Bad experience of London Laser Clinics

I think it’s important that experiences are shared when it comes to Vitiligo clinics and treatments. A lot of new and advanced treatments are not available on the National Health Service in the UK and that means you have to go down the likely more expensive route of private medical care.

I started reading about Excimer 308nm Narrowband UVB laser treatments and it’s high success rate in America, it forces a high intensity beam of UV light at only the affected areas of Vitiligo. It claims to be much safer than other UV treatments and and has less risk of skin cancer(which is why I never attempted UV treatments before). Trying to find somewhere in the UK that could provide this treatment was a nightmare! Only a handful of places offered the treatment and nearly all only provided treatment for Psoriasis(which the Excimer 308nm laser is also used to treat) rather than Vitiligo.

I finally found London Laser Clinics in Fulham, London, who had this to say about their Vitiligo treatment. I was initially told via e-mail that it would cost approximately £70 a session and would take 15mins. They advised I book in for a free consultation.

I travelled to London(about 1hr 10mins from Southampton) and took the tube to Fulham. Their premises is very hard to find and a far cry from the Harley Street type place I was expecting. It looked like a dirty ex-office block above some shops on Fulham Road. I was greeted by an Indian Woman at the reception desk who took my details and asked me to go through and wait in the consultation room(just a room with an office desk) then she followed me in… Turned out she was both receptionist and “Doctor!”. Although I was far from impressed at this point, I still kept an open mind. The first 10 minutes of the consultation seemed fine, I explained my background and showed my affected areas on face and knees. She explained her credentials(although I never saw proof) and it all seemed in order. Then the consultation went very very weird.. I waited for a few months after the consultation and decided to send a complaint e-mail to the clinic and I’ll let that explain:

The following prices were discussed as a course of treatment:

£1700 for just the face.

£2000 for the face and knees.

I accept these prices are high and are so due to it being a private treatment and it was mentioned this works out at approximately £70 per session of treatment.

I’m afraid at this point is where my good experience ended. I honestly felt like I was be spoken to by a salesman and not a medical professional.

It needs to be kept in mind that I have suffered from Vitiligo for 13 years and when one becomes diagnosed with such a potentially disfiguring condition, I’ve carried out obsessive levels of research on causes and treatments.   The second half of my consultation felt like I was being given totally incorrect information purely to gain a “sale” and make me invest in the treatment.

I was first pushed to go for the £2000 treatment and told that I should give up football as this would cause the Vitiligo to reoccur on my knees, this is incorrect as there is no medical evidence to prove that skin trauma actually causes the Vitiligo patches. Since developing Vitiligo I’ve had a number of other injuries(sports related or otherwise) that have caused minor and major lacerations to my skin, none of these areas of skin have ever developed Vitiligo.

When I discussed the Vitiligo on my face, I was told by the consultant:

1. That when Vitiligo develops on the face, I should start have the treatment immediately as it’s a trigger for it to be more aggressive and develop quicker.

and

2. That she could already see it developing around my other eye. Both of these points are incorrect. I developed Vitiligo on my face nearly 2 years ago, and I’ve seen no deterioration in that area(or anywhere else on my body) since. My right eye currently has no signs of Vitiligo in that area, and the consultation was 3 months ago. 

These methods appeared to just be scaremongering to make me purchase the treatments out of fear it would get worse.

 A medical professional giving such giving such false information is unacceptable in my eyes. Surprisingly, I’m actually still considering having the treatment with London Laser purely because the options for excimer laser in the UK are very limited at this time.

I’m planning to document all my experience as well as post on a number of Vitiligo/Psoriasis forums explaining this to other suffers of conditions that are treated with the Excimer laser and actually demonstrating whether London Laser is a safe and viable option.

I am looking for a response to this e-mail to see and I sincerely hope that London Laser take this into consideration. It is likely that I will be booking my treatment with you soon but I only after I’ve a second consultation and I feel comfortable spending such a large sums of money(with no guarantee the treatment will work) and actually trust the people using such a high powered laser to treat my skin.

Regards

Simon“

 

A few days later I got this response:

 

“Dear Simon

Thank you for your mail. The doctor is not available until 4th of May, she will contact you when she returns.

Best regards

secretary

londonlaser“

And that was it! Never heard anything again. She claimed that she had 1000s of Vitiligo sufferers coming from all over the UK, yet I’ve seen nothing about London Laser Clinics on any Vitiligo Forum.

If you’ve used London Laser Clinics for Vitiligo or Psoriasis treatment please get in touch, I’d be interested to hear your experience but otherwise be very cautions. I gave them a chance to repsond and they chose not to, I certainly wont be using them.