My name is Terra. I commented back on May 19, 2010. I was the 34-year-old (now 35!) who had her venous lake removed via surgery, only to have it return and then not respond to multiple V-Beam laser treatments. I wanted to come back and let you all know that after reading of people's success with the Cutera CoolGlide laser, I found a practitioner in my area who uses it and VOILA--no more venous lake after one treatment! I wanted to give a few more details because when I was researching this, I wanted as much info as possible, so bear with me. My venous lake was pretty large and fairly deep beneath the surface, so there was no chance of bleeding problems. But its size and depth was one reason the V-Beam never worked at least not at the settings my dermatologist was using on it. For anyone interested, to me the V-Beam felt like a blast of air with a mild generalized sting. When I had the venous lake surgically removed, it was cut out in a notch (think pizza slice) and the incision was closed with 3 stitches. There is no detectable scar whatsoever. So if anyone has to have it cut out for some reason, I was very happy with the cosmetic outcome. Another doctor (who told me cutting was my only option and that the CoolGlide wouldn't work!) wanted to basically scrape off a layer of my lip. No thanks! The CoolGlide laser was more painful for me, and again, this was due to the size and depth of my lesion. The doctor had to use a pretty intense setting to get rid of my venous lake, but get rid of it she did! She zapped it multiple times until she got the desired grayish white tone which signifies vessel clearance. It felt like I was being given a shot in my lip, so it was a very localized stinging sensation that increase as she increased the intensity of the laser. She did use a topical numbing agent. The good news is, once the treatment was over, I felt no pain whatsoever, but I did have substantial swelling of my lip for a little over 2 days and had 2 spots where it looked like the laser actually burnt tiny holes in my lip. But all of it was worth it because now my lip is pink and pretty with no more venous lake and no tiny holes, scarring, or discoloration! I had the procedure 12 days ago. So I will report back in several months to let you know if I have long-term success with this treatment. For now, I'm just happy to know there's a quick way to get rid of it. This was a cosmetic procedure, for which I paid $150. I wish you all happy outcomes!
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My name is Terra. I commented back on May 19, 2010. I was the 34-year-old (now 35!) who had her venous lake removed via surgery, only to have it return and then not respond to multiple V-Beam laser treatments. I wanted to come back and let you all know that after reading of people's success with the Cutera CoolGlide laser, I found a practitioner in my area who uses it and VOILA--no more venous lake after one treatment! I wanted to give a few more details because when I was researching this, I wanted as much info as possible, so bear with me. My venous lake was pretty large and fairly deep beneath the surface, so there was no chance of bleeding problems. But its size and depth was one reason the V-Beam never worked at least not at the settings my dermatologist was using on it. For anyone interested, to me the V-Beam felt like a blast of air with a mild generalized sting. When I had the venous lake surgically removed, it was cut out in a notch (think pizza slice) and the incision was closed with 3 stitches. There is no detectable scar whatsoever. So if anyone has to have it cut out for some reason, I was very happy with the cosmetic outcome. Another doctor (who told me cutting was my only option and that the CoolGlide wouldn't work!) wanted to basically scrape off a layer of my lip. No thanks! The CoolGlide laser was more painful for me, and again, this was due to the size and depth of my lesion. The doctor had to use a pretty intense setting to get rid of my venous lake, but get rid of it she did! She zapped it multiple times until she got the desired grayish white tone which signifies vessel clearance. It felt like I was being given a shot in my lip, so it was a very localized stinging sensation that increase as she increased the intensity of the laser. She did use a topical numbing agent. The good news is, once the treatment was over, I felt no pain whatsoever, but I did have substantial swelling of my lip for a little over 2 days and had 2 spots where it looked like the laser actually burnt tiny holes in my lip. But all of it was worth it because now my lip is pink and pretty with no more venous lake and no tiny holes, scarring, or discoloration! I had the procedure 12 days ago. So I will report back in several months to let you know if I have long-term success with this treatment. For now, I'm just happy to know there's a quick way to get rid of it. This was a cosmetic procedure, for which I paid $150. I wish you all happy outcomes!
November 24, 2010 - 6:45amThis Comment
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