroup.org/The_Rosacea_Forum/showthread.php?t=12777&highlight=makeup

Best wishes,
Melissa

[LaserThemOff]

Its been three days since my IPL. I still have three rather larger bruises. I am also a little pinker than normal. I still look worse than before the IPL, however I think I will see results soon. I've noticed that I have not flushed at all since the procedure. I haven't gotten that warm feeling in my face. That makes me think that my face should calm down soon, and that I might even see improvement. My fingers are crossed.

[LaserThemOff]

Okay. Its been 5 days now since my first IPL. The bruising is now barely visible, but there is still a lot of blotchiness on my cheeks. My biggest issue with my rosacea is a cluster of broken caps I have right in the center of my nose. The nurse said these should coagulate. It is very hard to tell if they did or not. They may be a little darker, but it also appears that more may have formed. I'm praying to God that the higher setting did not overstimulate vein regrowth. Also, I had not been flushing hardly at all until yesterday, when I had a pretty massive flush. So far, it looks like this IPL may have just made life harder, but we'll see.

How long does it generally take for thread veins to reabsorb into the body?

Should the veins differ a ton in appearance if they have coagulated?

[Mistica]

Okay. Its been 5 days now since my first IPL. The bruising is now barely visible, but there is still a lot of blotchiness on my cheeks. My biggest issue with my rosacea is a cluster of broken caps I have right in the center of my nose. The nurse said these should coagulate. It is very hard to tell if they did or not. They may be a little darker, but it also appears that more may have formed. I'm praying to God that the higher setting did not overstimulate vein regrowth. Also, I had not been flushing hardly at all until yesterday, when I had a pretty massive flush. So far, it looks like this IPL may have just made life harder, but we'll see.

How long does it generally take for thread veins to reabsorb into the body?

Should the veins differ a ton in appearance if they have coagulated?

In my experience ( and I have had far more than I would have liked), is that vessels which have been successfully zapped, don't blanch when lightly pressed. It often takes more than one treatment to completely eliminate vessels. They might look a little darker, or even a little blurred.
If the skin is traumatized, and there is a little swelling in the surrounding area, other vessels near the surface might appear for a while, only to retreat further down the track.
Additionally, the nose is a tough area to treat, as it is highly vascular.

I wouldn't get too despondent after one treatment.
What filter/wavelength was used? Which machine?
It takes more than one filter to effectively treat rosacea as it is necessary to target vessels at different depths.

[LaserThemOff]

Its been about 12 days since the treatment and, sure enough, my flushing has become far worse. The capillaries are still there, and it appears that a lot more have developed. This is so awesome. 300 dollars and an hour of my life to make my face worse. Someone probably would have done that for 200. IPL is bullshit.

[Mistica]

Its been about 12 days since the treatment and, sure enough, my flushing has become far worse. The capillaries are still there, and it appears that a lot more have developed. This is so awesome. 300 dollars and an hour of my life to make my face worse. Someone probably would have done that for 200. IPL is bullshit.

I am sorry to hear thing have deteriorated.
I had improvements after my first IPL treatment, far more than I expected, but then I deteriorated to a degree at 10 days. Not anywhere near as bad as pre IPL though. The visible capillaries didn't return.
It took about 6 more until I had further significant improvement and a lot more until I reached remission.
All my treatments were single passes.
the inner cheeks responded far quicker than my outer cheeks, but I had melasma there and these areas singed, which exacerbated the rosacea.

Could you provide more details on your treatment? You state the jls at 38, but what filter was used? The filter is important. For instance if you had a very superficial filter it likely really ticked off your skin. Knowing the machine would be helpful too.

[banshee]

Laser-

Both IPL and lasers are high energy devices. This means they damage blood vessels just enough to signal repair and replacement. At least if treatment is done right. Please be careful of equating higher energy with more bang for the buck. Too aggressive of a treatment can result in overstimulating angiogenesis (blood vessel growth) which is a normal part of the healing process.

That said, it takes about 10-14 days post IPL/laser for the new vasculature to set up, but it's like jello for lack of a better metaphor. It needs time to gel. You're probably not going to get immediate results and be able to tell just how much the treatment helped or hurt until about week 4-5. In the first few days after a tx, it's common in my experiences to have a freak remission b/c the energy has tamped down some of the inflammation. After that, you *should* be having some more symptoms (flushing, sensitivity et al). I know that sounds weird, but it's a sign the blood vessels were damaged enough so your body will perceive to absorb them. Not to mention IPL/laser does damage surrounding tissue to an extent which also needs to heal. Bonus is collagen production should also be stimulated.

I want to stress though that IPL, V-beam, and the non-ablative 1064nm YAG all work differently. Bruising or scabbing with one, might be a sign too much energy was used w/another.

Give yourself a bit more time before you make a determination about your treatment. And due to the healing time, I personally would allow about 5-6 weeks before your next one.

Best of luck and healing-
Kristen