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hi everyone, im a new member. i've been extremely depressed for the last two months. At the end of Aug, I had an ablative laser treatment to remove four black dots on my nose. Ten days later, the scabs were gone but there were four red/pink dots left. The derm told me that they would be gone in one month. However, it's been almost two months and they are still there, very noticable and much bigger than the original size of the black dots. I tried many skin cares during the past several weeks, VC, skinmedica lytera and la mer. None of them seemed really work. I did the research and am not sure whther these marks are PIE ( erythema) or PIH (hyperpigmentation). Since these dots are smaller than my fingures, I can only press the skin near them, and they do faint in color and even disappear. They also get redder and brighter and more noticable after I wash my face ( i wash my face first with warm water and then cold water). A few minutes later, they change the color to darker red or brown. Anybody has the same experience? Or could anybody help me with this? How can I get rid of these marks no matter what they are? Will they fade? I really think that my face and my life are ruined. Id rather die to live with these nasty marks right on my nose. By the way, Im asian with fair skin.
I have zero experience w/ lasers but have always read that folks with darker skin may have hyperpigmentation issues after having a treatment done. I have also always read that these marks do fade in time, although I cant give you any specific time period you should be waiting for. I had a consultation for smoothbeam laser and despite being an eastern european caucasian, was told that my skin was too tan and that I ran the risk of developing hyperpigmentation marks. I guess I can only say to try to keep patient with the repairing process.
what type of ablative laser did you have? did you have co2 laser? if so the hyperpigmentation you get from that will take a while to fade i think at least 6 months or longer. i had co2 done for some raised scarring back on sept 4th and its still red and i dont expect it to fade anytime soon. its totally not a big deal though because a few dots of dermablend concealer covers that right up. seriously if that is all you have going on then you are good to go. if it really bothers you just go and get an ipl to get rid of the red. i would do that myself but i am doing another co2 in a month or so but i will eventually be getting ipl on the leftover red marks to get rid of them.
thanks for the kind replies. This morning I went to the derm again. I asked him whether these marks were erythema or hyperpigmentation. He said they are erythema but not chronic ones. He assured me that they would be gone in a couple of months. I can't believe his words because he said the same thing two months ago. Tracy you mentioned the IPL, is IPL ablative? I'm so afraid of doing the ablative laser again. As for the one that caused these marks, Im not sure what it is, but the derm said it's not CO2, it's radio frequency. I didn't get much info online about the radio frequency.I know that the concealer can cover but i'm always self-concious about the marks. my nose and my face were not like this before, but now they are ruined, ,so did my life.