23 replies to this topic

[LillyRose7]

Hi Everyone,

i just wanted to start a discussion for anyone who has had photodynamic therapy and their experiences. I have had my first treatment today (1 hour of Levulan + IPL) and am happy to answer and discuss with anyone who has any questions.

I also have a few questions for myself though. I have basically had it done, and although the treatment in itself is not painless (I would call it uncomfortable) I have not turned red at all. In fact my skin looks the same as when i wake up (no pink/redness). This worries me slightly - aren't you supposed to be a bit pink or red following treatment?

I have persistent acne, and while i wouldn't call it severe, it does seem to pop up once every now and then and especially around my chin area. I have heard this is hormonal and I am being treated hormonally so wanted to have something which would also help with acne reduction. I also have leftover reddish brown marks (which I have been told is post inflammatory hyperpigmentation) that I wanted to get rid off. I have asked if this treatment helps with the marks since the information available on the web seems to point to the direction that the therapy is good for improving skin tone and marks leftover from previous breakouts. The lady performing my treatment today didn't seem very confident that it would and said it would help acne only, which I am of course not very pleased about.

I just hope this treatment stands up to some sort of promise in the end as the cost is quite high as well.

Hope to hear from you guys!

[KutenaiGirl]

I am also in the process of getting photodynamic therapy. I have had two treatments so far. The 2nd I paired with IPL. My skin started looking really nice after the first one, but the second one really made me break out badly. My skin is probably the worse it's been at this point. I have my third one on Tuesday.
I have a little log of my experience if you wanted to read more. http://www.acne.org/...__fromsearch__1

Wondering how your skin is looking so far? How bad is your acne? I would say mine is on the lighter side of light-moderate but it is persistent as fuck!

Let me know how its going!

[Jabberwocky80]

I've had three PDTs done in rather rapid succession and my acne has not lessened one bit. The oiliness was not affected, as well.

The first time I was told to expect a lot of breakouts as my skin purged. I had a light microderm before the first session and a short IPL session afterward. Afterwards I developed some whiteheads but not many. I DID develop a full blown zit that caused me to scar. (Yet another scar. Yay.) I thought my oiliness had lessened -- my skin probably just thought, What the...?! -- but became just as oily as it was before.

With the second treatment, the doctor performed a light Fraxel, the PDT, a short IPL treatment, and sent me on my way. The Fraxel caused MANY more whiteheads to develop. My skin went back to its "normal, happy," (haha) oil-pumping ways.

While flying high on those fantastic pharmaceuticals during my third treatment, I asked the doctor did she think I was going to be one of those "lucky ones" who would need these treatments on a regular basis. She didn't answer me at first, but at my follow up I was told yes. See, I was told I'd probably need just one treatment to see results, then at my second treatment, I was told it would probably be three. Btw, at my third treatment I received the Fraxel, the PDT with red AND blue light this time (what was I, being pulled over by the cops?! ), and the IPL treatment.

Personally, I didn't receive the results I was expecting even though I didn't have my expectations sky high. I feel pleased in that PDTs are supposed to help with sun damage and any precancerous lesions (although I'm pretty good at protecting myself from too much sun on my face). The biggest change I witnessed was the diminishing of the fine crow's feet I felt I had. That's always a good thing.

[jjss]

my experience with PDT has been totally different than anything on this sight. Ive had 3 treatments, and will have my forth this Friday. I go to the doctor in the morning, they apply the levulan, then I go home for 5 hours. I go back to the doctor and they put me under the red light for 25 minutes. Myface was bright red, burned, and had burnt brown dried skin flaking off. It looked like I had played with a lighter. the first treatment my face took the entire 2 weeks to heal, and the second and third treatments were much faster. my skin looks better, and i have not had one breakout or any zits appear. lots of blackheads because its pushing out all the oil from inside. but the pores are tiny tiny now, all brown spots are completely gone, and my sebasceous hyperplasia (i call them permanent zits) are almost gone. i think this is the best treatment ever. the first one was a doozy, but since then, completely bearable.
m

[tracy521]

my experience with PDT has been totally different than anything on this sight. Ive had 3 treatments, and will have my forth this Friday. I go to the doctor in the morning, they apply the levulan, then I go home for 5 hours. I go back to the doctor and they put me under the red light for 25 minutes. Myface was bright red, burned, and had burnt brown dried skin flaking off. It looked like I had played with a lighter. the first treatment my face took the entire 2 weeks to heal, and the second and third treatments were much faster. my skin looks better, and i have not had one breakout or any zits appear. lots of blackheads because its pushing out all the oil from inside. but the pores are tiny tiny now, all brown spots are completely gone, and my sebasceous hyperplasia (i call them permanent zits) are almost gone. i think this is the best treatment ever. the first one was a doozy, but since then, completely bearable.
m

wow this is great news! the place i go to now is doing acleara on me but they suggested getting this done if i feel the acleara doesnt work well enough. anyway they told me that i would peel and be red for about 2 weeks and that it would shrink pores and help to slow down oil production and they said they prefer to do that over prescribing accutane because in their minds this is as good as accutane. with the results you are having i might have to give this a thought if i keep breaking out. they charge $500 a session and said they would probably only do a few sessions on me. so do you have to go back again or was this the last treatment?

Edited by Karen Howz, 29 February 2012 - 03:08 PM.

[jetaime]

Karen Howz-Have you gotten this treatment done yet?

[tracy521]

Karen Howz-Have you gotten this treatment done yet?

i have not. i decided not to get it done because i started using benzaclin twice a day again and its doing a pretty good job right now. i also found out i had a wheat allergy so i stopped eating wheat and cut back on sugar and dairy. if i start to have bad breakouts again i would do it but only on the outer part of my face since that is where i breakout. did you get it done?

Edited by KHowz, 01 June 2012 - 02:22 PM.

[jetaime]

Karen Howz-Have you gotten this treatment done yet?

i have not. i decided not to get it done because i started using benzaclin twice a day again and its doing a pretty good job right now. i also found out i had a wheat allergy so i stopped eating wheat and cut back on sugar and dairy. if i start to have bad breakouts again i would do it but only on the outer part of my face since that is where i breakout. did you get it done?

Ohh okay I see. Hopefully you keep having good results with what you are doing now. I have had the PDT done, just one out of the 2 or 3 I am going to have done. It dried up my active breakouts at the time, still breaking out a bit though. But I was told you don't see much of a difference with just one treatment .

[tracy521]

thanks!! so when are you doing your next PDT? were you really red afterwards and did your face peel? keep me updated on how your progress goes. i hope that you only need 1 more of them. i hear they do work great though!

[jetaime]

thanks!! so when are you doing your next PDT? were you really red afterwards and did your face peel? keep me updated on how your progress goes. i hope that you only need 1 more of them. i hear they do work great though!

My next PDT is on June 11th so its coming up soon! My face was very red for a few days, it looked like a really bad sunburn. But I really didn't peel at all, just a tiny bit. I was told that it would help w/ the red marks left from acne also but I don't really see much of a difference w/ those from my first treatment. I had to stay indoors for 48hrs w/ sunscreen on & had to put an ice pack on my face every half hour to reduce swelling. So yeah I hope these treatments are worth it because they are kind of expensive & they are certainly not fun at all.haha. But I will come back on here w/ an update sometime after my second treatment.

[tracy521]

well thats good that your pdt is next week. i bet you cant wait to get it over with and it must be tough staying out of the sun too. that is nice that you didnt peel very much though i bet you were glad about that. did you take off of work for a few days? yes please keep me updated on your progress and i hope this next one does the trick for you with the breakouts and the red marks.

Edited by KHowz, 04 June 2012 - 08:31 AM.

[jetaime]

Yes I will be very glad to be done w/ these! haha. They wouldn't be so bad if they didn't leave your face a red/burnt mess. But I have heard they are having trials that use a form of green light instead of blue or red which is suppose to not leave your face red. So I am hoping that becomes available soon. As for work I currently do not have a job so I don't have to worry about going to work while I heal from this. But if I was working I would for sure take the first 48hrs after the treatment just staying at home.

[tracy521]

hey so how is your skin now? are you still doing these treatments?

[jetaime]

I have had two of these treatments so far. I am still breaking out a bit, I most likely need a third. It did nothing for my red marks which bums me out, but Im going to try a third one hopefully and see how that goes. If anyone has any questions about this treatment I will be more than happy to answer.

[tracy521]

i am sorry to hear you are still breaking out a bit. did you get it done for your entire face? i was thinking of asking about my chin area because i think i have enlarged oil glands there because i have these strange bumps that wont go away and my chin is the only area of my face that is super super oily. does your skin look any better besides the red marks?

[jetaime]

Yes both times were on my entire face. I do think my skin looks the same but then again I don't have before pictures to compare.

Every flaw you have on your skin looks way worse when your face is that red/sunburned color. It really did upset me everyday I looked in the mirror. But when the redness completely goes away you start to see your skin the way it is normally and that sort of depresses you because your hoping to see flawless skin. I don't see any difference in anything as far as pore size, skin texture or discoloration. But I will say that some of the pores on my nose don't have blackheads at the moment. Usually every pore on my nose is covered but I do notice that the pores on the tip part of my nose are blackhead free(I haven't changed any of my skincare products). But I am not saying it did work for me or didn't yet because I feel like I should wait a few months and see how that goes.(o:

[tracy521]

i gotcha. well definitley keep me updated! the skin place i go to recently told me about this new thing called allumera and then they do ipl over that so its kind of like the pdt but not as strong. it's suppossed to work really well on pore size and clarity of the skin to help make it more even. i might get one in a few weeks so i will let you know if i do.

http://www.allumera.com/

Edited by tracy521, 28 June 2012 - 08:04 AM.

[jetaime]

Okay thanks for the link! I havent heard of that allumera before very interesting though!

[wicky]

Im due to go for this treatment today...I am very very nervous but am hoping it will reduce my huge pores and help them stop clogging up daily. I'm too chicken to do the PDT which i hear is horrific. This is suppose to be a milder form...I will let you know how it goes

[tracy521]

Im due to go for this treatment today...I am very very nervous but am hoping it will reduce my huge pores and help them stop clogging up daily. I'm too chicken to do the PDT which i hear is horrific. This is suppose to be a milder form...I will let you know how it goes

so how did it go for you?