2nd pulse dye cynergy Laser treatment

[snuffleupagus]

Just finished my second treatment.
Soooo my first treatment was 7.5 joules and 10 spot size. It left tons of bruises that took a long time to heal like 4 weeks. This time we lowered to 7 joules and still lots if bruises!!I'm confused cause before when I had vbeam like almost three years ago i didn't bruise. The doc said most peple don't bruise like me when she uses those settings so my skin must be really sensitive. :( I'm sad but maybe more bruising means red going faster? What were your settings for bruising and non?

[ila]

When I first started getting Vbeam, my settings were at 8 and I didn't bruise. This was like, 4 years ago now.

About two years ago, I went back for the same settings (8 joules) and I bruised a deep purple. After that I continued to to Vbeam at 6.5 joules. No bruising, but also no incredible results.

In November '09 I had a treatment at 8 joules again and my face bruised and swelled up for 1.5 weeks and was super sensitive and reactive after that. It took about 6 weeks for my face to calm down to where I could see the results and they were pretty terrific in the spots where it bruised. Due to the increased sensitivity of my skin from that treatment, however, it became a little more damaged in some parts which resulted in a few broken capillaries. I went back last week to get those hit with a 7.5 and now they're gone too (well, still fading, but they've exploded on my face so I know they're destroyed :))

Anyway, in my experience, bruising gives the most dramatic results. Super traumatic bruising, with an overly aggressive treatment like I had in November, however, can damage your skin a little though (in my experience). Although I got rid of the broken capillaries with my latest Vbeam (last week) I still have a little hyperpigmentation from my treatment in November.

But yes. Bruising = results.

Cheers.

[snuffleupagus]

I just wanted to add that on Romeo spots I appear to have a black mark. I assume it's just a dark bruise? I never had that last time... Weird. I'm worried it will become a blister? It is really sore in the one black bruise I touched it lightly and owww. It's right on my cheek bone.

[ila]

I'm sure it's just a dark bruise - the skin isn't broken, is it? I bruise the worst on my cheekbones too. I guess the skin is more delicate there or something.

Just be patient and wait for the results. I'm sure you're fine. Bruises can be really dark after Vbeam what with all that (for lack of a better term) exploded blood pooled all over the place under your skin.

[snuffleupagus]

Yeah just dark bruises no breaking.

Well man do my cheek bones feel sore! Like I've been punched. Last laser I wasn't sore hardly whichvis weird cause the settings were lower this time!!! But maybe I just didn't bruise as bad in that area. I'm Aldo bruised on the sides of my face where I don't have rosacea... Wonder why.

Well I'll keep you all updated hopefully I can add a pic soon. Thanks for the help!

[snuffleupagus]

Just wondering if you guys were also extremely dry and flakey after laser? It's like I'm
made if sand! Soooo flakey. It's so tight I want to put more cream on but I already put on a
lot it's like it sinks all in haha. Plus I don't want to aggregate it anymore with more touching. Booo what to do :(

[snuffleupagus]

Just a small update. I feel like I'm driving myself crazy trying to not flush. I keep thinking any flushing I have will leak blood vessels or grow new ones especially right after my laser. But it's almost impossible to keep from flushing after all the point of getting laser was because I couldn't control flushing. I'm justgoing nuts with guilt that I am ruining the laser.

[Melissa W]

You won't undo the good done with the treatment by flushing so please don't stress. Just try and relax about it and know that flushing is not going to ruin the final results. console:

Best wishes,
Melissa

[snuffleupagus]

Thanks Melissa. I'm just trying to prevent new blood vessels from growing back. It just gets you down when you can't even wash your face like a normal person without getting red! I just want things to work out soooo bad ya know? I'm sure you can all relate! We drive ourselves mad trying to fix it and it's hard not to worry. But I will try!

[snuffleupagus]

I was doing fine fri sat sun with burning and right now for the last little while I have been burning in my cheeks and sides of face. Argh ! So frustrating. I hope it stops soon. I was a bit chilly in the face before and then all of a sudden Bam! Burning. It's ridiculous. I was gentle with my face and didn't get too hot or anything so I have no idea why it happened. Again I hope that doesn't mean anything for this laser.

[ila]

Hi Snuffleupagus,

After the one aggressive Vbeam I had in November, my skin was reactive, sensitive and flushed at the drop of a hat for 6 weeks after. My results were good though and my face is calm now. I even had another Vbeam two weeks ago and I'm still fine! Don't worry.

I have found that applying La Roche Posay Cicaplast to the parts where the laser hit has helped considerably with my skin sensitivity and dryness this time around. I put it on my cheeks out of the shower and wear it to bed. It really is great stuff.

Treat your skin well in the next while. Don't mess around with it too much. You'll be fine in a few more weeks. Seriously, you sound like me exactly after my treatment in November and my skin has never looked better today!

sidehug:

[snuffleupagus]

Thanks so my much! I'm burning again and I was quite cold! These cold burns are horrible.
Anyways I washed my face, didn't rub tried to put a nice substantial layer on. I've been using a humidifier too so that I'm not dry. I'm trying to be gentle it's hard! Haha. I just glide the cream across my face not much else I can do?! You kinda need to put a tiny amount of pressure on or else it just stays on the top and doesn't sink in.

[sarahj]

HI. i am new to this. i dont have rosacea, but i did have a very bad experience with microdermabrasion that just distroyed my face. redness all over, visible blood vessels. im 26 and had nice skin before this, aside from a bad breakout. but, no redness. now my face is horrible looking. anyway. i have had about 8 or 9 IPL treatments with very good results, but still all red and uncomfortable with it. i am planning on getting a vbeam treatment soon and my dermatologist says you get better results when you get the bruising strength, but i am nervous about burning and scarring or having a bad reaction. it costs $700 per treatment and i cant afford to get too many treatments. i dont know what to do. i am a house wife so downtime doesnt bother me too much. i can stay at home while i recover. i just cant take any permanent damage from the vbeam. sorry for all the rambling on, but im so scared. dont know what to do. i also have been breaking out for a while now and its driving me crazy. i cant use the face washes i use to be able to use since the microdermabrasion so i cant control the breakouts. my skin looks so bad and i hate wearing makeup. im so depressed about all this. can anyone tell me if the vbeam really helps clear redness?? can i have some hope? i dont want to waist all that money for nothing. Cry:

[snuffleupagus]

Well I'm hoping it will help! Lots of other people said it helped them.

Man this burning is crazy! I was burning then it stopped....then I made and ate dinner! Arghhh. I always flush when using the stove and alwwwwways after eating dinner I flush. Well let's hope the burning stops real soon! It's crazy cause I think having this burning or flushing is such a horrible sign yet it shouldn't take away the benefits of the laser. Can't help thinking bad side effects equals bad treatment haha!

[ila]

HI. i am new to this. i dont have rosacea, but i did have a very bad experience with microdermabrasion that just distroyed my face. redness all over, visible blood vessels. im 26 and had nice skin before this, aside from a bad breakout. but, no redness. now my face is horrible looking. anyway. i have had about 8 or 9 IPL treatments with very good results, but still all red and uncomfortable with it. i am planning on getting a vbeam treatment soon and my dermatologist says you get better results when you get the bruising strength, but i am nervous about burning and scarring or having a bad reaction. it costs $700 per treatment and i cant afford to get too many treatments. i dont know what to do. i am a house wife so downtime doesnt bother me too much. i can stay at home while i recover. i just cant take any permanent damage from the vbeam. sorry for all the rambling on, but im so scared. dont know what to do. i also have been breaking out for a while now and its driving me crazy. i cant use the face washes i use to be able to use since the microdermabrasion so i cant control the breakouts. my skin looks so bad and i hate wearing makeup. im so depressed about all this. can anyone tell me if the vbeam really helps clear redness?? can i have some hope? i dont want to waist all that money for nothing. Cry:


Where do you live? I'm in Toronto and I pay $300 for my VBeam sessions. $700 seems pretty expensive, although maybe your doctor is planning on doing way more hits than I get.

As for bruising, in my experience, moderate bruising has given dramatic results with no hyperpigmentation or skin sensitivity afterwards. More aggressive treatments that give serious bruising where I look like my face got hit by a truck have given dramatic results, but also some hyperpigmentation and serious skin sensitivity afterwards. Hyperpigmentation fades with time, however, so the scarring isn't permanent. Don't worry.

In my experience then, bruising moderately gives the best overall results. It seems like you have really reactive skin, so it might be a good idea for you to start with sub-purpuric (no bruising) level treatments and work your way up slowly (like by half joule settings on the laser) to a level of purpura where you are comfortable.

Talk to your doctor. Make sure they are well qualified and research them on the net. If you're in the area, I see Dr. Kucy Pon in Toronto who is the best of the best. I wouldn't trust my skin to anyone else.

[snuffleupagus]

I'm such an idiot. I can't do anything right. I hit the bruises on my cheek bones when washing my face and they hurt. Strangely my jaw hurts too...anyways I didn't want to I was just splashing my face with water and I guess I misjudged the distance or something. I really pray this doesn't screw up my face.

[snuffleupagus]

Also this dryness is killing me!!! Not sure if it's just skin healing or seb derm flare. I'd like to try that cream but should I try it now or wait since I've never tried it before and don't want my skin to react?

[ila]

hmmm - well the cicaplast stuff is post-treatment recovery cream so I think most skin can tolerate it. I don't want to recommend anything that will react with your skin though because I'm no expert.

I dunno - call your dermatologist maybe or do a patch test.

Hope your skin heals up soon! Should only be a few more weeks.

[snuffleupagus]

Although my bruising has gone down a little my cheek bones where the most bruising and heavier bruising is are hurting. They feel very sore and still swollen. It also hurts on the bones under my eyes that are connected to the cheek bones. Strange they hurt more now than before. My boyfriend thinks this could be because the blood is going out of the bruises and dispersing back in my body, hence the extra flushing, burning and soreness. I don't know what to make of it but they are really sore. Also doesn't make sense last laser was higher setting but I didn't have this same pain....

[hozer2k]

Do you know what the duration was? Although you have quoted the energy level, the difference between 3ms, 6ms, and 10ms duration is probably more important than a difference of 1J/cm^2.

[snuffleupagus]

No sorry. It was over really quick? Lol

[snuffleupagus]

So I bought the cicaplast and am testing on chin. Put it on after shower felt fine. Blow dried hair, went downstairs and it's burning. Not gonna rule it out yet cause when I had a shower a few days ago and used my regular cream my chin burned as well. Could be shower related. I will try on chin again tomorrow morning. Hopefully no reaction will happen and I can move on to my cheeks where it needs it!

[snuffleupagus]

I was tense a tiny but today and my face is hurtin. These bruises are still sore. Can being tense make bruises hurt more? Guess I really screwed things up. I can't help it if I got tense about something I can't be a zombie while I wait to heal. One week later after laser and still very sore. What if I screwed everything up.

[snuffleupagus]

Could be the tense facial muscles. Man do i hurt. Can I take any pain killers?

[sarahj]

Where do you live? I'm in Toronto and I pay $300 for my VBeam sessions. $700 seems pretty expensive, although maybe your doctor is planning on doing way more hits than I get.

As for bruising, in my experience, moderate bruising has given dramatic results with no hyperpigmentation or skin sensitivity afterwards. More aggressive treatments that give serious bruising where I look like my face got hit by a truck have given dramatic results, but also some hyperpigmentation and serious skin sensitivity afterwards. Hyperpigmentation fades with time, however, so the scarring isn't permanent. Don't worry.

In my experience then, bruising moderately gives the best overall results. It seems like you have really reactive skin, so it might be a good idea for you to start with sub-purpuric (no bruising) level treatments and work your way up slowly (like by half joule settings on the laser) to a level of purpura where you are comfortable.

Talk to your doctor. Make sure they are well qualified and research them on the net. If you're in the area, I see Dr. Kucy Pon in Toronto who is the best of the best. I wouldn't trust my skin to anyone else.

I live in michigan and the closest place i can get my v beam is in duluth minnasota. its $700 for a full face treatment. It does seem like a lot of money, but i am willing to pay more if it means he will do a good job. i live in an area where there arent a lot of dermatologists who do treatments and this is the closest i could find. i am thinkin i will do a moderate level treatment for my first time and see how that goes. i just hope it works for me and doesnt cause any damage. im so stressed out about all this. i am waiting for my breakouts to clear up before i get the treatment. i just hope they clear up soon. i had IPL treatments without any problems and it did help, but i still have redness that bother me a lot. i never had any problems with redness before having microdermabrasion. i just want my skin back to normal. this sucks. i went from nice normal skin and never having to wear makeup, to horrible redness and breakouts.

[mohdhm]

tough question to ask, but how bad is the bruising. when you google that word, terrifying pictures come up blink:.

[snuffleupagus]

Sorry but could you guys not hijack my thread? It's supposed to be a sort of diary about this laser experience, thanks .

So it's day 2 of using the cicaplast on my whole face. Could be possibly helping the flakes, not sure yet. Ila, did you find it sticky? Kinda is for me.

[ila]

Hi Snuffleupagus,

The Cicaplast is totally sticky for sure. I apply it after I shower or wash my face in the evening and then by the time I go to bed a few hours later, most of it has soaked in.

It really helped with my skin sensitivity and dryness after my last VBeam - I hope it helps you too!

[sarahj]

I am also wondering what the healing is like after vbeam?? also does it cause more breakouts in acne prone skin? im so sick of dealing with this. i have my father in law staying with us for a month and i dont want to be seen by him looking too bad. i will probably wait until he leaves before i have the vbeam. i wish the damn breakouts would clear up before having the vbeam tho!!!!! I dont wanna get it done and then get more scars!!! Im having the vbeam done mostly for redness, not scarring redness. its from a bad microdermabrasion...very bad... i regret having that done everyday. never again.

[Vivienne]

Hi everyone,
I'm a 17 year old student and I've had Rosacea, for maybe 3 years now. I'm graduating high school this June, and I'm finding it very hard to feel confident to step into the big world when having to deal with my red flushing face. I've tried many, many cremes and done facial treatments and nothing was worked thus far. I have read some of the post people have posted here about their treatment at the baywood clinic in Toronto using the Vbeam and I just need to know how efficient is it? Are you able to wash your face and not have to put make-up on?
and I've read from many of you that you've had about 4-5 treatment.. after you've reached that 4th or 5th treatment is it because it is almost visible? ... or why is it that most of you stop at that number?
Also does it hurt? blush:

I really just want this to go away the most it can, cause I can't stand it anymore :(

[katieee]

I had my third pd laser in Jan. My skin looked great for about a week but then the blotchy redness started to appear again. I still flush, not as quickly at warm temperatures but very warm/hot I flush really bad but not so much on forehead mainly cheeks and chin and it still takes a while to go down.
I don't think flushing can really be controlled well its just one of those things. Pulsed dye laser is more for background redness. It has helped a bit looks a bit uneven likes the colour has been stamped out in patches. The very cold English weather doesn't seem to help though, very irritating for sensitive skins.

Has anyone had any luck with the flushing?

Katie hi:

[katieee]

I live in michigan and the closest place i can get my v beam is in duluth minnasota. its $700 for a full face treatment. It does seem like a lot of money, but i am willing to pay more if it means he will do a good job. i live in an area where there arent a lot of dermatologists who do treatments and this is the closest i could find. i am thinkin i will do a moderate level treatment for my first time and see how that goes. i just hope it works for me and doesnt cause any damage. im so stressed out about all this. i am waiting for my breakouts to clear up before i get the treatment. i just hope they clear up soon. i had IPL treatments without any problems and it did help, but i still have redness that bother me a lot. i never had any problems with redness before having microdermabrasion. i just want my skin back to normal. this sucks. i went from nice normal skin and never having to wear makeup, to horrible redness and breakouts.

Hi Sarah,

I have suffered from exactly the same problem after Microdermabrasion. I have nice skin with some mild acne and was told M could be really beneficial for the skin but instead I ended up with violently reactive skin, flushing, inflammation and a different type of angry red acne. It is basically Rosacea. Microdermabrasion can cause it. Look it up on Wikipedia.
The best thing is Isotrenin for your acne on a low dosage it is also anti inflammmatory.

Katie