Had first LightSheer treatment - HELP

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi

I just had my first Lightsheer treatment on my back and shoulders. About a day later, I see MANY small red spots and scabing all over the treated area - it looks like dried blood (but i doubt it is). My skin also has a lot of redness,

I’m assuming this is normal, but it really seems like a lot, as if someone took a fork and stabbed me. When will this go away? The practitioner used the “gliding” method, and she did it pretty quickly, as if in a hurry. I’m really scared the scabs will take a long time to disappear.

I’ve done several Alexandrite treatments in the past, and never had such a reaction.

I hope someone can help me out with this.

thanks in advance!

#2

what’s your skin type? what settings were used? do you just have redness around the follicles? what reaction did you see post alex treatments? are u using aloe vera etc? i would give it 3 days.

#3

I forgot my skin type, but I know my skin was perfect for laser treatment.

The settings were 22 joules (the highest i’ve ever had). The practitioner used the gliding method really fast.

It’s not the skin redness that bothering me - I know that will go away. It the red scabbing and wounds that were caused by the treatment that i’ve never experienced before. It looks absolutely horrible. Like dots of dried blood. Do you think I should see a skin doctor to check it out?

What is aloe vera?? should I get it?

Post alexandrite reactions were typical - shedding hair, some redness, bumps, but never red scars and scabs like I have now.

#4

joules are not equivalent among lasers. 22 on LightSheer is very low compared to 22 on GentleLASE. Effective LightSheer treatments are usually above 30 joules, so at 22, this reaction is weird. Skin type if not that difficult to determine. If you were treated with alex, I assume you’re I-III, which would tell me that at 22 joules, this isn’t burning, unless the cooling system wasn’t set properly or was malfunctioning. I would definitely show this to the tech. Who shaved the area by the way? Can it be a bad reaction to shaving with a single blade razor? The scabbing like that can be a results of a bad shaving job too. i would definitely talk to the tech and show them what happened, but considering the low settings and the gliding method, i would look into another provider as well.

aloe vera is a soothing gel that helps with healing. it’s used for sunburns as well, so you can find it in the sunblock section at the drugstore

#5

My skin type is dark hair, light skin.

There was actually not that much to shave this time because I came relatively quick since my last treatment (about 6 weeks), so not much had regrown. So the scabbing wasnt from that. It seems each pulse left a scar.

I’ve read in other posts that scabbing goes away anywhere from 3 days to six months, so i have no idea what to expect.

I just hope this will go away, but when I look at it it seems my skin will never be smooth again and scab free.

thanks, i’ll use aloe vera.

#6

Hi Adam.
I had my first treatment with a diode laser in the beginning of february and the gliing methos was used. And my skin reacted very bad too. I’ve had many IPL treatments before and didn’t react this way.
I got blisters, inflammation around shedding hairs that got hyperpigmented, scabs etc. Much of it has now healed but the blisters have left marks and the skin on my arms still has inflammations.

#7

Hi Adam.
I had my first treatment with a diode laser in the beginning of february and the gliing methos was used. And my skin reacted very bad too. I’ve had many IPL treatments before and didn’t react this way.
I got blisters, inflammation around shedding hairs that got hyperpigmented, scabs etc. Much of it has now healed but the blisters have left marks and the skin on my arms still has inflammations.

Sorry to hear this happened to you too. I’m never doing this type of treatment again.

I’m assuming you had the treatment two months ago. How long did it take for the skin to look “close” to normal again? Right now i’m completely not confident to show my skin to anybody.

Did you use any cream or medication to treat the redness, scabs, etc…?

#8

Adam, it’s hard to tell if your reactions are the same since iranianboy has pretty dark skin and you have light skin. his might have been burns, but your might have been another adverse reaction to the laser. Your settings were pretty low to cause any burns on light skin. Have you shown this to the clinic yet? They should have medical staff that can prescribe healing cream etc AND they need to know this happened so they can see if it’s your reaction or the machine malfunction etc.

#9

Lagirl is right, I am brown and I had real burns that have left darker spots. But I also got this inflammations and hyperpigmentations around the follicles and these colour changes from february are still there. The skin on my back and upper arms is unevenly pigmented now becuase of this strange hyperpigmentations around the hair follicles and also the disscolouration from the burn crusts. It is like the laser realy damaged the skin. Maybe the small dotty hyperpigmentations around the hair follicles are also burns; small, local burns - I don’t know. I just know that the laser hurt MUCH more and had MUCH more side effects in my case.

I had some fading hyperpigmentations before becuase of former ingrowns and also inflammations from bad dry shaving, but now it’s realy the hole back and a lot of brown/redish spots, like a pattern. I guess it will become better with time, I hope so. I am very sad that my skin has to look like this. I have enough issues with hairs and ingrown hairs. Actually I try to ignore that I have skin.

#10

My skin isnt light…but it’s not dark either. I come from middle eastern/medditerranean origin. Although she used 22 joules, she glided REALLY hard and fast. The treatment took just 45 minutes…I usually clock at 1.5 hours.

I will show it to my clinic on Sunday, but I’m sure they’ll be the usual sales people they are and just say “it’ll go away” so someting crap like that.

This whole situation is just frustrating. This will probably take months to heal. Even once the scabs come off, there will still be red spots all over my back and shoulders.

The upper arms are the worst and that’s something that people see!! what an embarrasment. I’d rather have hair there…

Thanks LAGIRL, i’ll use aloe vera

#11

iranian boy…sorry to hear your skin turned out that way. I hope it does get better soon.
What exactly is hyperpigmintation? What does it look like, how big is it, etc?? Maybe i have it too?

#12

hyper- or hypopigmentation is either darkening or lightening of the skin. there are fading creams out there that help the healing process.

#13

But I have read that the fading creams are hard to use and make the skin fade unevenly.

#14

Update:
Exactly two weeks have passed since I’ve had that treatment (see first few posts).
I did see my practitioner and he said my results are “normal”, which I highly doubt.
Anyway, the scabs and dark red spots have pretty much subsided. What’s left now is remaining shedding which is normal. But, I now have many light red spots that resemble acne (left over from the scabs). So the back and shoulders are still not looking to good two weeks later. I just hope I’ll have smooth, clear skin in the coming weeks before I see hair regrowth again.

#15

I wasn’t quite sure what people were talking about when they described these red bumps. Now I know. It’s been 5 wks since 2nd treatment on back, shoulders, upper arms and acne like red bumps persist. I think it is normal and they will go away. May take awhile though. I had these bumps after 1st treatment and they did subside at the 5wk mark.

The price we pay for vanity, eh? From what I’ve read, and what I did after 1st treatment-keep scrubbing gently with loofa and don’t pick/prod at them. Good luck.

#16

The price is so high, but we deserve it and much more <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Hair removal

#17

Does anyone know of a good way to get rid of or just hide the acne-like redness that remains after laser hair removal.
I have all these red blemeshes that look very similar to acne on my back and shoulders, and I just want to hide it somehow or lessen its intensity. Is there anything I could buy in a pharmacy?

Thanks!

#18

Possibly aloe or witch hazel?? They should disappear in a short while.

#19

Wait it out. They do resolve on their own. Loofa, no picking, they’ll go away. I would be careful not to put anything on them(alcohol based) as could irritate more. Don’t look at them in the mirror for awhile. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />