Above: woman’s back after improper laser treatment at a spa.
Spa Lasers Could Pose Dangers
March 27, 2006
(CBS) It used to be that people would go to a spa for a massage or facial. But these days, many spas have gone high-tech, offering the latest in laser treatments. Laser hair removal and skin rejuvenation is now a $2 billion a year business.
That’s big business but, for consumers, it could mean big problems, according to The Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen.
In her “ConsumerWatch” on Monday, Koeppen reports that some experts warn the number of patients being injured by laser treatments at spas is growing. They say that’s because some of the people doing the procedures have very little training.
Wow! Thank you for that picture, but I was reading the full article, and the woman in the picture got laser to remove freckles and sunspots, and not for laser hair removal. But still, thank you for the picture to show how serious of a burn a person can get from the laser.
But there is still something I don’t get: Why are the burns striped? Shouldn’t they be circular? Or are lasers for removing freckles different in shape?
OMG! Once again, WOW! The first one was a surprise because the guy’s skin was light and he used a yag laser but he still got burned! And the last two were absolutely horrifying! Thank you so much for those pictures!
THIS is why I am so afraid of laser! I will only get my underarms done first to see how I do; after seeing these pics, I don’t dare do large areas in case something like this happens.
this woman must have been screaming in agony the entire time during her procedure and the burns were most likely visible right away. only someone completely incompetent and blind with no experience operating the machine can even come close to doing anything like this. anyone with some sort of common sense wouldn’t even proceed to treating the entire back and stop after one shot if something like this was occurring. it’s absolutely ridiculous. the woman is also dark-skinned. I bet the machine wasn’t calibrated correctly and they were using an alex laser at high settings with no cooling too.
This woman was having her back done to rid her self of freckles and sun spots, not hair. What a major bummer. The pain factor is questionable. How did the treatment proceed so far along. Shouldn’t she have been in pain after a few zappers? Either she has a very high pain threshhold or she was dosed up on potent pain meds.
Everybody who does laser hair removal has pictures like these. If they say they don’t, either they haven’t done many treatments or they are lying.
But if you are going to show pictures immediately after treatment, then you need to show follow-up pictures. In my experience, none of those pictures were anything that should be permanent. In other words, they should all have completely resolved.
It is unfortunate when this happens and it requires proper treatment and a significant amount of hand holding and consideration for what the client is going through. But at the end of the day, the results are no where near as bad as the headlines would lead you to believe.
To not show the follow-up pictures I think only fuels the hysteria.
Wow! If I had seen these pictures before my first treatment I would have never had laser hair removal. I am so thankful my treatments are going well. I’m a little nervous about going back. I guess shouldn’t be if I haven’t had any damage after 3 treatments I should continue to be fine correct?
if you were absolutely fine the first 3 times, say at 20 joules on GentleLASE, in order to cause burns such as featured above, they would have to jump to 45-50 joules. Noone will raise the settings that high. If they raise them to 30 and there is a burn, it will be very superficial if the person was completely fine at 20 joules. Superficial meaning like a sunburn that heals fast. What you see above is a VERY extreme case on tanned skin. And like sslhr said, they’re not showing the “After” pictures, only the ones right after the incompetent treatment. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t look out for potentially incompetent techs and dangerous situations/burns, but if you’ve found someone who’s been treating you for 3 treatments and you were completely fine, they won’t all of a sudden start treating you at 3 times the power. They obviously knew what they were doing from the beginning and were careful. Obviously, the person above had this experience on the very first treatment (for sun spots btw, not hair)
Hi, I am new to this whole thing. My husband had laser romoval on his back, yesterday was his third time. He came home in extreme pain and has around 6 big rectangle spots on each shoulder that kind of look like this picture but not so bright they are more a brown, when he left the place she said you may have had a bit of tan left so you may be tender tonight keep it cool and put aloe on it well as the night went on the stripes showed up his back hasn’t seen sun for 3 months. His first 2 treatments were great why now? Also will they go away? All I know is the laser place uses lightsheer and palomar laser. PLease help us with any info you have. Also I don’t think we can sue or anything because he signed a form.
i believe if the burns are severe, you can sue. there is no reason he should have been burned if everything was done properly. i can see two things that could have happened. the person setting the laser settings messed something up and set one of the parameters incorrectly OR the laser needs maintenance (is not calibrated properly etc at this point). have you showed the clinic the burns? i would also see a dermatologist and apply a cream to speed up healing.
He told the clinic about the burns and they said they will go away in a month. They didn’t say anything about creams to put on or anything. Do you have any recommendations for what type of cream to use.
they need to see the burns. and i would take pictures if i were you and document this just in case. they can’t tell how bad they are without seeing them. and i would be suspicious of any clinic that doesn’t even care to see them. creams that are used for burns are good. a dermatologist would be able to tell. if you’re stuck in a package at this place, i would ask for a refund and find a more reputable place.
I am really surprised this happend here I was recommended by friends did a little investigating and seemed good we had a very long consult and they explained everything and the phases of hair ect. Does this happen often>
Does anyone have pictures of their experiences if they had burns and did they go away or not?
I had burns once after a treatment. It was on my back and shoulders and was NOT as severe as what you see in the pictures linked above. Six months have passed and my skin is fine now. However, I do see remaining red marks in some areas. I was actually bleeding in some areas right after the treatment. what a nightmare…
no, this doesn’t happen often and it shouldn’t have happened in this case if same settings were used as last time and there was no change in tan on the skin. either they messed up the settings this time or their machine wasn’t properly calibrated.
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