Contact & pigment assessment

If you are worried now

If there is blistering, weeping or severe pain in the treated area, skin that is peeling away, fever with spreading redness, heat or pus, patches of skin turning white, a mole or spot that changes or bleeds, darkening spreading beyond the treated area, or any eye symptom after treatment near the eye, seek care the same day or immediately as the finding requires. Blistering and a spreading infection are same-day problems; eye symptoms after treatment near the eye are an emergency. This website is not an emergency channel and is not monitored as one.

When to call rather than attend

Pigment that is settling is reviewed at the interval your team planned. Anything that is not settling, that is darkening rather than fading, that is painful, or that you cannot classify, is reported by telephone so that the team can decide whether you need to be seen. If you are unsure which of the three changes you are looking at, describe what you see and let the team decide rather than deciding for yourself that it can wait.

What to bring or send

Bring the record of the session — the date, the areas treated, and the class of device used — and anything that has been applied to the skin since, including creams prescribed elsewhere and anything bought without a prescription. Bring photographs taken in the same light at intervals, because they show the direction the colour is moving in rather than only how it looks today. Bring a list of your medication, and say if you have had recent sun exposure.

What the assessment covers

The examination records the history and the interval, reads the pattern of the change against untreated skin in the same light, uses dermoscopy where the surface pattern is not clear, and photographs the area in a standardised way. It answers two questions: which of the three changes this is, and whether the skin is still moving. You should leave knowing what is being watched, what is being prescribed, when it will be reviewed, and what would change the plan.

Fees, records and privacy

This site does not quote prices, because the plan depends on the findings and is discussed directly at consultation. What was seen and what was advised is documented so that the record follows you, and photographs taken at each visit are what allow the colour to be judged rather than remembered. Clinical photographs are not published or used for teaching without a separate consent you are free to refuse.