Has Anyone Experienced Facial Swelling From BBL Treatment?
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Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:38 am

Hi, this is my first time posting here and wondering if anyone has any experience with BBL (broad band light) treatments used to "zap" age spots on the face. I had my first treatment in early August and other than the brown spots basically turning brown then black and flaking off within a week & 1/2 to two week period, it was great (although painful--like red hot rubberbands being snapped on your face). The results were worth it. I just had a second (and probably last) treatment yesterday to get the remaining spots and although I left the nurse's office fine, within a few hours I was getting puffy welts under my eyes and my cheeks started also getting puffy (as in swelling), and I wasn't too concerned (I used ice packs during the day yesterday), but last night I woke up at 3:00 am looking like a chipmunk. Ordinarily I could probably tolerate this, but I have to work in an office environment. I went into work this morning camoflaged with make-up, but it was pretty apparent my eyes/cheeks were swollen, and I went back to the dr's office to have it checked. They're telling me the swelling will go down with "time" (ya think Smile

and to keep putting ice on periodically.

They did say that in trying to use a higher setting to zap the last remaining spots, that's what caused this.

Has anyone else had this negative experience, and if so, how long did the swelling last? Thanks!

Sat Oct 25, 2014 10:43 am

Hi. I found your post after searching for answers to my own swelling after ppl yesterday. I have had ipl 3 times before, but yesterday was my first bbl treatment. For the first time, I am quite swollen--mainly in the cheeks and jawline. Other than the swelling, I am much more pleased than I was with ipl. I have about 2x more black speckling going on. I just read that treatment should not be mixed between red and brown filters in the same visit. Well, mine was. My technician explained everything she was doing and she actually went from brown filter to red filter TWICE. I have a few spots I am afraid are beginning to blister. I am 25 hours out from the procedure. I did not ice (wish I had). Please keep me updated on how your are doing...

Sat Oct 25, 2014 1:57 pm

Hi,
Wow, I had mine done 7 years ago. Oddly enough, my swelling and minor blistering went down on about day 3 or 4. When I had a chance to ask my nurse practitioner about it later (she was on vacation when I had it done), she said that someone should have told me to take Benadryl. Ahh, hindsight. Anyways, no lasting bad effects or scarring, and unbelievably after 7 years, none of the original age spots or patches ever came back. But I am religious about sunscreen now too.
Hope that helps! Also make sure you are at least having a registered nurse doing the treatments, as mine were.

free skin care · Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:06 am

I had my treatment done 3 days ago and still very swollen, have just taken a benadryl after reading this fingers crossed

free skin care · Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:16 am

I am a big sweller after any of those type treatments. IPls make my face swell like a football. They sometimes prescribe a steroid pack if it gets too bad. If not I take benadryl or bromelain/arnica and that helps. Ice packs and alternate heat plus keeping the face elevated helps as well. Mine usually subsides each day and gone by day 4, bruising another few extra days.

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