So we all have those clients that come in and pull our heart strings. One such client of mine started coming to see me in November 2014, with the complaint of severe active acne,  acne scarring and severe hair growth on face. She is Hispanic, skin type 4, age 24, with no previous laser treatments. Being in the laser industry and an aesthetician for almost 10 years, I instantly thought PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and told her to visit her doctor and have some testing done. She returned to my office beginning of January saying her diagnosis for PCOS was negative.

So I began her on our normal treatment regimen for her problems. We changed her skin care line to Elta MD foam enzyme cleanser and Elta Clear moisturizer/sunscreen combo. We also discussed dietary changes such as sugar, gluten and fatty foods. With just the Elta products and simple diet changes, her active acne began to diminish within a month, so I performed a CO2 fractional. Our next issue we wanted to address was the amount of hair covering the whole face. We began treating her with the Cynosure Elite 1064nm Nd:YAG laser every 4 weeks. After 3 treatments, we noticed we really weren’t getting the kind of clearing for hair that we should experience. We decided even though she is a darker skin type, that the 755nm Alexandrite at a lower setting may be a better fit. We also decided to bring her in every 2 weeks for treatment. After 3 more laser hair removal treatments we could tell a noticeable clearing in hair growth and diminished size and color of the active acne!

I see clients every day, so why did this girl impact me so much? Well, after her acne was getting under control we could see her coming out of her shell. She opened up to me one day and said she is from a large family and neither her parents or sisters ever said she looked pretty. But through her downcast eyes and her hair covering half her face she was a pretty girl, we just needed to have her see it in the mirror, too.

Unfortunately, our client was not able to return for another treatment for 4 weeks, and by then the active acne had returned to a least a grade 3. She believed the problem was dietary and admitted to eating high fatty foods over the last few weeks. We preformed extractions and recommended staying on the Elta MD.  On the plus side her hair growth had really subsided. We are still going to perform laser hair removal with the 755nm Alexandrite every 2 weeks and continue to monitor her progress.  We will keep you all updated.