Hello,
Last year I have had 3 IPL treatments on my legs with Aurora and I began to see that, after the hair shed, little ¨holes¨ (the empty follicles without hair) were very noticeable on my skin. I didn´t pay much attention to this problem at that moment because I thought that, with time, they would fade away. This year I have had 2 more treatments with Gentlelase and now I am finished with laser hair removal.
But now I am sad because I don´t see these marks fading. I am preoccupied that my skin is going to stay like this. If I could make the time go back, I wouldn´t have IPL or laser hair removal because, before this, I used to have a lot of hair on my legs but I could wax and had my skin smooth without marks of any kind for 15 days. If these follicles aren´t going to fade away, I truly regret having done the treatments.
Here is a picture. Photo Storage
What do you think? Are they going to fade away? If so, how long would it take, like years? I am so worried.
Thank you. The pores. The redness is due to my skin being very dry because I was using glycolic acid and retinoic acid to help reduce the pores. It´s just that when I used to wax they weren´t this noticeable. What kind of treatment would you recommend?
Another question: if you take the hair away forever, will the pore naturally reduce its size with time or will it stay the same size, like this, forever?
I don’t have any expertise on skin and skin problems, but i have a couple of ideas that may be related to your case.
Are you overweight and do you have oily skin?
Have you exposed your leg to sun at least within the last 1 month?
I am asking these because I don’t remember seeing a skinny and tanned person with visible pores. Remember pores are much more noticeable on the face, around and on the nose, and around the eyebrows where the skin is relatively hair free and oily.
It is also probable that from the first moment you’d noticed those pores you’ve been more conscious of them. Ok, they are more likely to have been gotten much worse after the treatments, but they might have still been there before and you might have been less aware of them.
Maybe some sunshine will make the skin heal itself. Worth a try.
Yes, it’s likely you weren’t paying as much attention when you were waxing in the past. Pore size is something natural to each person, so it doesn’t go away on its own if that’s how your skin is. And yes, tanned skin can make the pores appear less obvious I think.
I was going to ask exactly that, whether tanning would help to make them less noticeable. I´m not overweight, although I have gained some weight lately due to depression. My skin is only oily on my face, but I don´t have visible pores there. The skin on my legs is generally dry and more so now.
I do believe that the visible pores on my legs have gotten worse with the treatments, because otherwise I would have noticed them when I used to wax to go to the beach. And I wouldn´t have gone then if I had looked like this.
So, no hope for my ugly skin, only some tanning? And perhaps losing a couple of kgs? I was hoping that time would help… but it´s been almost a year since I first noticed this (and I was very thin then) and no change…
Honestly, without having pictures from before, it’s hard for anyone to say what was the case in the past prior to treatments. Laser doesn’t affect the skin in any way because it’s made to attract only to the pigment, i.e. it bypasses the skin and goes straight to the hair.
However, it IS very common for people to start noticing things about their skin and hair that they haven’t before. Most people tend to pay a lot of attention to their skin when getting treatments and start noticing every little thing. Some people even notice blond hairs that they never noticed before. Keep in mind aging as well which impacts skin in all kinds of ways including this one.
If I were you, I would start looking for causes of pores and methods available to decrease them. I know there are some spa and laser treatments available. Of course, eating right and exercising always helps the body too.
You mentioned you noticed these"pores" on your legs after having 3 treatments with IPL,correct. IPl is not laser hair removal. It is Intense Pulse Light. Much different than laser and if used improperly could result in similiar problems. Not knowing what your legs looked like baseline it is difficult to render an opinion.
Thank you all for responding and for your concern.
I´m sure I didn´t have my pores like this before, I have always paid a lot of attention to details. I would shared some photos of ¨before¨ with you but I don´t have them in digital format and besides they are not taken from very close like the one I´ve posted.
I have consulted some dermatologists because I am very worried about this. One told me my skin would stay like this (and that stressed me very much), a couple of others said that it would improve with time and recommended me glycolic or retinoid acid. But I don´t see any change, I just see that my skin gets very dry with these acids… perhaps I should be patient and wait some more?
What do you people think: could pores enlarged by IPL reduce themselves just with time or should I do something? Are there any other cases you have heard of?
I know that there are some treatments to reduce the size of pores for skins with acne, but that´s not my case, this is something different. Would treatments for acne help my legs?
I´m very sad, I want to believe things will improve but I can´t.
