namio 0 Share Posted January 13, 2004 Hi i was wondering if anyone has experienced scarring caused from the blisters from smooth beam. On my second treatment, my forehead had a few blisters and there has been a red mark left from it ever since. I wanted to know whether other smooth beam patients experience this and if it went away. I'm scared to continue with my treatment if there is a high chance of scarring. Your response will be greatly appreciate. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
animegirle 1 Share Posted January 13, 2004 What setting are they doing your treatments on? I have had 2 smoothbeams with no blistering. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ebby 0 Share Posted January 13, 2004 Namio, I had blisters all over one side of my face after my first tx; it was nasty! Anyway, there were a few of them that were pretty deep and after they healed over, it appeared that there would be an indented scar. It's been about 4 months and there are no scars from the blisters. The red marks did stay for about 6 weeks (I'm fair skinned), but eventually faded. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rustymetal 0 Share Posted January 13, 2004 At what setting did you guys get blisters? I want to do setting 13 but not sure whether I would blister at that point. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ebby 0 Share Posted January 13, 2004 I blistered at 12, but it was my first time and I'm very fair skinned. I have since learned that the practitioner should do a test spot before each session before they proceed to make sure they don't cause blistering. My first time was by someone who had just purchased their Smoothbeam Laser and had little practical experience. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stillhere 1 Share Posted January 14, 2004 I don't think the blisters in themselves will leave scars if treated properly but on my third treatment, I had what was probably an un-noticed blister which i accidently scratched with my fingernail. It seems to have left a slight scar. It may have been there before but I'm not certain. I think it will diminish with a few peels or something since it is very shallow. I think one must be very careful not to scratch or pick at blisters if you get any. I want to add, I also had quite a few very small blisters with my first treatment, which healed and left no scarring. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
namio 0 Author Share Posted January 15, 2004 My first treatment of sb on the setting of 12 and it didn't blister my face, but my second one on the same setting left marks. Ohh well...i'll just keep my fingers cross. Thanks for sharing your experiences, it comforting to know i'm not alone. Anyhoo...i was wondering if yall could share your overall feelings and improvement you've been seeing with your smooth beam treatments. Take care. keep me posted. thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sword 1 Share Posted January 28, 2004 I had SB at setting of 12 in October 2003. 1. It left a large dark patch below my right cheek. 2. My treated skin has a slightly unatural, melted look like burnt scar. They no longer blend with my normal skin like before. 3. Area below both cheeks becomes very wrinkly. 4. There is no improvement whatsoever on the icepicks, but that is the least of my concern now. I just want my pre-SB skin back. It has been 3 months, and I have had 3 TCA Complexion peels since December, and have used Mandelic acid on a regular basis. But the dark patch has not faded a bit. This area's skin feels a lot thinner and weaker than before the SB. I am 37 and have medium asian skin. I have not talked to the doc since, but maybe I should and see what he has to say. (btw, I ditched my old alias 'poreman' and opted for a more positive one) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plateaukid 1 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Ughh...all these posts on blisters and redness are making me having second thoughts about Smoothbeam. I thought that this was going to be the laser that would take care a lot of my scars without leaving hyperpigmentation and stuff. Guess I'd have to suffer somewhat...but hey...it beats CO2 heal time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fromchicago 0 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Your skin type has a lot to do with it. If you are Asian, you will have to go much slower (lower level of SB). And you will probably need more treatments, because of the safety concerns. Otherwise, white skinned types have had minamal problems w/ it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smilingeyes 0 Share Posted January 28, 2004 I had SB at setting of 12 in October 2003. 1. It left a large dark patch below my right cheek. 2. My treated skin has a slightly unatural, melted look like burnt scar. They no longer blend with my normal skin like before. 3. Area below both cheeks becomes very wrinkly. 4. There is no improvement whatsoever on the icepicks, but that is the least of my concern now. I just want my pre-SB skin back. It has been 3 months, and I have had 3 TCA Complexion peels since December, and have used Mandelic acid on a regular basis. But the dark patch has not faded a bit. This area's skin feels a lot thinner and weaker than before the SB. I am 37 and have medium asian skin. I have not talked to the doc since, but maybe I should and see what he has to say. (btw, I ditched my old alias 'poreman' and opted for a more positive one) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sword 1 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Hello smilingeyes, And, if you have had 3 TCA peels since December, than you are WAY overtreating your skin. I would just give it a rest from all of the acids and drink lots of water and it will come back. This is NOT from the smoothbeam, but from what you are doing with the acids. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LoveGreenSmoothies 32 Share Posted January 29, 2004 This frightens me. It also angers me a bit. It seems a lot of these SB operators are new to this, and using people as their guinea pigs while simultaneously profiting from them. I may consider being a novice's guinea pig, but not without informed consent. I don't want to have confidence in the person performing the procedure, only to have a bad outcome because they don't know what they're doing. I empathize with all of you that have negative outcomes, especially since (it seems) you weren't informed that they could occur. SB seems to have potential, but I think some time needs to go by before I am confident enough to try it. Blistering sounds like negligence to me. You develop blisters from being burnt. Has anyone's Dr. give them any concrete answers as to why they got blisters? Do they warn you ahead of time you may blister? I hope all of you with negative outcomes get answers, and more importantly, heal without incident. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smilingeyes 0 Share Posted January 29, 2004 The discoloration and wrinkles were definitely from the SB. I did not have them until the SB. I have had them since the SB in October, before my first TCA peel in mid December. I am sure SB has worked for some people here, but for me it was a total disaster. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sword 1 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Ladies, thanks for the support. / (Or are you too young to be called Ladies ..... sorry English is still my 2nd language after all these years) I hope all of you with negative outcomes get answers, and more importantly, heal without incident. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joylovepeace 0 Share Posted January 30, 2004 sword have you had any other previous scar treatments before doing smoothbeam? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sword 1 Share Posted January 30, 2004 sword have you had any other previous scar treatments before doing smoothbeam? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tinainfl 0 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Hi: A couple or so yrs ago I had what was supposed to be a non-ablative treatment w/the Versapulse laser to improve depressed acne scars. I blistered big time & after a few wks it became apparent that my scars were made a bit deeper. This treatment was supposed to work just like Smoothbeam. About a yr later I saw Dr. McDaniel in Va Beach. He's very up on the laser scene & was big into Cool Touch. He told me that they were seeing a worsening of some smokers' skin when Cool Touch treatments were administered & he hypothesized that the fact that I was smoking at the time of my Versapulse treatment may have caused my bad reaction. The derm who did the Versapulse treatment never asked me if I smoked & I don't think he had any idea about the apparent influence of such. Just wanted to post this warning. Dr. McDaniel said he thought quitting smoking for 2 to 4 wks before non-ablative treatments was enough, but he said the jury was still out on that. Of course, you can't smoke after the treatment either. Good luck, Tina Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sword 1 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Hi Tina, Thank you for sharing. I hope your worsened scars has gotten better since. I am physically active (run 3 miles 3 - 4 times a week, and weight- train). I don't smoke. If what Dr. McDaniel proposed is true, given that smoking is still quite common (1 in 10 maybe?), wouldn't the manufacturer of these lasers have captured the data during clinical trials and reported it? How could they have missed such large sample space? Or .... smoking is not the cause of the adverse effect? Maybe the docs don't really know the exact cause(s)? Some ppl have stronger and thicker skin than others ... so the same setting should not be used for all ppl. e.g. 12 may not be a good starting point for everyone, the physician should use very good judgement. Another thing is these treatment are generally expensive. The doc may take the highest risk he feels comfortable to yield the best "bang for the buck" in order to get the patient back for the next treatment. Just my personal opinions. Hi: A couple or so yrs ago I had what was supposed to be a non-ablative treatment w/the Versapulse laser to improve depressed acne scars. I blistered big time & after a few wks it became apparent that my scars were made a bit deeper. This treatment was supposed to work just like Smoothbeam. About a yr later I saw Dr. McDaniel in Va Beach. He's very up on the laser scene & was big into Cool Touch. He told me that they were seeing a worsening of some smokers' skin when Cool Touch treatments were administered & he hypothesized that the fact that I was smoking at the time of my Versapulse treatment may have caused my bad reaction. The derm who did the Versapulse treatment never asked me if I smoked & I don't think he had any idea about the apparent influence of such. Just wanted to post this warning. Dr. McDaniel said he thought quitting smoking for 2 to 4 wks before non-ablative treatments was enough, but he said the jury was still out on that. Of course, you can't smoke after the treatment either. Good luck, Tina Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joylovepeace 0 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Sword, do you have any blood sugar problems? Seems you are prone to re-scaring (arent we all?) have any ideas why? This is one reason I am very affraid to try things because I am still scarring now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Maya 6 Share Posted January 30, 2004 I'm so sorry to hear of your problems sword.. I know NLite is like the weaker version of Smoothbeam bu even when I get that done at Dr Chu's clinic, they always set it on really low becasue they said that on Asian and darker skins, the risk of burning is quite high. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joylovepeace 0 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Maya - why do you think that darker skins burn easier? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Maya 6 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Maya - why do you think that darker skins burn easier? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tinainfl 0 Share Posted January 31, 2004 Hi Sword -- It does seem strange that the laser companies would not have yet picked up on a smoking/non-ablative laser connection, given that it still remains a relatively popular behavior. Dr. McDaniel's opinion, though, made sense to me in that the docs always tell you to quit smoking before & after surgery, especially facial plastic surgery procedures. Smoking messes up the healing process, so that would seem to apply to non-ablative treatments as well given that such stimulate collagen growth by injuring the skin to some degree, even though the injury shouldn't be apparent on the outside. A few wks after I had the procedure & went to a follow up appt w/the derm who did the treatment, the derm acknowledged that things didn't go well & he told me he would do it again for free. He also said that I was one of his first patients & he thinks he had a learning curve w/it; i.e., he didn't know what he was doing. That's about as honest a doc as I think it gets. Have read many stories of docs just denying damage. Anyway, I just moved on & didn't have any more treatments. Once bitten, twice shy I guess. Best of luck to you! Tina Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sword 1 Share Posted January 31, 2004 joy, I don't think I have blood sugar problem. My only problem was I had superduper oily skin. Now that I am 37, it has reduced quite a bit, but is still very oily. I don't think rescarring is a problem ... the problem is I took 2 risks and ended up worsening existing scars. Maya, I agree extra caution should be taken when treating asian skin with laser or light treatment of any sort. On the upside, the scars and skin was so damaged after the SB, they can only get better from here on ) i admit I was depressed for a period, but I can honestly laugh at my scars and stand tall now, and your inspiration has a lot to do with it. Thanks as always Maya. Tina, I am glad your doc was honest and treated you respectfully despite the fall out. I am done with seeing (or trusting) any derms or plastic docs for ever. I don't think helping patients is their main motivation at all. There are of course a few great docs of course (e.g. dr. chu) ... I just dont have the luck to find them. Good luck!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
