I waited a long time to post a review. I feel I can give a thorough pro and cons and long term results. My background: Female Diagnosed PCOS (or misdiagnosed with some other hormone imbalance) Slim/slender weight Athletic high protein diet Sever cystic acne since 11 years old Prior to PDT I did the following: Attained birth control (improved acne 30%) Attained spirobolactone (anti testosterone) improved 40% Adjusted to healthier lower carb diet and began weightlifting and running 4 years ago Gluten and dairy elimination 4 month trial Gluten elimination no noticeable difference Dairy elimination: huge impact- worsened breakouts horrendously for 3 months before a night and day change of about 70% clear up PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY (2 treatments) Incubation 90 minutes Blue light 20 minutes I decided to do photodynamic therapy due to persistent moderate acne, after the above treatments listed. My acne has improved tremendously since I was younger, however I'm on continuous hormone therapy, and it's been expected that I will struggle with this for life. After my first treatment, the hardest part was staying inside and not being driven crazy by skin purging and peeling. I noticed it took about two weeks to fully recover. I had one small round of breakouts the second week, but had noticeably's little or no breakouts after the first treatment. It's recommended you do 3 to 6 treatments, so I signed up for a second one. My second one I had complications. I was wrapped in a headscarf but too close to a window for several hours. Long story short I ended up with second-degree burn blisters all over my face. It was one of the most painful procedures I've ever had done; on the bright side, I had no long-term effects of the burn, and in fact in those places that blistered I haven't had a break out since. I wouldn't recommend sitting in front of the window because of the side effects or permanent damage, I just seemed to get lucky. And total of only had two treatments and it has been the best choice I've ever made. The results in my opinion are that of Accutane or even better. I never did Accutane because of the side effects, this is an incredibly great alternative. Keep in mind everyone is different and you May need several treatments to see results. It also takes a long time to fully recover and let your glands produce oil differently (I'd give it 5 weeks before fully judging the results) I believe that because I had gotten the worst of my acne under control, I didn't need very many treatments. I plan to do one more photodynamic therapy treatment along with the fraxel laser in the upcoming months. I don't know if I necessarily need another treatment however it is recommended that you get three and my results have been incredible every time. I will try and update pictures as I figure out how to use my account. It's 6 months later and I get a couple small surface breakouts when I ovulate. My makeup stays on for hours with decreased oil production, and I even got a pixie cut feeling more confident about my skin. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ANYONE

i did pdt back in 2014 because my forehead was a mess i had to stop working due to depression . i had huge cysts that never got away , after the 3 sessions it took some time to my skin to get back to normal, it left me with scars (cysts were huge) but i was acne free for 2 years i mean not even a little pimple. its 2016 and some cyst are comming back probably due to my new job (high anxiety) but its not as bad like it was in 2013. i plan on going back on pdt really soon , if you have the money do it . (sorry for my english)

This treatment is not for the faint of heart as it is extremely costly (even with Kaiser Permanente insurance), extremely painful, takes down time, and lots of patience. But I feel my results were worth every penny, and ounce of pain and patience. My skin type/problems: Oily, sensitive, enlarged pores, severe hyperpigmentation, mild pocking, cystic hormonal acne on jawline and chin, average acne on entire face. My acne story: Through my teens, I had what I would call average/normal acne. When I reached my twenties my acne worsened, and when I reached 22-23 my acne was unbearable. It consumed my life and all of my money. Any of you who have struggled like I have, know what I am talking about. My acne was deep and cystic along my jawline and chin, it hurt physically and emotionally. Eventually, I started to develop scarring and severe hyperpigmentation too. No amount of makeup could cover it up, and I spent thousands on products to help before I finally went to a derm. I had severe hormonal acne due to contraceptive changes years prior. My body never recovered and years later I'm still working with holistic doctors to get it balanced out. My derm tried me on antibiotics, Retin-A and many other topical ointments. None worked. He felt PDT and Levulan might be a solution. I started these treatments approximately 3-4 months before my wedding and had 4 treatments total. The nurse would clean my face with a wipe and acetone, and then applied the Levulan and I had to sit in the waiting room for and hour with it on. I would then be called back where they would put me under the light for 17 minutes. Then she would wipe off the treatment with water and apply a sunscreen liberally, and I would leave in a wide brimmed hat. We repeated this process every time. There was no discomfort until they turned the light on. I would describe it as intense burning and pain, and it was most intense half way though the 17 minutes. When you come into contact with sunlight after, it activates the burning sensation again. The second day is the worst as far as pain goes. Slather on moisturizer and sunscreen and a hat, and stay indoors if possible. Aleve and ice packs help a lot too. If you come into contact with even indirect light, it will burn horribly, so stay out of the sun at all costs. Your face will be tight, swollen and puffy, possibly oozing, crackly and lobster red. This is normal. Day 3 and 4 is when the skin started to crack and peel. and I also had some white heads come to the surface. Day 5 was full of lots of flaking and peeling. Plan on not going to work if possible, no makeup, and no picking! By day 6 my face was smooth, however I had some puffiness and discoloration from the burn, again, this is normal and will go away. I would say a week and a half after treatment, is when my face would be back to normal. After one treatment in particular, I took longer to recover because I had some severe cracking and painful oozing because I had a different-than-usual nurse who scrubbed my skin too hard with the acetone. This caused a more painful and severe reaction. I would also say that with every treatment, it got less painful and things healed faster. I saw no improvement after 1 treatment, my Dr. advised me of this. After the second treatment I saw some improvement. Less acne, some of my scarring was going away, my skin was tighter and refined, with less oil production. After my third treatment, my skin was nearly perfect. Myself, the Dr. and the nurses couldn't believe it! They decided to do a fourth treatment so that my skin would be perfect for my wedding. After the fourth, I had no acne, most of my scarring was gone, pores were smaller, balanced oil production. It truly was a miracle treatment for me. I finished the last treatment in May 2015, it is now December 2015 (I'm 24) and I still have outstanding results. I will get the occasional break out when I'm PMSing or not eating well. But it is not cystic and clears up fairly quickly. I also use Retin-A .05% or.1% to maintain my results. I have read a lot of negative reviews on this treatment (even on this page) and realize that everyone reacts differently and not all will be cured with this treatment. However, I feel like a lot of the negative that people describe are normal side effects that do go away. I think doctors maybe misinform patients or there is a lack of information. I also think maybe treatment is executed improperly. And as mentioned earlier, patience is also key. You will not see results after 1-2 treatments, all 3 or more treatments need to be completed (which should take close to 3 months.) I think with proper execution of treatment, correct information given to patients of what to expect, and patience; people would be happier. Again, I know everyone is different and reacts differently, I just think there would be a higher success percentile.

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!

If you have the money an have stubborn acne, go for it. Or if you can get your health insurance to pay for it, do it! It's amazing! And can take years off of your skin in the process of helping your acne. My skin is BEAUTIFUL after the treatments. I've tried all topical acne meds, Accutane, antibiotics, etc. and Levulan is truly the best.

I did this treatment because my acne was getting out of control. I had so many acne popping up everyday, therefore I went to my first dermatologist and he advised me to do Levulan Blue Light. First, I doubted this treatment would be effective but it doesn't hurt to try since my face was already a disaster. So I had the treatment done and my face felt a bit stingy afterwards. The next day my face flared up in flames and in the sun my face burned like ****! It was so embarrassing to go out since I looked like I got a sunburn on my face. (BTW, huge whiteheads formed, which is totally suppose to happen.) On the fourth day, my entire face began to peel. Strips of dead skin would flake off my face like snow. (The whiteheads got smaller and turned black (blackheads??).) So nasty however it was worth it. My face started to itch. By the sixth day, the redness reduced but flaking got worse. My entire face became really itchy. Try not to touch it!! By the eighth day, redness reduced, peeling reduced, itchiness reduce. By ninth day, my face returned to normal. Yay!! Today is the seventeenth day and NOT A SINGLE PIMPLE appeared yet! And Mother nature's monthly gift was given to me two days ago. Usually a week before I start, my pimple would pop up like daisies! Well That's All. Thanks For Reading.

The treatments I have received since the last 5 years included Levulan applied and left for 2 hours and then NOT rinsed off but IPL and Blu-U were used after the 2 hours to activate the Levulan experienced some burning, itching and a great deal of red coloration and after the third day, a great deal of peeling so that one complete layer of my skin was exfoliated and it looks like a second layer may peel from my nose and chin all new skin exposed looks great very tight and clean - must stay out of the sun and take good care of my skin by using Cetaphil cleanser and creme and then I will resume PCA skin treatment following that I have an excellent doctor who works at Vancouver Laser and Skin Care and he will evaluate your skin before the treatment After treatment care consists of vinegar rinses sounds strange but relieves that itchy feeling

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've had my first of 3 treatments (ALA on my face and upper back for 1 hour, 6-7 mins of Blu-U). I was very careful to stay out of the sun after the treatment for well over 24 hours and I think this is the key to lowering side effects. Mine were fairly mild - red skin for 2 days, followed by dark spots where my bigger pimples had been for another few days, followed by moderate peeling. I was back in public after 24-48 hours and skin looking better than ever by the end of the 1st week. My skin tone has already improved, the number of pimples has been significantly reduced, and I'm very satisfied with the results...all that and it's still only my first of 3 treatments! Supposedly, this treatment can reduce oil...it's hard to say at this point. There may be a bit of a reduction. I'm hoping that things will only improve more with each additional treatment. I highly recommend this if you can afford it. Just stay out of the sun COMPLETELY for the first 24-48 hrs and side effects should be well worth it. In case it matters, I'm a 31 year old male and have fought mild to moderate acne since my teens. I'm very oily and I've tried basically everything on the store shelves that's supposed to work for acne, with little effect. I've also tried doxycycline (oral) and topical clindamycin with moderate effect. Have never tried accutane. Only one treatment in and photodynamic therapy is the most effective thing i've tried by far. Hopefully the results last! The acne on my face is mostly white heads and black heads. The acne on my back is more cystic. The treatment seems to be working well for all types, though I suspect the cystic acne on my back will be slower to resolve. The price I list is per treatment and per area.

DO not go in the sun! I did and my face turned brown and scabbed. I had to have antibiotics to clear scab. Now my face is amazing no acne... knock on wood