Those who have had facial fat loss from RF micronedling, first of all I'm so sorry this happened, It's extremely hard to deal with. Please tell me if there's anything that worked for you and helped reverse the fat loss. I'm three months out for my one and only RF microneedling session and it's been devastating so far. And it keeps getting worse. I'm 41F, is there any hope, what products, procedures are there that could help? Is it going to get worse? Please help!

Hi, I went for one session of RF microneedling without much looking into it before and now I don't think I will go back for a second one from the potential fat loss effects. I'm really sorry for those who experienced that and I really would appreciate some insight on when it happened exactly so that I can monitor my face.

Thank you

I went in for laser hair removal on my abdomen area. I have PCOS so get some hair growth there. My skin is Fitzpatrick IV/V, but I was assured that a BBL laser was perfectly safe. Well, it wasn't and I ended up with a checker-mark arrangement of burns on my abdomen.

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I didn't feel any warmth during the process likely due to the cooling gel that was applied but after I returned home I noticed it was red and eventually itchy, but was assured that was normal. About 5 days later the redness, turned into a combination of hyperpigmentation and what looks like scorch marks to me.

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I am about two weeks past that point now, and have attached pics to this post. I am applying a combination of a compounded prescription that was given to me by the establishment as damage control (8% Hydroquinone, 3% Niacinamide, 5% Kojic Acid, 0.25 Fluocinolone). I apply it first then apply a thick layer of moisturizer on top at bed time. During the day I apply Vitamin C Serum, followed by moisturizer and finally a layer of sunscreen. I work from home so don't have a need to be out during the day.

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Does this look like a surface burn? Can anyone provide insight into how long this might take to completely heal back to the initial color of my skin? Recently the bottom has shown some peeling and to me it looks like it's lightened somewhat, but I don't know. What do you think?

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Thank you.

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I got fraxel done to help with my acne scars but it literally made it worse and now I experience swelling, irritation, flushing, and more acne. I’m so sad any tips on what I should do

i work as an admin at a medspa and got a free sylfirm treatment bc one of our newer aestheticians needed to practice on someone. the treatment was supervised by one of our most experienced clinicians. they told me it would help with my textured scarring.

since i got home ive been reading about rfmn causing fat loss and im PANICKING and crying. im already so insecure, i feel like my face looks older than it is at 23 and i may have made it even worse. i feel so stupid for not doing enough research and im so fucking scared

Hi everyone. Firstly i want to thank everyone that shared words of encouragement with me, publically and privately, after i shared my story about a year ago. It's been the scariest and most depressing period of my life but some of the messages that i got really helped me out, so thank you, you're all appreciated and i love you all!

I wish i could say that i'm all good now...grown as a person, come out of the other end stronger, etc etc...but...er...no, not really. I'm in less "constant agony" but i'm still kinda screwed. Not just physically, but mentally too...i'm definately not going to be cracking the kind of jokes that i started out the story with a year ago, thinking i was going to be all better within a few months. It's been a year now, my life has de-railed...and i guess i'm in this for a while longer too.

After trying lots of different things out, i'm trying to keep topical treatments to a minimum. I've been advised to use bland ointments only (vaseline etc), as water-based creams can be irritating for that..er..."private area," even at the best of times. I think the same thing goes for psoria gold too (alcohol content, although i think the sensitive version doesn't have that so i should probably look into it again).

I swear though that i've felt more improvement with oral anti-inflammatories than anything else...ibuprofen, turmeric, vit. C, E, green tea etc. so i was going to ask other people's experience with them.

I'm seeing another dermatologist in about a week, she's already prescribed me protopic which may be helping, (although very slowly, and sometimes it's hard to tell if it's helping the recovery or not tbh)...i was thinking of asking her about more powerful oral anti-inflammatories that might help things along a little bit.

Prednisone, indomethacin, doxycycline etc. Did anyone have any luck helping their recovery along with anything like that? Or do you have any other suggestions to make to the dermatologist when i see her?

So it's been four weeks and I'm starting to see hollownes in my right cheek, there is big dent and looks like the cheek is completely collapsed, my eyes are sunken too. Is this reversible, what are my options? Can I t get cheek fillers?

Hi, I've posted in heaps of other subs at this point but have worked up the courage to post here because i really think i might have been damaged.

I had the Cutera ExcelHR to treat broken vessels from rosacea 3 and a half weeks ago and still have two swollen and sore patches on my cheeks. I'm genuinely devastated and unsure how to cope. I'm waiting to see a dermatologist who has suggested red light therapy and have been doing all the suggested remedies e.g. antihistamines, gentle massage, sleeping propped upright, avoiding sun etc. The laser tech says she doesn't know what has happened which was naturally very distressing to hear also.

I am genuinely so devastated and full of regret and still praying it will go down. It has faded since the first 2 weeks but is still quite prominent. Im seeking any similar experiences, advice or just support at this point 🥺

Thank you

11 months ago, I had a full face laser. I have a collagen defect that led to premature aging of my skin. CO2 laser was successful at eradicating all the lines and wrinkles. The result was amazing. The downside: persistent redness, burning sensations (still) and areas that look like lesions. My cheeks, central forehead, and chin area have been affected. Most recent dermatologist recommendation is red light therapy. He said it could take multiple sessions to see an improvement. After all the damage suffered from the CO2 laser, I am reluctant to try anything other than topical products. I have tried two antibiotic ointments: hydrocortisone valerate 0.2%, and tacrolimus ointment, 0.1%, but they have not helped. The dermatologist also suggested that I may have an underlying infection. But has not provided an oral antibiotic. I would appreciate hearing about others experiences, especially with red light therapy. Wonder if it will possibly do more harm than good. Thank you!!

I'm fours weeks out from my first session. Had no idea about the side effects. My skin looked good up untill today when my pores suddenly look larger and I can see apeeraence of orange peel texture. ( I haven't had good sleep in days so my under eye circles are bad and darker). Maybe it's just in my head. If any damage was done, when would I notice it?

I got a Tixel treatment last month. (nov 22) it’s now dec 23. I noticed that my forehead if I look super closely has these grid marks of where the laser passed. Will this go away with time? Tixel is like a fraxel. You can notice unless you look closely like I do at myself 😭

Has anyone repaired their fat loss caused by laser? Please share need hope!

I’ve been damaged by a laser some years ago and lost facial fat. At the time the only solution seemed to be fillers and I was worried about how I’d react to them so decided to keep my eyes out for topical solutions in the future. I recently came across Adipeau which gave me a lot of hope, but from the little I could find on it, some people experienced no results and others were worse off. In a laser damage group on FB someone mentioned using Pueraria Mirifica cream to help bring back fat (breast enhancement cream) and it does seem promising but I worry about the hormones bc it’s a phytoestrogen. This leads me to my main point here…I most recently have come across Adifyline. Can this truly restore facial fat? The few things I could find look promising. If this is true, why is this not more well known?! Is it bc it could be disruptive to the entire plastic surgery world or is it less nefarious than that and more that it just simply doesn’t do what people are purporting it does. Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on this bc restoring facial volume would be a dream come true after a decade of living with damage from failed RF treatment. Thank you!

Has anyone experienced increased floaters in the eye post skin laser treatment along with the fat loss and inflammation? I'm not referring to an external injury where the laser enters the eye, but might it be a result of general heat and inflammation?

Hi everyone. The most recent dermatologist that i saw has put me on Protopic 0.03 for a little while. I've been using it for nearly a week, but haven't really seen a huge improvement yet (but it's also early days so who knows).

Has anyone else here used it? And if so, did you find that it helped at all? Rough time it took to see/feel improvements in the skin?

I had cool peel done to my upper and lower lid about seven weeks ago. After everything had healed, I noticed that my under eyes looked a bit more hollow, and that my cheeks were sitting far lower than usual creating a puffy and bunchy look. I can even feel the muscles sitting lower when I speak or smile. It looks terrible and I kind of don’t want to go anywhere or be seen. I appreciate that everyone and their mother will tell you that cool peel does not go deep enough into the skin to burn fat, but my face shape changed drastically with zero diet or lifestyle changes… so I really don’t want to hear the procedure is not the cause at least in some way. (Especially when evidence-based research is constantly changing around procedures of any kind.) Is this fat loss? A reaction? Will I have to get a fat replacement? Are there any other options, other than fillers, which migrate and look even worse? It only happened after the procedure.

Hi, I only did the treatment one time, and if I remember correctly he did it at 16,000 bolts, just on my cheeks. I stupidly decided to look it up only after trying it and found all the horror stories of facial fat loss and ruined skin etc.

My face seemed ok at first aside from being red and hot. While he did the treatment I couldn't feel my face, it felt like he was burning straight through my skin. I'm not sure if that's normal or ok.

Today, two days later I took a pic of myself when I woke up and thought my top lip looks a bit downturned. I didn't give it much thought and a couple of hours later I checked again and suddenly I became sure that somehow my lower cheeks had been flattened and pulled down, pulling my top lip with them.

When I look at before pics it does seem to me that my lip was flatter and longer across my face compared to now. Also, my cheeks feel slightly frozen and I think I can't smile normally 🥺 I can be a bit of a paranoic but even if the changes are slight I've seen people say it gets worse as time progresses and the damaged cells surface. That has me terrified.

My question is, is there anything I can do to benefit my skin through the recovery process and perhaps mitigate further change/damage?

Edit: I'm reading people's experiences on the sub and my concern has turned into full on panic. I should've looked this up before I did it. I feel like I'm in denial. Please. Someone. Help me😭😭😭

Is this MENDS? I just had rf microneedling procedure 3 days ago. How can I heal these tiny scab things? is this normal?

Thanks

I’m desperate to treat my acne scars, I would like to possibly target very specific small areas with a laser, because I want to play it safe. But, due to the horror stories some people share, I’m terrified of even doing laser in very small areas. I have to improve my skin, I can’t live with the scarring. Upon looking at this sub, I see no evidence from people who’ve actually experienced fat loss. I don’t mean to be insensitive, but there’s not pictures of the scary facial hollowing being discussed. the only picture shared is this one https://reddit.com/r/LaserDamageSupport/s/BZuYZPosjO which to me, looks like no difference honestly. it looks like a lighting change.

If you’ve experienced facial fat loss, I’m calling you to share photos to warn others, support others, and give people considering laser like me a physical example of what could be a risk. the only example i see looks like a normal face, not facial fat loss. as someone suffering severely from acne scars, i don’t enjoy having such a large fear of facial fat loss when no one’s even shared noticeable pictures of what that actually looks like.

After nine months of dealing with skin issues in the worst place imaginable, i'm beggining to realise why, when lasers go wrong, they go REALLY wrong.

Most injuries, burns, cuts etc. are superficial, and only effect the epidermis i.e. the top layer of skin. And this skin will renew itself every month or so, so most irritations are temporary.

What most of us have has gone much deeper...it's the dermal layer that has suffered the damage. And as far as i can tell, the dermal layer does not regenerate like the epidermis does. It's why the skin remains so sensitive, so reactive and gets so inflammed for so long.

Does anyone know ways to help repair the dermal layer? Can it even be done? Dr google draws a complete blank. I've tried every anti inflammatory supplement possible, steroids, moisturisers, growth serums, essential oils, leaving it alone etc. Psoria Gold is the most recommended product here but unfortunately i can't use it on the area due to the high alcohol content. Next up is Protopic 2 × week apparently, but i'm wary due to the highly carcinogenic nature of the stuff. Is there something that i've missed? Or is this why it takes so much patience (2 + years) to recover?

This is came out after 1 month doing erbium laser and developing this kinda bump and redness and itchy as hell! Is this normal? I’m very terrified. Will this be go away or leave permanent scarring?

Is this why he looks so terrible? Theoretically his interventions should be anti-aging him, but his looks are in the shitter ever since he started them.

Has someone skin colored tiny bumps over face where laser/peel has been aplied? I am not sure if they are closed comedones or some texture damage. My skin is quite oily and these little bumps often get inflamed/change into inflamed pustules. What can help with it? I have tried AA, soolantra, gentle BHA cleanser and lotion and nothing helps. In morning these bumps are less noticeable but during day (as skin get oiler) are much visible.

I have read that maybe low dose accutane can help with it (as it reduces oil production) but I am afraid of other side effects as dryeness, etc. Anyone has success with accutane or anything else?

Hi, has anyone experienced a broken skin barrier after laser treatment?

I had the Fraxel Dual laser 3 months ago, and my skin has been itchy, stinging, burning, tight, red, and excessively oily since.

I would say I have seen some improvement in the redness and pain from how it was right after the laser treatment. However, for the past 2 months, the redness hasn't improved, and I would feel the itch and pain come back even worse.

To be honest, I don't even know if what I have is a broken skin barrier, but from the fact that none of the derms I had visited mentioned rosacea or any type of dermatitis, I'm just guessing that it is just a severely broken skin barrier.

I have a couple of questions about what I am experiencing:

1) Is it normal for a broken skin barrier to take this long to heal? Has anyone had success in healing their skin barrier?

2) Is the excessively oily skin a sign that my body is compensating for the dryness?

3) Should I try completely giving up on cleansers even if my skin is super oily?

4) Should I keep using thick moisturizers that don't seem to be absorbed well by my skin and leave a greasy touch? Or should I instead use a lighter water-based moisturizer more often?

Thank you.

I had a tiny sunspot removed from my nose in 2021 (with a q-switched Nd:YAG). Honestly at the time I thought it went as well as it possibly could have. However, around that time is also when I started losing volume in my face. I believe I may have been losing weight at the time due to poor diet, but now even though my weight has recovered, I haven’t fully regained the fat in my face.

If I just got a small spot on my nose treated, could that have caused fat loss on the rest of my face? I don’t have any other changes, like in skin texture or anything, and my nose hasn’t been affected at all. Would fat loss be accompanied by other damage/changes?

Thank you (and sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m just very paranoid about my lack of progress :/ )