5 replies to this topic

[justin518]

I just did my first Levulan pdt/ala blue light treatment yesterday at advanced derma laser in manhattan. I've read what I could about it on here and decided to do it so I thought I'd share my experiance with you...

I paid $350, first they put the levulan on your face then you have to sit and wait for like a half hour in the waiting room then they take you in and put you under the blue light for a few minutes. I was only able to be under the blue light for 4 mins. it really burned and was painful(like I was holding my face in an over), it wasn't unbearable enough that I asked for it to stop but the doctor said he didn't want to do anymore than 4 mins because it was having a strong reaction and my face was already getting red. there was another girl their that was under the light for 20 mins. so I guesss it just depends on how sensitive you are with the Levulan and how many treatments you've had in the past.

all night my face just felt like it was sunburned and the redness is comparabe to a moderate sunburn. I'm using aloe and staying out of the sun, I'll post again when I notice any other changes...

my background: atleast 10 years of mild/moderate acne, I've used every med I can think of and have never had good results on anything, most recently I've been taking solodyn (about 8 months) and still have regular breakouts...

[blacksheiladog]

So far your reaction is normal, and many have a good deal of pain from the light. For my daughter, the first treatment she could only make 7 minutes of light. No worries. You will look pretty funny for about 5-6 days, and there are several other threads on ALA/Levulan so be sure to read them. But most important, STAY OUT OF THE LIGHT--ANY LIGHT-- for the first two days, and I recommend being indoors for the first 5 days at least! Don't pull off any skin no matter how much you want to. Moisturize and let it fall off on its own. This procedure should help with acne discolorations, will help shrink your pores, and will give slight help with some scarring. Be patient, as when you are peeled completely, you may get some mild break out for up to 3 weeks, while all the bad stuff surfaces. Use gentle cleansers and read our columns on blue light treatments, which may offer addititional weapons to help keep you clear after this treatment. (Internet Alternatives to Expensive Clearlight treatments). There are other good threads on blue light therapy. Nothing works 100%, but if you add the effect of many things that work 50%, you get a good arsenal to combat the problem. You are a strong person to do this, and I hope you get a really good result! -Dan

I just did my first Levulan pdt/ala blue light treatment yesterday at advanced derma laser in manhattan. I've read what I could about it on here and decided to do it so I thought I'd share my experiance with you...

I paid $350, first they put the levulan on your face then you have to sit and wait for like a half hour in the waiting room then they take you in and put you under the blue light for a few minutes. I was only able to be under the blue light for 4 mins. it really burned and was painful(like I was holding my face in an over), it wasn't unbearable enough that I asked for it to stop but the doctor said he didn't want to do anymore than 4 mins because it was having a strong reaction and my face was already getting red. there was another girl their that was under the light for 20 mins. so I guesss it just depends on how sensitive you are with the Levulan and how many treatments you've had in the past.

all night my face just felt like it was sunburned and the redness is comparabe to a moderate sunburn. I'm using aloe and staying out of the sun, I'll post again when I notice any other changes...

my background: atleast 10 years of mild/moderate acne, I've used every med I can think of and have never had good results on anything, most recently I've been taking solodyn (about 8 months) and still have regular breakouts...

[justin518]

Thanks Dan! How many treatments did your daughter have? and do you think that it was worth doing multiple treatments?

...I also ordered a verilux clearwave blue/red light that I plan on using at home in between the levulan treatments at the derm...has anyone done both at the same time? I'm wondering how long I should wait to use my own bluelight at home after getting the levulan treatment? I will probably start a week or two after my next treatment which is in 2 weeks...



Day 3 - all discomfort in my face is gone, I wouldn't even be able to tell that I had anything done if my face weren't PINK, not really any peeling or any other noticable changes yet....

[blacksheiladog]

Thanks Dan! How many treatments did your daughter have? and do you think that it was worth doing multiple treatments?

...I also ordered a verilux clearwave blue/red light that I plan on using at home in between the levulan treatments at the derm...has anyone done both at the same time? I'm wondering how long I should wait to use my own bluelight at home after getting the levulan treatment? I will probably start a week or two after my next treatment which is in 2 weeks...



Day 3 - all discomfort in my face is gone, I wouldn't even be able to tell that I had anything done if my face weren't PINK, not really any peeling or any other noticable changes yet....

Hello: she has had three treatments, one each year for the last three years. I know that they recommend getting these treatments about 2 months apart, and up to three of them. They seem to buy her about 6-8 months of less oily skin and therefore less breakouts. At present, she is off the antibiotic (a big relief to us) and only uses Yaz birth control, but we are not certain if that is necessary. The problem, of course, is you dont' want to stop using something unless you are sure, and you can never be sure without experimenting!

As you only stayed under the light for 4 min, and I think you said you had the Levulan on your face for only around a half hour or less, you will have a much faster recovery, but not as deep a treatment as recommended. My daughter had microdermabrasion before applying the Levulan, and it was left on her face for 2 hours before the light. Then she had light for 10 min. As a result, the depth of the treatment was much more, and she was severely peeling from day 3-6. In a way, your treatment might be good because you can find out if a minor treatment will work for you, and if so, you don't need to do more.

As to when you start the blue light, might want to check with the doc, but you can be somewhat light sensitive for a few weeks with a strong treatment, but in your case, maybe less time. Certainly do not do it during the first week I would think. Any residual levulan in the skin will be activated again. The half-life of levulan is about 36 hours, so mostly gone after 6 days from what i have read. But then your skin is very prone to burning due to the top layers being removed, so most doctors recommend sunscreen outdoors for a while.

My daughter started using the 420nm lights one month after, but it's only because we did not buy the lights until then.

Best of luck.

[justin518]

Thanks again, the info is much appreciated, I'm gonna see how my skin is doing over the week to determine if I push the next appointment back, my doc recommended that I have 3 treatments 2 weeks apart... I told him I bought my own blue light and asked about using it as a supplement to his treatments and he dodged the question and pretty much just said that his machine is alot more powerful, which I agree with, but I could tell that he was annoyed by the question so I didn't press it. I chalk his response up to him seeing it as a threat to his business, cause if I'm using one at home then I'm not paying to use his....

[blacksheiladog]

Thanks again, the info is much appreciated, I'm gonna see how my skin is doing over the week to determine if I push the next appointment back, my doc recommended that I have 3 treatments 2 weeks apart... I told him I bought my own blue light and asked about using it as a supplement to his treatments and he dodged the question and pretty much just said that his machine is alot more powerful, which I agree with, but I could tell that he was annoyed by the question so I didn't press it. I chalk his response up to him seeing it as a threat to his business, cause if I'm using one at home then I'm not paying to use his....

Interesting because that is exactly what we are investigating in this thread. I believe (but do not know for a fact) that maybe the clearlight machine uses two 400 watt metal halide lamps which may be simply very bright broad spectrum light sources. What I can't determine is whether the lamps themselves put out 420nm light only, or whether they are filtered through glass that allows only 420 nm light through, or both.

If it is filtered light, then there is light energy loss on the way through the glass. The full spectrum from a metal halide bulb would be reduced to only a portion of the original energy source. What we don't know (cuz it's a secret I guess) is what the actual net light wattage is, and then we could compare relative wattage of a competing light source, like our fluors.

The other physics issue is how close you can get. With a metal halide bulb, you can cook yourself and so must stay about a foot or more away. with Fluors, they are not hot and so you can get real close. Since intensity goes up 4x for each time you cut the distance by half, the relative intensity might be pretty high with even a moderately bright fluor bulb you are only inches away from!

So, I can see why he is concerned about our "experiments" in this regard.... lol. Anyway, best of luck. And keep posting.

-Dan