9 replies to this topic

[chaosorc]

I had my derm. appointment today after a long time of waiting and below is an overview of what they suggest. I would be interested in hearing what people think of these suggestions. Part of me feels like they know what there doing and that if I listen it will work, but another part of me feels that they are going to take every dollar they can until I just give up on them.


Well I had the appointment. I got in early at 1:30 for my 2:00 apointment, and was at the office until 3:30. They seemed very nice and it sounded like they know what there doing but its hard to say for sure. I was called back around 2:15 and they spent a good amount of time getting information and explaining things.

I do have Dandruff and thats whats causing the redness on my scalp. It also spread into my eyebrows and on my face and that is what is causing the flaking and redness on my face. For this they gave me a perscripton Elidel cream that I apply once a day to the red areas. and Clobex shampoo that I apply to my head and affected face areas for 10 minutes in the shower every day and then rince. They also gave me Glycolix 10% shampoo that I am supposed to use every other day (instead of the precribed shampoo.

The acne stuff is much more complicated and I am a little worried about it. According to them my acne should not get worse and if I do everything they say I should be cleared up for the most part in 2 - 4 months. The part that concerns me is the amount of stuff they want to do. I will list it all below.

Morning
1. Gly/Sal 5-2 cleanser (salicylic acid 2%)
2. Gly/Sal 5-2 pads (5% glycolic acid / 2% salicylic acid
3. Green Tea Serum fortified with Caffeine
4. Glycare Perfection Gel (salicylic acid 1%)
5. Moisturizer (only if needed)
6. Sunscreen
7. Erythromycin Film Tablets 250mg (2 in the morning)

Nights
1. Gly/Sal 5-2 cleanser (salicylic acid 2%)
2. Gly/Sal 5-2 pads (5% glycolic acid / 2% salicylic acid
3. Green Tea Serum fortified with Caffeine
4. Glycare Perfection Gel (salicylic acid 1%)
5. Erythromycin Film Tablets 250mg (2 at night)

They also want the following.
B-lift peel once a week for 6 weeks
pore extraction facial (once after the second B-lift peel)
smoothbeam laser once a month for about 4 months

I ended up buying the products they recommended that they had in the office and with the visit, the bill came out to $330.00. I did not pick up the prescriptions but I am guessing thats probably another $100.00
The peels are going to run me $95.00, if I do 5 of them the 6th one is free. The pore extraction facial is also $95.00.
The laser treatments are $300.00 a pop.


All said and done I will be spending around $2500.00 over the next four months to do everything they recommended.

As I said before they seem to know what there talking about, but I have been let down so many times in the past with promises of clear skin from various products, that I feel that this could just be another scam.

Any advise would be great.

[headtrip_honey]

I had my derm. appointment today after a long time of waiting and below is an overview of what they suggest. I would be interested in hearing what people think of these suggestions. Part of me feels like they know what there doing and that if I listen it will work, but another part of me feels that they are going to take every dollar they can until I just give up on them.


Well I had the appointment. I got in early at 1:30 for my 2:00 apointment, and was at the office until 3:30. They seemed very nice and it sounded like they know what there doing but its hard to say for sure. I was called back around 2:15 and they spent a good amount of time getting information and explaining things.

I do have Dandruff and thats whats causing the redness on my scalp. It also spread into my eyebrows and on my face and that is what is causing the flaking and redness on my face. For this they gave me a perscripton Elidel cream that I apply once a day to the red areas. and Clobex shampoo that I apply to my head and affected face areas for 10 minutes in the shower every day and then rince. They also gave me Glycolix 10% shampoo that I am supposed to use every other day (instead of the precribed shampoo.

The acne stuff is much more complicated and I am a little worried about it. According to them my acne should not get worse and if I do everything they say I should be cleared up for the most part in 2 - 4 months. The part that concerns me is the amount of stuff they want to do. I will list it all below.

Morning
1. Gly/Sal 5-2 cleanser (salicylic acid 2%)
2. Gly/Sal 5-2 pads (5% glycolic acid / 2% salicylic acid
3. Green Tea Serum fortified with Caffeine
4. Glycare Perfection Gel (salicylic acid 1%)
5. Moisturizer (only if needed)
6. Sunscreen
7. Erythromycin Film Tablets 250mg (2 in the morning)

Nights
1. Gly/Sal 5-2 cleanser (salicylic acid 2%)
2. Gly/Sal 5-2 pads (5% glycolic acid / 2% salicylic acid
3. Green Tea Serum fortified with Caffeine
4. Glycare Perfection Gel (salicylic acid 1%)
5. Erythromycin Film Tablets 250mg (2 at night)

They also want the following.
B-lift peel once a week for 6 weeks
pore extraction facial (once after the second B-lift peel)
smoothbeam laser once a month for about 4 months

I ended up buying the products they recommended that they had in the office and with the visit, the bill came out to $330.00. I did not pick up the prescriptions but I am guessing thats probably another $100.00
The peels are going to run me $95.00, if I do 5 of them the 6th one is free. The pore extraction facial is also $95.00.
The laser treatments are $300.00 a pop.


All said and done I will be spending around $2500.00 over the next four months to do everything they recommended.

As I said before they seem to know what there talking about, but I have been let down so many times in the past with promises of clear skin from various products, that I feel that this could just be another scam.

Any advise would be great.

Honestly, although the methods they're giving you seem fine, I think the fact that they're pushing their office products on you is a bit much, since the products you're describing could easily be got in a drugstore or with a prescription for a much lower price.

The fact that they want you to do so much all at once also seems a bit irresponsible to me. They should see how you react to one form of treatment before continuing onto another. What if you have a major reaction to something they give you, but they're throwing so much at you you can't pinpoint the cause? I dunno. Seems fishy to me.

[Wynne]

Many places do recommend their own products; there's really nothing shameful in that, particularly if they do work and have the client photographs to prove it, and client testimonials. Some places have business relationships with compounding pharmacies so they have the say-so in how something is manufactured and the product is created to the derm's exact specifications.

The products do sound like combined they will work quite nicely but may indeed be too harsh to add in all at once. An extraction facial is a good thing as it helps clear out the pores while the home care program helps maintain cleaned pores (and salicylic is quite good at that). The erythromycin will help you in your initial breakout.

You might want to see how the topicals go before you consider laser treatments.

[headtrip_honey]

Many places do recommend their own products; there's really nothing shameful in that, particularly if they do work and have the client photographs to prove it, and client testimonials. Some places have business relationships with compounding pharmacies so they have the say-so in how something is manufactured and the product is created to the derm's exact specifications.

The products do sound like combined they will work quite nicely but may indeed be too harsh to add in all at once. An extraction facial is a good thing as it helps clear out the pores while the home care program helps maintain cleaned pores (and salicylic is quite good at that). The erythromycin will help you in your initial breakout.

You might want to see how the topicals go before you consider laser treatments.

I personally feel that they should at least give you the option of getting a prescription for a similar but less expensive product. With the amount of money he's spending, I don't know, it just gives me a bad feeling about dermatologists that charge an arm and a leg for something that can likely be got elsewhere for much less.

[chaosorc]

Hello,

I am not sure if I made this clear but they do not want me to start everything immediatly. For instance they said to start the clenser and use that alond for 3-4 days and then start the pads using those two for 3-4 days and then another product and so on. So I am not starting everything on the same day but doing a bit at a time to start.

The listing of products does not bother me much. I believe that they were all resonable and I think the total for them came to about 100.00 for everything they recommended for home use. They even told me if I have a reaction to one or all of the products I can just return them for a refund, thich makes me feel a little better, but judging by the number of products i ordered and returned online, it does not make me feel any more confident.

I am really curious about wat people think of the derms recomendations. Does it sound like a good plan to help me or does it sound like a scam. My last dermatologist had me on retin a and 10% BP which was awful and from what i read a very bad suggestion that wouldent work.

I think my main question would be, do the facials and laser treatments work well and are they worth that kind of money. It is a great deal of money to spend but I am willing to do it if it clears me up and makes my life better overall. Normally i would just do the facials for now but my brother is getting married in 2 months, they said if i start these treatments soon i will see a great deal of improvement before the wedding.

[chaosorc]

Well I had my first beta lift peel on Friday and I am feeling very depressed. My skin has been very red in spots all weekend almost like a sunburn with the skin peeling. They indicated when I got it that I should be about normal after 1-2 days but its not sunday night and it seems to look worse today then it did yesterday.

I am supposed to get another one next friday but I do not know if I can take it...

[chaosorc]

Well its been a few more days since the first peel and my face is back to being normal again. I called them Monday a little concerned about the redness I experienced from the peel and they gave me some cream that cleared up the redness within a few hours.
I was rather pleased with the derm, when I got home from the office they had left a voicemail explaining that the head person reviewed my file and due to the redness recommened a fruit acid peel that is not as potent and according to them will not cause as bad as a reaction. I will be trying this one on Friday afternoon with a sea weed rap. I will also be doing the first session of smoothbeam laser treatment.
I am rather nervous about Friday and I really hope everything goes well and I do not have any surprises like I did last Friday. Overall my face feels pretty smooth, but looking it over I do not see any major changes yet. I hope I start seeing some after the next peel and laser treatment, I invested a lot of money already and will feel awful if this plan of action fails for some reason.

[chaosorc]

Hello,
Well I am not sure if anyone is reading this but I will keep trying to make some updates. Yesterday I went to the Derm and got my first smoothbeam laser treatment. I was very nervous and even more so as they went over possible side affects and stuff I must do after the treatment. The people were very nice and answered all of my questions, each time I go in a feel that I can trust them a little more just based on the way they do things. My old derm would just give me some perscriptions and send me home after 10 minutes.

Anyway after they went over everything they put me in a chair and laid me back, they put some goggles over my eyes and began the laser treatment. I had put on some numbing cream before going in and it was not very painful at all. It was a very light sting that did not bother me much at all. The peel actually hurt alot more then this treatment. They went over my entire face two times with the laser on a low setting, they told me that the next time they will use a higher setting if this round goes well for me.

After the treatment I had some redness, they put sunblock and a steroid cream on and that was it. The redness faded within a few hours and I look normal today. They told me to skip the peel this week and just do the laser due to my problems with the peel last week.

Next week I go in to have a fruit peel which they ay is more mild then the betalift peel. The following week I go back to the derm for a checkup.

At this time I would say some of the redness around my nose and cheeks is starting to fade. This was not acne but something else. I would say my face is feeling more smooth then normal but I do not see any major affects on my acne, pores, or scars. Since its only been about three weeks I do not expect to see any major changes for awhile longer. I would also say that I have done my best not to look closly in the mirror and get very depressed, so there might be some minor improvements that I am missing.

Please feel free to make comments if your reading this, I would be interested to hear from people who have had similer procedures and how they went for them.
The dermotologist takes pictures every checkup and each laser treatment, I have not asked for them yet because I do not want to be depressed, but when I start to see improvement I will request copies and I can post a few progress pictures for everyone.

[chaosorc]

Well its been a few weeks since my last update, not sure if its even worth spending the time since I am not getting any replies to my posts thus far. I had another peel and a deep pore clense in the past two weeks. I also had a checkup with the dermatologist.

The dermatologist said I had 75% improvement on my face. I am not so sure that I agree but it does seem to be a little better then it was. She also added Vivite daily anyioxidant facial serum to my list of products too use twice a day and is keeping me on the perscription pills I listed before.

Tommorow I have my second laser treatment, hopefully that goes well and works out good.

[durrelllll]

any further updates? im sorry others didnt reply to each of your updates but please be assured others HAVE read your posts and value them.

were you surprised to see the clobex shampoo was a LOT more than $100? how did your dandruff/scalp issues clear up?