Has anyone been burned from Laser hair removal treatments?

Furrygirl · 07-04-2006, 08:50 PM

I recently suffered a nasty burn after having laser hair removal treatment done on my stomach. The burn healed but now I'm left with a very obvious 4 inch long scar. I went back to the laser clinic and spoke with the nurse and she told me to get some fade cream from the drug store and sent me on my way. She didn't seem concerned and told me it will go away. I know it won't just "Go away" and that it will take months to fade and even then you'll still be able to see it. I don't know what action I should take..Should I discontinue treatments and ask for my money back ?? (the treatments are paid in full). I don't know what to do...If I would have known this was going to leave me with a permanent scar I would have just left the hair alone...Its frustrating because I have had good experiences with laser hair removal in the past. Any advice would be appreciated. thanks for listening!

maritime chick · 07-04-2006, 08:58 PM

I was burnt on my face from lazer acne treatment. All my treatments were paid in full too and that was my first one. They told me it was because I didn't close all the curtains in my house for the 2 days after my treatment and I got burnt from being expossed to the sun.
I missed a week of work but luckily there was no permenant scaring. I did go back for 2 other treatments just because I had paid $2000 and couldn't get it back. Luckily the 2 other treatments went well.
They gave me a bunch of other free treatments. I guess to keep me quite. None of them worked I still had Acne really bad then I was diagnosed with PCOS and it all made sense.
I don't know if this helps but that was my experience anyway.

lilanika · 07-05-2006, 08:24 PM

Furrygirl,

I too suffered a large burn on my neck after my first laser treatment. I called the doctor when I got home and she was too busy to see me and told me the burn could not possibly have been from the laser treatment (can you spell malpractice?) I went to a different doctor who gave me a steroid cream and I did not suffer a scar. I went on to have more laser treatments and never had another problem. I was very surprised that I did not end up with a scar given the degree of the burn.

I learned that the first doctor did not perform the proper testing to determine a safe setting for the laser. She had it set way too high for me. On the plus side, the first treatment was the best I had in terms of the hair removal because the setting was so high!

jlucy · 07-05-2006, 11:37 PM

no, I haven't been burned. I know a girl that was burned on her face. The laser place I go to told me part of the problem is when a doctor's office gets a laser machine they get ONE laser and that not all people need the same laser so if someone with a differnet type of skin comes in and gets treatment than that laser is good for they will get a burn. The nurse told me she refused to work at a doctor's office that offered her a job for that very reason.

Jaxanne · 07-09-2006, 04:41 AM

I have a scar on my upper lip from being burnt by a laser in 2000. I know exactly when it happened because I jumped. Apparently, the laser tip wasn't flush on my skin so the cooling tip didn't work. Anyway, my upper lip was swollwn for an entire week and the blister was so big it was absolutely disgusting. This was done in a dermatologist's office by an RN, too. Needless to say, I never went back there nor did I call and let them know what happened to me. I know-that was stupid.

Christina027 · 07-10-2006, 09:36 PM

I have been burned a bunch of times getting laser hair removal treatments. The laser girl said it was normal and I was desperate to get rid of the hair so I continued. I payed for a year package, and I went every month. Towards the end, a new girl was hired to do the laser...from that point on, no more burns.

It makes sense that different lasers are better for different types of skin, but the person operating the machine must be competent also. To keep up with my new hair free look, I try to go once a year for a touch up. I still have never been burned since....

Looking back, I must have been an idiot to think the burns were normal. They were pretty bad. I am so lucky the scars faded.

aimye · 07-10-2006, 10:24 PM

I have never gotten burnt from laser treatment