News Online: Woman warns of cosmetic laser treatment

Published online at GlobalTVEdmonton.com on January 27, 2011.


Linda Hoang, Global News: Thursday, January 27, 2011

Woman warns of cosmetic laser treatment

A Manitoba woman has a warning for Edmontonians considering going under the laser for cosmetic reasons.

Alyce Brook says she was left with serious burns after receiving treatment at an Edmonton clinic.

Brook was visiting family in the city and decided to get laser treatment on her hands and chest at the Ultra Medic Laser Skin Studio, after hearing her sister had gotten the same procedure done the week before.

But the day after her $1,200 treatment, when she was driving back home, Brook began feeling discomfort.

The pain became so unbearable, she went to emergency at the hospital where she was diagnosed with second and third degree burns.

“It even got to the point where some of my skin was breaking and bleeding in some areas,” Brook said.

Brook had to have homecare for a week in order to change her bandages and help her get dressed.

“The homecare people told me the kind of burn I had would be like lying in the sun for 24 hours straight,” she said.

Brook asked the doctor who had performed the surgery on her for a refund but he stopped returning her calls.

Dr. Sukhdave Seehra, who performed the procedure, is not registered in Alberta but under provincial law you are not required to be a doctor or have any medical training to do cosmetic laser treatments, something that has shocked Brook and prompted her to tell her story.

“I wouldn’t want it to happen to anyone else because I know what I went through and its no picnic, it’s a horrible ordeal,” Brook said.

It’s also something that the medical community is concerned about.

“Anybody can buy a laser, anybody can operate a laser,” said Dr. Trevor Theman with the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons.

“Isn’t that a little bit scary? We think that the use of lasers especially in the treating of conditions or treating the skin should be a restricted activity.”

Seehra refused to appear on camera but maintains that laser treatment did not cause Brook’s burns. He said she likely caused the burns herself by exposing the treated skin to sunlight, something he advises clients not to do.

But Brooks disputes the doctor’s explaination, saying it was mid-October when she had the procedure and her skin wasn’t exposed.

Since then Brooks skin has mostly healed.

Alberta Health and Wellness said cosmetic laser treatments will be reviewed.

With files from Julie Matthews

Click here to read the article on the Global Edmonton website.

1 Comment

  • joe says:

    Ultra medic skin is a good clinic but sometime it happens when patient skin does not react with treatment which is applied on it. this rashes could be due to skin problems else ultramedicskin is good

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