Tell her to google "IPL and Laser Damage" she will find plenty, including my blog. Both URLs are in my posts here if you click on the "www" or "blog".

Bugjune, I am sorry this happened to you, and I am glad you are sharing this. It may very well prevent it from happening to others.

I had a couple questions: You were discharged from the procedure to a hotel, with no F/U appointment, or instructions on what to look for, like an elevated temp? Burns are very susceptible to infection, and S. Aureus is everywhere. If you were sent out on your own with no follow up, or your calls were ignored, or you were given medical advice by a receptionist, that is a standard of medical care violated right there.

And it sounds like you were administered an IV (cephalosporin) in the office, so there was some 'suspicion' of serious infection, of several days duration. Given the large area of infection and time elapsed, your systemic problems should have been suspected. You are not expected to know this! Don't let anyone make you feel guilty or responsible.

You weren't referred because he didn't want this known, and thought that he could 'handle' it. Yes, surgeons should be able to deal with routine post surgical infections, but they should also know when they are over their head. This guy has a serious god complex. A lot of surgeons develop this. My dad used to say "If you ask any surgeon to list the World's Three Greatest Surgeons, he will be hard pressed to come up with the other two names."

Good luck.

Zebra, Thanks for your input here! And yes, oddly enough there was NO (as in zero, zip, nada) instruction in our post-treatment sheet about what to look for (high fever, drop in blood pressure, vomiting, diarrhea, LIVID skin!) - like obvious signs of staph infection. That seem absurdly irresponsible - especially given that this doc's standard of practice was *NOT* to administer any antibiotic at all! If I had not been dragged to his office days into my fever, I would NEVER (NOT EVER) have even received an antibiotic.

The nurse is who I credit with saving my life. She could see I had the eye infection, blood pressure had dropped to 110/60; fever near 104F; vivid purple legs; tongue coated with something white, mouth sores, achy lower back, yeah, she KNEW. All they had to do was put me in a wheelchair and roll me 100 yards, and I would've been IN the hospital next door. But no, they kept it quiet, gave me the IV right there in a straightback chair - was told I couldn't bend my arm for 4.5 hours. Forget about lying down or being comfy. It was the longest day of my life as I stared at the ceiling ... my huge swollen feet ... the treatment room I'd sat in on many an occasion getting Juvey and Botox ... still clueless as to how dire my condition was.

Even after that IV episode, my MixTo doc NEVER said, "GET TO A DOCTOR ASAP! I fear for your life!" Nope. Just kept giving me wrong diagnoses one after the other, like a wild goose chase. No crisis management plan whatsoever. That's why I am not returning to him. He has lost all credibility with me, and faith in him.


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Just had someone join the support board (have a new board now, btw) who said that she did a LOT of research on IPL and never found one bad thing, but she was not searching on the right terms. If you just put in "IPL" or "Intense Pulsed Light" in a search, all that comes up is the 'good' stuff. They have to search on IPL damage or IPL fat loss, but then they would have to know that it caused damage or fat loss to search on it, a catch-22.

Our new board is not coming up in google yet but the old one is (IPL and Laser Damage Support). I also started a FB group hoping to get some exposure for this. CNN showed interest, Erin Brockovich showed interest, news reporters and TV stations but they all end up not fighting the machine that is the device makers. These are FDA approved devices, case closed. It means someone taking on the FDA over this and no one in our group is equipped to do it nor am I.

Tell her to google "IPL and Laser Damage" she will find plenty, including my blog. Both URLs are in my posts here if you click on the "www" or "blog". I get around 5 emails a week or comments on the blog about a new 'victim' or "I never knew before I had IPL that this could happen" or "my doctor never told me any of this." When they go to their doctors the doctors say "I've never heard of this". I've devoted almost 2 years to this as have many on the board who've stuck with it, trying to get the word out. Maybe one day, but doctors don't believe or listen. Think of how dismissive your doctor was in your last email and magnify that by a 1000 and that how is all of these ladies are treated. It is frustrating and hurtful to everyone current, past, and future. Some are told they are too 'emotional' or 'seeing things'. Dr. T in FL recently saw one of the ladies for a consult for fat grafting. He said she was so 'distorted' he did not know if he could fix it all. Can you imagine?

Please warn people. I know you had a good experience with IPL but many have not AND they never knew it was even a possibility. I used to tell people to just read the stories on the support board. If they bothered to read, they often never went through with the IPL. At least making them aware of the issues gave them a chance to make an informed decision.

Do you mind if I tell your story on the support board? I'll post a link to your MMH post so others can read in your own words.

That doctor is a waste and is disgusting.

Hey Bug,

How are you doing now? You mentioned a few days ago you still had new blisters coming up?