Tuberous Sclerosis Home Page * Tuberous Sclerosis and Related Sites * My Family Story
My Photo Album *

Lisa's Laser Experience


This page shows before and after pictures of me. I had laser surgery on the Angiofibromas on my face. Angiofibromas are a manifestation of a disorder called Tuberous Sclerosis. They tend to get worse with age. Mine got to the point where they would bleed so I thought it was time to look into a treatment.

The pictures on this page are not pretty. Beware of that before you decide to look at the full size image. As thumbnails they aren't too detailed. But if you look at the full sized image you will see a big difference. None of the pictures here were professionally taken. These are from my own personal photo album,as you can probably tell. :) They aren't the best of pictures, but they are the best that show the facial angiofibromas.

Click on the thumbnail image to view the full sized image.


DISCLAIMER:

**The information here may not be completely accurate. I tried to be as accurate as possible, but I am not a doctor so I may be a bit off on some of the descriptions of the lasers. I created this page to show the difference that laser surgery can make for some people with Tubeorous Sclerosis and Angiofibromas. This is only *my* personal experience and every person will have a different one. Talk to your doctor to see if laser surgery might work for you.**


Before Surgery

The first 3 pictures are before the first Dermabrasion. You can see why I wanted to get this procedure done. Notice how red and "bumpy" the cheeks and nose are. The dermabrasion fixed that pretty good, as you can probably see in the next set of pictures. Dermabrasion worked better than pulse-dye on me.



Preparation

The next set of pictures are of me preparing to go to one of my appointments and then actually at the doctor's office. In the first picture I have a cream on my face called Emla. That is put on about 2 hours prior to my visits to numb the area that would be worked on.

The second picture is me talking to the doc before the procedure. The machine in the background is the Pulse-Dye Laser that they used on me.

The third picture is me on the table waiting for the doc to begin. This was for the Pulse-Dye procedure.
NOTE: This was *not* the first time I went to get the laser surgery done, so my face already looks a bit better here. I did not get pictures after the first time. This was after about a year of Pulse-Dye (it can only be done every 3 months so I had only gone about 4 times). Also, the very first laser surgery I had done is called Dermabrasion. That was on the first visit and it made a dramatic difference. The Pulse-Dye laser basically lightens the red to a more normal skin tone. Dermabrasion is actually scraping off the "bumps". That is how I understood it anyway. There is a lot more to it but as I said, you should talk to your doctor about the specifics.



During and After Pulse-Dye

The first picture is of the actual Pulse-Dye procedure. The pen-like laser zaps a tiny area at a time (as you can see). Each zap (I don't know how else to describe the burst of laser that does the job) feels like a rubberband being snapped on your face. It's not really too unconfortable but after doing a whole cheek my eyes would water. The whole procedure takes about 10 minutes. They did as much as I could tolerate..which was one cheek.

The next 2 pictures are what my face looks like immediately after the procedure. The 'bruise' goes away after about 3 days. You can see in the "after" pictures how big the area is for each zap. Each little circle is one zap.

The last picture is me leaving with my "hand-full of ice". They would give me a rubber glove and fill it with ice to put on my face for the drive home. During that time there is a bit of stinging and the ice helps alot.



After Laser Surgery

These pictures are after about 2 years of Laser Surgery. As you can see, the left side of my face is lighter in color than the right. This is because the last procedure (dermabrasion) I had done was on the left cheek. They would do one side one visit and the other on the next visit. So that is why there is a difference there.
Also, you probably noticed that near my nose the skin looks pretty 'white' and not bumpy. That is from the dermabrasion. That area was where the most angiofibromas were. The difference between the 'before' pictures and the 'after' pictures is really amazing to me. But as a note, I still am not done with my laser surgery experience. I will continue to add new pictures after each procedure I get done.



I am very happy with the results of my laser surgery. There is such a big difference in the color and "texture" of my face since starting. Totally amazing to me. I have another appointment coming up in October. There will probably be new pictures up here after that time.

October17, 1996. I missed my appointent for laser surgery today. I will have to rescedule, but I am not sure when that will be. I will be sure to write here when I find out the new appointment. I don't expect it to be anytime soon though.

April 21, 1999. I haven't gone back for any treatments for years now. I really want to, but I'm a bit nervous. I keep putting it off, but maybe I'll get my nerve up soon. I'll let you all know when I decide to go again. :-)


Lisa's Laser Surgery Page in existence since July 31,1996.

Back home
Lisa Trainor