I am in my 30s and have mild acne and Perioral dermatitis (not pretty!). Have been considering PDT for about 18 months and finally took the plunge last week. My symptoms have been pretty much textbook, and now on day 5 I am starting to already see some nice rejuvenated skin appearing. I think it is important to note that everyone experiences different levels of side effects / pain / redness etc. But I think its fair to say mine was moderate - severe. Here is an outline of my journey so far: Day 1: before bed I applied the cream (careful of eyes and washing hands afterwards) and slept in the cream. Day 2: Careful to avoid sunlight - but did notice tingling as it was starting to be activated by light. Went under the lights. Was extremely painful for me. My clinic recommends 5-10 minutes of exposure. I only lasted 5 minutes, at which point the nurse felt is was activated enough anyway. Possibly the worst pain ever. Nurse did say depending on your skin it isnt always as painful. Felt like skin was burning/on fire. But I got through it!!! Skin was red afterwards (like mild-moderate sunburn). Throughout the day skin got redder. Mid afternoon was very painful. By night it was like severe sunburn and my face was puffy and swollen. Eyes started to swell. Lots of pain relief, ice packs and lanolin cream/aloe vera/paw paw ointment. Some whiteheads appearing (4-5) Day 3: Woke up with swelling around eyes. Still red and sore. Starting to flake a little. Lots of icepacks and lanolin cream today :) Day 4: Swelling gone. Red, but no where near as painful. Lots of cream today. Starting to peel. Day 5: Slight red (mild sunburn). Peeling and flaky. Feels tight. but not sore. Can see some nice new skin coming through. I think it will be worth it. Whiteheads still there but havent got any worse. I guess I tell you the above so you know what to expect, but also that each stage doesn't last very long, and I think (hope) every part of this process is well worth it. Who knows, maybe your pain / experiences will be different to mine!

Everyone is different, so these reviews should be taken as examples of what COULD happen. After readng the reviews, I was so nervous to get the treatment. For me, the discomfort during the blue light sitting was not bad. It felt like I used an astringent and was feeling the "alcohol burn" for 15 minutes. It really was not bad and would not keep me from going again. DO NOT GO INTO BRIGHT LIGHTS! This will cause that "burning" feeling to happen again. I put a wet washcloth in the freezer and just let it rest on my skin when I felt discomfort. By day three, I started peeling and yes, I looked silly when I went back to work. So a bunch of my co-worked asked me if I spent the weekend getting too much sun - so what! I live in Florida! I have not yet had increased breakouts. Right now, my skin is slightly better than before, but I am sure the condition will be even better as the days go by. If you have acne, try this! It is better than acutane and all the sid

My treatment was for sun damage, not for acne. Will definitely repeat every 4-5 years. This treatment left my skin beautiful.

I am on day 3 after the treatment. The first day it burned pretty bad, and the second day I went outside for less than 30 seconds to chase after my dog and it felt like someone had held a flame to my face. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE for 24 HOURS AFTERWARD. Now my face is very itchy and peeling and lots of whiteheads around the problem areas of my cheeks and chin and around my mouth. I just hope it purges everything quickly and gets better and does not cause more acne. I don't know if I can afford another treatment at the same place I went, $550 a time is super expensive for my budget.

I had this done 5 times, once a month. My derm used a ppx laser to activate the levulan so I set in a room for 3-4 hours then she went over my face twice with the laser. It was painful in some spots but it was over so fast it wasn't too bad. I did not peel but maybe 2 times. It made my scars less noticeable and my face a lot smoother. I still break out every month but it's not the HUDGE cystic acne I am use to. For the price of this treatment I thought it would have really cleared up all of my acne which it did not. I would not pay more than $150 for this treatment.

You can't really review the affects of Levulan days or even a week or two after treatment (as many people do here). The total effects are visible after 3-4 weeks. Skin is much smoother due to pore tightening and acne begins to subside (initially it could get worse before your skin begins it's healing process). I was significantly clearer for about 6 months, then the affects started to fade. Depending on the severity of your acne, the initial treatment should consist of 3-5 sessions. I had 4 @ $600 each. Generally a touch up session is required 6 months to a year after the first treatment. I would recommend it if you are at your wits end (like I was) and have tried every other option on the market including Accutane. It's definitely pricey.

I have been fighting moderate/severe acne since late teens. Now I am 24 and still have breakouts now and then. There are days when my skin seems to be improving, then it once again drops back at being the usual nasty self. In other words, the same acne experience as most of us have. I have tried accutane (Roaccutane by Roche), it was amazing, my skin had never been so perfect before! Though I had a severe depression, apathy, suicidal thoughts as well as weight loss. However, back then I did not consider those "severe side effects", I made it through and got a beautiful skin without any imperfections at all! After more than a year my breakouts came back. This time it wasn't that bad, so I hoped to keep it under control by more natural remedies. Time passed and I got sick and tired of stressing out about my skin everyday, so my doctor advised this new "amazing, risk-free and side effect-free" method to help cure my facial skin. She said I would need 2 to 3 treatments. I read some stuff about this therapy online, the photos of people who had it done and the bad reviews did not stop me from doing it, somehow I got hooked and thought, let's give it a go! What a mistake!!!!!! At least that's what I think now. Some may say, you should go through all 3 necessary treatments before saying anything.. well, truth be told, it is the most horrible experience I have EVER had in my life. And I have had natural childbirth, so I know what pain is like. This is truly awful, I cannot even look at myself in the mirror. I had the Levulan thing put on my face for three hours on Tuesday (today is Thursday), then 15 minutes of intense burning under LED red light. I though then, I can handle this, it wasn't that bad. It stung and hurt, but it was bearable. Then the next morning came. My face swollen literally like a red Halloween pumpkin. Horrifying. Then by the end of day 2 the whiteheads started to come out. Millions of them, everywhere where the Levulan was put. Since it was only day 2, I though, oh, well, this will get better. Day 3 came. Nothing had improved, only got much worse. Even more whiteheads, everywhere, every square inch covered in them. I not only looked horrible, I felt much worse seeing my face in the mirror. I though I would get at least some improvement from this, but I have a feeling this treatment will make my situation worse. I did not even have severe acne before the treatment, just a couple of tiny spots on the cheeks and one or two occasional cystic pimples. Not comfortable, of course, but now I think I would much rather live with them, with make up caked upon them, then go through this hell once again. It's horrible, plus there is so much pain, I cannot even sleep at night, my face hurts as soon as it touches the pillow or anything really. I know, some might say this is only day 3, what are you moaning about???? Well, this isn't worth it. If it meant only one treatment and going through this hell just once for amazing results, I would probably stay quiet and just wait for it to end. Now that I know it is just the beginning of a series of self torture sessions, I am pretty sure I will disappoint my doc and refuse any further Levulan sessions. This kind of pain is only for the crazy ones who are really ready to punish their skin for being bad this way. Plus, everyone who says that acne must be treated from within, is totally right. All these topical treatments are just temporary (IF they work at all...). I know this might not be useful for anybody, since I am in the middle of the healing process still, but who knows, somebody like myself might be just as desperate and mad in this same situation.. and then this will be a small comfort to know that they are not alone in this hell!!! I will update next week, how my situation has changed.

So this is the procedure, 1st week: levulan Treatment.. next 2 weeks: Care. and then back on levulan for the repetition of three times. I just got my second Levulan treatment yesterday (week four).. and from what i read on the review i'm trying to avoid the sunlight for a week by wearing a mask..even at work.. My co-workers thought i was some kind of robber.. anyway.. My doc said this is just because i had so much infections stored in my skin (lower jaw specifically) and that the levulan is literally pulling all the acne from deep within my skin.. hopefully it's all healed up by this week.. or i might go crazy.. stinging pains reoccurring now and then.. my doctor is also prescribing me drungs including procutane (weaker version of accutane i think) and some strong antibiotics.. i don't even think this is allowed.. but Korea is different i suppose.. anyways here's to hoping that this will get progressively better..

I have hormonal acne that flares up around a certain time of the month. I don't ever get white heads, it is always cystic. After being on several oral meds I wanted off...its not worth it to me to be on meds month after month. My skin is clean but I still fight with cysts that come out. Topicals don't help so I went to a facial plastic surgeon who has a dermspa and recommended this treatment. They recommended I have 2 chemical peels first then the levulan treatment. I went on a THURSDAY to have the levulan put on. It didn't bother me at all just noticed my face turning red as the hrs went by. Woke up on FRIDAY, went to the office where they removed it and placed me under a blue light for 17 minutes. I thought I was gonna die. Any light activates the chemical but I did not think that it was going to feel that intense. My face swelled big time. I couldn't leave the house. They only recommended I use aloe vera w/lidocaine as needed. I didn't put anything on my face day 1 (only mild burning). Day 2 my face was normal feeling but I looked like awful. NO products were to be used until my face peeled. By day 3 I asked if a steam would help and they said it would quicken the peeling process. Along with levulan I am doing 4 IPL treatments, an ACTIVE FX session, and a couple more peels (total of $1500..levulan treatment separately $350). This office also prescribed bleaching cream, BenzaClin (which they stressed) and retin-a. Overall I am only in the beginning of the package but I hope that this helps control the cysts.

I have been battling 1 to 2 cystic acne on my chin per month mostly and the occasional one on my nose, but after having this treatment done 2 weeks ago I have 5 or 6 on my chin and 2 on my nose! My skin is dry and still stings too. I had Levulan put on my face, then IPL, then blu u, then came back and had blu u again week 2. Now a week later my face is a war zone! Worse than before - it seems like this was a waste of money - I am going back to my doctor this week - have been on Doxycycline and retin-A for 3 months with no luck. Booooooo.