Scarred on face from LHR Alex (pics included)

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I have been having laser hair removal for the past nine months or so on my upper chest, neck and beard area.

The tech has been using a Gentlelase Alexandrite laser. She has been gradually increasing the settings, and my most recent session on my beard (fourth session) was performed at 30J on 15mm, the highest setting for that spot size.

Although all the sessions on my face have been very painful, this one was by far the worst. As soon as the laser hit my skin, I could feel my skin react and ‘rise’, almost as if it was burnt and starting to ‘bubble’.

The tech has done a great job in the sessions on my chest and neck, so I trusted her entirely with this. I hadn’t been out in the sun or anything, so there has been no change to my skin.

A few hours after the treatment, I noticed there was a patch of skin on the side of my chin that was spewing a clear liquid - even though I had gently washed my face with cold water, it continued to spew. Basically it was a series of blisters - one bigger than the rest. I put lots of aloe vera on it and left it alone.

It’s now been four weeks since the treatment, and I am the owner of a scar where the blister was. You can see it in the pics I’ve attached.

I guess from this post, I’m just trying to see what the thoughts and opinions of other posters are - I really did my research on this, I think the tech has been great with the other areas she has treated. Maybe this is a once off, but I really can’t bring myself to go back for another session on my face, for fear of ending up with more scars.

On a side note, does anyone know anything I can do to minimize the scar?

And what’s everyone’s general thoughts on what I should do next? Abandon the treatments? Tell the tech? Tell the owner of the clinic?

qwerty Attachments

scar1.jpg

Scar3.jpg

#2

You can’t compare beard treatments to the ones on chest as chest hair is usually not as coarse and dense as male facial hair.

30J on 15mm is a VERY high setting on Alex which, according to me, should not be used to treat male facial hair. I remember your last post where you mentioned your hair didn’t shed at 28J. You need to lower the joules and try a larger spot size on Alex. The best option would be a YAG laser like GentleYAG. Many guys have to switch to a YAG laser to treat their chin and upper lip hair after having a few treatments with Alex as YAGs penetrate deeper and upper lip and chin hair are known to be deep. In the attached pics, I couldn’t see much hair on your neck and cheeks but could see on your chin so I guess it’s the same with you. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Not many techs are experienced in treating this area. Do let your tech know about this so that she doesn’t give other people such scars.

How much reduction have you achieved? How many treatments have you had?

#3

About the scar… I guess what you’ve got is what sslhr describes here…please go through all the posts in this topic by sslhr

http://www.cosmeticenhancementsforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=32443

#4

See You should avoid laser now on face…Now you should move to electrolysis.Please dont do much to your burnt skin…give it adequate time to heal…You can apply BURNHEAL(silver containing ointment)…it will help your skin to recover and mininmize scarring.I dont suggest Yag after that you go burned…although it is safe but Laser is laser and your skin is already traumatised.

#5

This post has just just scared the living daylights out of me.

On Saturday I started a course of LHR treatments for beard removal. It hurt like God knows what - pain like I have never experienced before (I have already experienced LHR for legs, feet and bikini area). I was expecting it to hurt as I have read here that it can hurt a lot.

The laser used was a YAG and I gather that the spot size was 15mm and the setting was at 30j.

My face was very tender afterwards with some swelling around the upper lips and chin - this swelling is slowly subsiding but I am alarmed about the weeping blister which appeared after several hours. This blister has almost stopped weeping now. I have not shaved today as the rest of my face is still slightly tender and I did not want to aggravate it. I will be phoning the clinic tomorrow to ask their advice.

#6

Smoothie - what did the clinic tell you about your weeping blister?

Mumbaigirl, thank you for your input. I would say 80% of the hair on my cheeks has shed, closer to 100% on my neck. There has definitely been shedding on my upper lip and chin, but nothing like as much as on my cheeks. I would say there has been a lot of thinning of the hair on my upper lip and chin.

I’m giving my face a break for now until I figure out what to do. From prior sessions, I know that the hair on my neck will shed at 28J on 15mm, so I’m going to continue with that at that setting.

If I did move to a YAG, what kind of settings should I be looking out for?

#7

JasonBarber - I phoned the LHR clinic on Monday morning and described the blister to them. The nurse said that although it was not common to get this, nor was it rare and not to worry. She said that they normally have to start off with higher settings on male beard hair because it is so deep and dense - occasionally, a person may be quite sensitive and so end up with a blister. Next time I have treatment, they will use a lower setting which should mean that I still get results but with no blistering. Fingers crossed but it will still hurt like a ****. Oh, they sent me a cream which I have to apply morning and evening until the scabbing has gone and I must not pick any of the scab off (this could be why the OP (original poster) ended up with such a deep scar - by picking at the scab perhaps?). The cream seems to dry the scab out very quickly and I have to say that the size of the area has decreased significantly now.

#8

Smoothie…can you post a picture of the blister?

#9

Sorry Mumbaigirl, I’m afraid that I didn’t take any pics when it was at it’s worst. The scab fell of this morning while I was having my shave anyway. All that’s left in its place is a much smaller and less obvious very dark scab which I am still applying that cream to. I hope that this helps.

Oh, is 15mm and 30j on a YAG a reasonable male beard hair removal setting?

#10

Can anybody answer my previous question?

Is 15mm and 30j on a YAG a reasonable male beard hair removal setting? Do you think this is high and if so, what is a reasonable setting?

Thanks very much.

#11

High for a male beard.

I can’t recommend exact settings. I guess 20-25J on 15mm (YAG) should work well for the 1st 3 treatments. Pulse width should be 20ms or longer.

#12

Thanks Mumbaigirl,

I will see what they use next time I go in to my LHR clinic in just over 2 weeks time.