12 hours ago, LysolBucket said:

About 1 year ago I had a moderately severe nodular-cystic acne all along my jawline and cheeks. I decided to go to the nearest esthetician to help treat this. She began with some facials and some IPL laser treatments, along with sending me home with some serums and salicylic acid pads, for my acne which did nothing but irritate my skin more. About a month later she performed extractions using a lancet, even trying to extract some of my cysts, which probably spread the bacteria across my face. One more month after this, she went ahead and performed microneedling which was contraindicated for me as I still had loads of active acne. I remember her even going over my acne cysts which stung like a.... Following this final treatment I broke out along my cheeks even more than before. I eventually had to go on Accutane to finally clear up, but I was left a fair amount of indented scarring and PIE/PIH on my cheeks.

Since then I have spent thousands of dollars seeing a dermatologist to fix my scarring, not to mention a severely compromised mental health, and even now its still not perfect. I was wondering whether I have any case for some legal action or at the bare minimum demand a refund from them despite all of this time. I feel like the clinic did not have my best interest in mind when performing these treatments, and should have directed me to see a dermatologist or someone more qualified to deal with my condition. Instead they chose to take advantage of my condition in order to make a buck, resulting in delayed treatment and worsening of my condition.

Estheticians should not be the first ones to consult with you have a medical condition. I'm sorry you had to go through this but it's better to know for next time. They do know have medical expertise and they like $$$ (doctors do too).

I don't know about legal action but a refund is definitely doable. Expecting them to refer you to a dermatologist is not something they can be held to because even they don't know the best course of action for treating conditions such as cystic acne.

I'd say swallow this and focus on how you can improve your skin. A refund is the most likely of those two. After that, I'd say move on. You can write a review for this practice to help others.

BTW, Accutane helped my cystic acne when nothing else did.