I'd come to Imperial with high hopes, but these were fully dashed by an all-around awful experience. I've chosen to describe it in full, in case it helps someone avoid a similar fate (while acknowledging that Imperial generally has very good reviews and my bad experience may be an outlier).
Things started well enough. While the intake consultant said some dubious things (oddly claiming, for instance, that Sculptra "needs bone to adhere to"), Dr. Bartos herself seemed knowledgeable and personable, and I agreed to a significant treatment plan to deal with some hyperpigmentation and other issues.
I scheduled my first microneedling treatment, and from there things went poorly. First, I was given questionable pre-procedure instructions, being told to fully shave on the day of my procedure (I asked them twice about this, since a quick web search reveals it to be a bad idea, but they insisted), and also being told I didn't need to wash my face before coming in (the assistant said they would clean it themselves - which isn't a bad idea, per se, but keep reading...).
When I arrived for prep, the prep assistant (now the fourth different person I'd dealt with) made no attempt to clean my face - which had heavy moisturizer and sunscreen on it - before beginning to apply numbing cream. When I explained the situation to her, she seemed surprised, before attempting to clean my face with - of all things - saline solution. After acknowledging that the solution wasn't removing my sunscreen well (after all, sunscreen is formulated not to dissolve in saltwater), and after rubbing my face to the point of irritation, she proceeded to apply the numbing cream, which now stung quite a bit, perhaps partly due to the irritation from the rubbing, and partly due to my having recently shaved, until the numbing took effect. In retrospect, I wish I'd called the whole thing off at this point, but I'd come this far, so...
The same assistant then drew my blood for PRP, and that actually went well, which helped restore my confidence in the proceedings.
Dr. Bartos herself did the microneedling. The prep assistant was present, and their conversation seemed to indicate that the assistant was new to the microneedling process. This explained the questionable prep, but also made me a little nervous again. As for procedure itself, I don't quite know how to assess it. I've had microneedling done before and after this with different providers, and relative to those other experiences, this one seemed a bit more aggressive. In addition to the standard protocol of drawing the pen across the skin in circles and in a grid-like manner, she occasionally dabbed my face with the pen in a sort of stabbing motion, and in the end, relative to the other sessions I've had, my face was a bit bloodier and rawer after this one. Dr. Bartos seemed to suggest everything was as it should be, though, so I wasn't too worried.
I went home and followed post-procedure instructions to a T, but things didn't seem right. My face remained sore and raw well into the next morning, by which time signs of significant irritation and inflammation were beginning to show. I didn't appear to be healing well by that second evening and was starting to experience swelling, scabbing, and bruising, particularly in the more heavily treated areas. On the third morning, when things had gotten worse, I called Imperial to get help and was told I would receive a call from the medical staff. That call didn't come until eight-ish hours later, around 5p. This was now the fifth different person I'd dealt with for a simple treatment, and the conversation was perplexing and frustrating. She first seemed to suggest that my condition likely had nothing to do with the microneedling (??!), and later suggested I was probably experiencing a reaction to the hydrocortisone I had applied for the first time that very afternoon in an attempt to treat the issue while awaiting the call. Again, baffling. She told me that if I was "still concerned tomorrow", I should send an email to them at "info@..." to describe my condition so that Dr. Bartos could respond herself.
By that next day, things were somewhat better, but being far from healed, I did send that email (and placed another call a couple of days afer that to let them know I still hadn't recovered and needed to cancel my next treatment session), yet never heard from them again (apart from the marketing messages I still get).
It took a few more days for my skin to heal, and I was left with significant dyspigmentation in a couple of the areas that had been inflamed. That was now a few months ago, and I'm still dealing with this. The damage has been resistant to treatment, but I'm hopeful it will ultimately resolve (with further medical attention).
Yelp reviews apparently have a character limit, so I'll leave it at that. This has been a lot to process, and I'm still working through it...
(I'd considered sharing photos, but they're personal and bit gory.) read more