NC for this so it won't link to my other posts. I am a medical doctor (admittedly in a field as far away from Dermatology as you can get) but feel embarrassed and ashamed that my vanity got the better of my judgement. I hesitated to write this but as I expect the IPL devices will be going on Black Friday deals soon I wanted to share with others what I wish I had known a year ago.
I bought the Braun IPL Silk-Expert Pro 5 and used it on a low setting. I followed all the instructions. It felt like it was burning at the time, but I read that it was common to feel painful at first before getting used to it, so grit my teeth and carried on. I noticed some bar marks a few days later, which were intensely itchy, but these faded over a couple of weeks so I stupidly carried on. I wanted lovely hair free legs!
It was actually fine for a few months, when I used it weekly. Maybe my skin built up a tolerance to it? I don't know. It seemed to be having an effect. I then had a break of about a month, and used it again.
Huge mistake. Despite using on a low setting, the same as before, I managed to give myself second degree burns which have permanently scarred. It's awful. Long story short - I have dark burn marks on my arms and legs that are not going to go away.
Braun were initially helpful and responsive. After establishing that I had followed all the directions to the letter, they suggested that I might have gone over the same area twice. Very possibly I did this by accident - you can't see where you have already gone during a session, so it's easy to do. They booked a pick up the device and advised that they would arrange to refund me once received. (This was all I asked for - I haven't tried to claim anything further - I accept it was a risk that I took). This was a month ago; tracking shows it was delivered, which they have acknowledged, but have now stopped responding to my emails. I don't really care any more as a refund won't un-scar me.
My dermatologist friend (how I wish I'd asked her before rather than after burning myself) has since told me that these are really not devices that should be used by untrained people at home. She is lovely but I felt so stupid when she said this as it's so obvious in retrospect. I am sure there are a lot of people who have no issues but please just consider if it is worth the risk.
I have found this surprisingly upsetting to write so I'm not sure I can actually bring myself to come back to this thread routinely. It's more of a PSA I felt duty bound to share, as I searched MN for experiences before buying mine. I will check my PMs though if anyone has specific questions, and will update it if Braun eventually do get back to me.