Portland cosmetic dermatologist recs / how much do face lasers cost

January 8, 2020 10:59 AM

I, a late 30s white lady, am financially ready to address some stuff on my face that has bothered me for years (angiomas, redness, brown spots, seb ks, texture). Besides facial treatments, I also have some chest acne and want sebaceous keratoses frozen off my neck/back. Looking for a dermatologist in the Portland, OR area, bonus points for folks around/between SE PDX and Wilsonville. If you have cost estimates for likely stuff like consults and laser, that's also welcome.

I tried my primary care physician, and she said it's out of her scope. I know I could get cheap IPL on Groupon, but I'm protective of my sensitive snowflake face.

FWIW, I currently use a gentle cleanser, sunscreen, Differin, and moisturizer. I could probably use a heavier moisturizer, but everything breaks me out (scowls at CeraVe PM). I am sensitive to SLS.

I've seen this previous question.

posted by momus_window to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total)

This is a roundabout kind of answer but lasers cost the same as a lot of other stuff and may not be as good for your skin. I had a tca chemical peel (cost 650) last year from a dermatologist who was really plugging her new Laser as a solution to my melasma (cost 1300) and I wanted the peel for other skin complaints and not the melasma. I didn’t have a great outcome and it took a few weeks to sort out after seeing a different and more conservative (but very skilled and fancy!!!) dermatologist and I am not keen to do lasers now because they can also cause post inflammatory hyper pigmentation and I want to be more conservative, I think for me the results are better. I’ve had great success and improvement using zinc sunscreen and my skin is much less inflamed, I’ve used a fading cream for the melasma and will do a course of prp (1200 for 3) it makes sense to me and I see more positive reviews about it on real self. I’m 38 fwiw. Good luck!!!!
posted by catspajammies at 1:37 PM on January 8, 2020

I just read the answers to the question you linked to and it sounds like lasers really work for some people and that is awesome, I love hearing about any positive skin treatment stories, all I’m saying is there are doctors out there who have bought fancy lasers and are very keen to use them over more conservative options that vary in price and not all choose the right laser.
posted by catspajammies at 1:41 PM on January 8, 2020

Best answer: I'd recommend, in order of preference, Stanley Cyran at Providence, Kevin White at OHSU, or Jonathan Alexander at Oregon Clinic. First two are definitely more medically focused, but I'd imagine they could recommend locations for the cosmetic procedures (and could handle the other items in office). Dr. Alexander's clinic could definitely do everything you are asking for; the others, I'd clarify on the phone when you call to make an appt.
posted by OneSmartMonkey at 2:53 PM on January 8, 2020

Response by poster: To clarify, I'm guessing a laser is a good option based on my research, I would of course take a doctor's advice into account. I'm asking for recs to avoid folks who are just keen to pay off their fancy new laser.

catspajammies - where, geographically, did you have the treatments done? Cost seems to vary significantly by region.
posted by momus_window at 3:34 PM on January 8, 2020

I had mine in Ireland which is on the lower cost end for Europe. I’ve also had some medical facials and...something else... done in Germany and when I was pricing things out I went through a ton of doctors websites to get a ballpark estimate of what I wanted (a slim few had listed prices) and so I also called a few receptionists and asked for a ballpark figure. If you do that and also check realself it should give you a very good idea of what costs you’re looking at. Hopefully I’ve been some help even though I’m not familiar with Portland... I’ve just had probably 3 or 4 doctors in the last 10 years who only offered more expensive treatments for pigmentation and lackluster skin, while I know that there are more conservative and less expensive weapons, like Retin-A.... I’m fine with more expensive stuff but I’d like to know that I’m getting the full range of options... could be different over here though!
posted by catspajammies at 11:59 PM on January 8, 2020 [1 favorite]