Enlighten Laer review: Negligence

To whom it may concern, April 9th, 2013
Re: Enlighten Laser; Dr. Molly Mears
I felt I needed to write about my experience at this establishment, as I am still suffering with the consequences.
I first heard about Enlighten Laser on the radio, and then in the value pages that comes in the mail.
I was interested in the bioidentical hormones. I had been diagnosed with Hashimotos thyroid disease in 2000, and had been on hormones since my hysterectomy in 1998. I made an appointment and went in for this. Dr. Mears puts me on a different thyroid medication, and the bioidentical hormones. She also put me on vitamins and a few other supplements. At first I felt okay, but after six months, I started having some issues. I didn’t know what was causing them. I was experiencing extreme hair loss and numbness and tingling in my hands, feet, legs and arms and heart palpitations and tachycardia (high heart rate). I called Dr. Mears office and spoke with her medical assistant; she called me back, and told me to take more thyroid medication. I do know that hair loss can be caused by either not enough thyroid medication, or too much. This continued from June 2012 to October 2012, with me calling several times a month with these issues. Not once did Dr. Mear’s call me personally, nor did she have me come in. She just continued to slightly change my thyroid medication. I finally went to my Family Dr, and he immediately checked my thyroid levels and took me from 240 mg daily down to 60 mg. He said that I was on way too much. This was the cause of the hair loss and possibly the heart problem. By now, I was diagnosed with neuropathy, hence the problems with my extremities, because of the high dose of thyroid medication, it had made me toxic and caused the nerve damage. When I first went in for this treatment, Enlighten Laser made me sign a contract, and you could not get out of it for three months. I found this odd. I had never been forced to sign a contract for medical care before. After meeting with Dr. Mears In October 2012, and told her what my Dr. had discovered, she did not have much of a reaction. I asked her if she knew how to treat the Neuropathy I now had, and she said no.
I decided then that it was not safe to continue with her treatment. I asked if they could cancel the contract and was told no. So, they continued to charge me $289.00 a month for medical treatment I no longer felt safe receiving from her.
Before I started having these symptoms, I asked about the photo facial’s they performed. I had received them before, at another Dr.’s office, r but had not had a good experience. I talked with Dr. Mears Husband, Chris. He was the one over this treatment. I told and showed him the damage from the last time I had done it. He stated that the dark spotted pigment on my neck was because it had been done incorrectly, I had been burnt. He assured me that, yes, he could correct it.
I make an appointment, thinking that Chris was going to do the treatment. Again, I was forced to sign a contract for this procedure. It was $109.00 a month for 18 months.
When I get there, they do not use any numbing cream, as I had done before. It was extremely painful. I realize that I have a few more to have done, due to the contract, so I ask for a prescription for the numbing cream for the next time. I asked them why they did not do this for their patients, and was told they did not want to use one of their rooms for the hour it would take for the numbing.
A few weeks later, I see that not only is the left side of my neck worse, (dark brown spotty pigment) but my right side, which had had little damage, looks worse than my left side did previously.
When I see Dr. Mears later, I tell her about this, and she said she didn’t know what had happened.
She did not seem to care. The next time I have different areas done, (not my neck, ever again) I put the numbing cream on at home, and go in for my appointment. I am told that I had put on too much cream, that I was only to put it on one area at a time, and I had put it on my face, chest and arms. The side effects of too much are dangerous. I felt they had not given me any information about this and should have. They were trying to get it off me quickly. I told them they should do this for the patients, and again they said they did not want to use a room for the hour it would take. I felt this was negligent on their part. After it healed the second time, I start getting the dark spots and spider veins back. I mention this to Dr. Mear’s, and she said, yes, this happens often. How come I was not told this before signing the contract. I would not have done this if this was the case, why bother...
The third problem I had was with the Botox injections I received. I had it done at Dr. Mear’s office three times .The first time went well with no problems. The second time it was not done evenly. The right side of my face did not move at all, but the left side did. It looked bad. The third and final time I was given an injection under my left eye, and immediately I noticed it changed my eyesight in that eye. It was blurry. I mentioned this to Dr. Mear's, and again, no reaction or concern.
I have not been back since October 2012, but I was charged until February 2013. They refused to cancel my contract. When I threatened to turn them in, they then did cancel it, but only one month early. They still got a lot of money from me, for services I did not receive, nor did not feel safe receiving.
I am still suffering with the neuropathy, which has really changed the quality of my life. Not only do I have constant pain, but walking and exercising have become difficult. My hair has stopped falling out, but has not grown back. I ended up losing half my hair, and have since discovered the original cause of that. My heart problem has resolved, but I have discovered what caused it in the first place. The original cause of the hair loss was not only too much thyroid medication, but the testosterone that Dr. Mear’s put me on produces a chemical/hormone called DHT. DHT causes male pattern baldness in some women. This is what was happening. The cause of the heart palpitations and tachycardia was due to the vitamins she had me on. People with Hashimoto’s thryroiditis cannot have zinc or iodine, it counteracts the thyroid medication. She had me on two a day, along with the high dose of thyroid medication. While this was happening, my family Dr. put me on a beta blocker, but when I started on my allergy shots, I could not have this medication. It was then I asked Dr. Mear’s for some xanax to help slow my heart rate down. It did work, but since it has resolved by going off the vitamins, I no longer have this issue. I feel that Dr. Mears is negligent in many areas, and does not have any integrity. She did cause harm to me, and refused to do anything about it, but continued to charge me. It is all about money for them. They do not care about their care or results.
I feel they need to be shut down to avoid causing more harm to others, or at the very least, investigated and put on probation, so they can be watched.
Let me know if I can provide you with any other information.
Thank you,
Kim Cormier, LPN, Mickel Therapist, Author