16 replies to this topic

[legend08]

ok ive been doing alot of looking around about the Vbeam and when i went to the spamed place that dose the treatments today they said i needed like 5 microderms before the v-beam to unclog pore and clear the junk up. the microderms are spread apart by everyother week, Thats will be over 2 months i have to wait to get my first vbeam... I have acne redness and alot of scaring on my cheeksso what will the micoderms do for me? and she claims neither the microderms or the vbeam will have downtime redness... which i dont belive. i know its different for everyone on the bruseing and redness that comes after them, but i really dont wanna go to school looking like i just burned my whole face in a patter around my cheeks. So really i just wanna know are the 5 microderms needed? could i do them after the vbeam or is it important to do the microderms? Also, can someone give me some info on microderms cause i need to know what your experiences are with it and if there was redness for a longtime and jsut the details of how it went. thx for reading guys : )

[christpunchers]

i dont think microderms will hurt you but i guess if we cant see your face its hard to tell if you really need it or not. I think they may be out for a moneygrab but if the microderms arent expensive then i would just go for it.

[jeffy83]

i've heard different results for microderms with acne.. having microderm with active acne agitates it and increases breakouts.. i've had microderm and it removed dead skin and unclogged pores.. they use a diamond tip scrapper/vacuum thing.. it feels good.. it scraps the dead skin off and sucks it up.. the longest you'd be red for is a day.. i think you'd have better results if you microderm before vbeam.. if you don't want to go to school recovering from vbeam, wait till the summer when you'll have more downtime.. summerbreak is in like a month or something.. if your derm suggests to get microderm before vbeam, i guess you have to trust she knows whats she's doin..

[legend08]

well i don t have a camera at the moment but mainly i have alot of scarring and redness on my cheeks and not that bad of active acne. I got over the initial breakouts from my retin-a and stuff but i dont think i shoud be worrying about agrivating it, but will the microderms help the scarring at all?

[sweeping]

Maybe you might want to try a second opinion from a different doctor. I've had Vbeam done and there was no recommendation for a microderm beforehand. Obviously everyone's situations are different, but you have to be on the watch for both greediness and incompetence in selecting a doctor. It doesn't hurt to get evaluations from 2 or 3 different doctors.

[jeffy83]

microderms won't help scarring.. they just take off dead skin.. they don't go deep enough to remove or fade scarring..

sweeping's right.. you should get a different opinion.. microderm wouldn't affect the vbeam results cause vbeam is much stronger and completely different than microderm..

microderm would be like scrapping the ground with your foot and vbeam would be like dropping a bomb on the ground.. okay maybe thats a bit drastic but you get the idea..

[legend08]

well jeff i was looking at ur pics and the person at the place iam getting the vbeam at said there was no down time with prolly only a day of redness and some dry skin, but when i saw ur pics it dosent look like just one day.

[sweeping]

When I had vbeam done, the swelling and redness went away within a day. Obviously, the settings were likely lower than in Jeffy's case. As I continue to have them done, they're gonna increase the settings each time. It all depends on how aggressively they treat you.

[christpunchers]

How much did one session cost for you guys?

[jeffy83]

did you guys incubate in levulan before vbeam?
cause levulan will have a different and better effect than just vbeam alone..
i think the levulan is what made me peel.. cause other people remarked that they didn't peel when they had vbeam.. but i think thats because they just had vbeam alone..

i got my first treatment on sale for $350.. the regular price is $450

and my procedure included: levulan, anesthetic, vbeam, and blu-u light..
the whole procedure took 3 hours..

[legend08]

yeah thats prolly why u had the gusher thing going, but iam gonna try asking to see if i can get the vbeam before my microderms or mabey 1 microderm then a vbeam, and is there a difference if i use the numbing agent or not?

[christpunchers]

What does levulan do? Is it needed for vbeam to work better?

[jeffy83]

yeah thats prolly why u had the gusher thing going, but iam gonna try asking to see if i can get the vbeam before my microderms or mabey 1 microderm then a vbeam, and is there a difference if i use the numbing agent or not?

yeah the levulan made me swell up..
they put a numbing agent on me and it still hurt.. i don't know how much good it did.. but i don't want to find out what its like without getting numbed up..

[jeffy83]

What does levulan do? Is it needed for vbeam to work better?

YES!!!!! levulan is great!!

taken from new york times magazine 4/15/07: beauty spring 2007
(theres a two page article on skin care lasers)
"L.E.D. combined with Levulan...is absorbed by bacteria and oil glands, then when the skin is exposed to l.e.d., it releases energy that damages oil glands and kills bacteria."

here's some more info on it: http://www.wasauna.com/levulan.html

if vbeam were a toothbrush, levulan would be the toothpaste..

[christpunchers]

Well I dont reall have any breakouts right now, no zits or anything horrible. So I hope i can get away with just doing vbeams and nothing else.

Does vbeam hurt a lot? Ive done IPLs before and they were PAINFUL even with numbing creams on.

[legend08]

well iam getting my v-beam on may 3rd so i heard it hurts like a bee string at worse but man when u thinking bout it, if u have as bad of scarring from acne as me then the pain wont matter u know? Well anyways i just got my microderm it was kind iof fun an relaxing but i dunno what the microderm did for it. I dont see anything yet but its only been like 6 hours. so hope that helps with my redness

[christpunchers]

Just take a couple of advil or whatever an hour before hand, go in confident and ask for a rubberball to squeeze on. Thats what one derm does for a lot of patients who he gives fraxel too, because he said it hurts like hell. I dont think vbeam is more painful than fraxel.