Home
0
My background:
I was on Accutane for a loooooong time - continuously for about 30 months, and on 80-100mg daily for the majority of that time. I came off Accutane in July 2010, so it's been about 11 months - and mostly it's been good and acne free!
While I didn't have a lot of deep, all-over scarring, I had pretty uneven skin texture and tone. It seemed silly to go through so much on Accutane, and not follow up with scar removal.
In November of last year, I had profractional laser resurfacing on both of my cheeks, and it worked well, but there were still a few marks. (I wish I'd taken photos! Silly me. Learned this time around.) If anything, I was more conscious of the few marks that were left when I had fewer scars!
So last week, I went back for another round.
In my pre-laser consult with my dermatologist, he asked if I could afford more that the four days off work that profractional lasering required... "well, no, not really," says I, "but I don't really care what my co-workers think of me, so what's the offer, doc?"
His suggestion was a combo effort of ablative lasering (frying off good and bad skin), and then spot-attack deeper scars with profractional. Cons - 10 days of looking like hell rather than four, more painful, more risk of infection, more expensive. Pros - much better results so I won't need another round, and because I've been such a long term patient he'd do me a good bargain! So I'm a sucker for a bargain, and I'm chasing top results, I don't care about down time - so, beam me up, Scotty.
Once the lasers came out:
A topical numbing cream was applied to my cheeks, and I was left to numb for 30 minutes. My dermatologist then gave me with 10 shots of local anaesthetic, 6 to the right cheek, 4 to the left. The numbing cream did nothing to stop the pain of the shots, but I would not have had it done without anaesthetic, no way, no how. (I'm also a wimp!)
The lasering machine is loud. And the smell of your own burning flesh is hardly a pleasant one. For the most part (thank you anaesthetic) it was painless, except for a few sweet spots close to my nose and close to my mouth, on my jawline, and under my eyes. And those spots hurt enough that I did go into mild shock by the end of it (shaking uncontrollably, sweats, crying). The pain was like...well, burning, obviously. The only thing I can compare it to is spilling boiling water on your hand.
The actual lasering took about 20 minutes all up.
The nurse slathered on some vaseline, strapped gauze to my face, and gave me some painkillers. For a couple of hours after the lasering, it feels like you're suffering pretty bad sunburn; hot, tingly, you can feel your pulse through it. It's pretty uncomfortable, but I haven't found this part of it terribly unbearable either time.
Once the bandages come off:
The worst part of post treatment is the first two days aftercare. It's disgusting, not for the weak of stomach. I found the hardest part touching the treated areas to keep them covered in vaseline :\
For about 24 hours post-treatment, you're a mess of blood, vaseline, and serous fluid. Keep plenty of tissues on hand, because you will have to wipe various fluids up before they drip off your chin. You have to sleep on your back, with a towel under your head, because there will be night-time drippage. And drink plenty of water. I woke up the morning after this round really, really dehydrated - another problem I didn't want to deal with!
But after those 24 hours, things get pretty good! For me, it was painless enough to wash (with lots of water, trying not to touch it too much, gentle cleansers only, maybe a very soft face-washer, and definitely a soft towel), all of the bleeding had stopped, and the wounds had stopped weeping serous fluid. It does take a bit of guts to touch the treatment sites, especially enough to apply the vaseline - I was definitely scared of hurting myself. After 24 hours, it was still pretty manky, but a lot better.
And four days after treatment, this is how I looked:
My treatment sites are still very pink, my skin is very dry and crusty without vaseline on it, but that's it! No pain, no bleeding, no obvious individual wounds. I will have to wear vaseline on the treatment sites for at least the next three days, but that should be it. It's pretty strange going to work, with gooey vaseline slathered over pink and peeling skin, but I am lucky to work with nice people and with no public relations!
Lasering gets pretty bad press, so I just wanted to share my experience.
Did it hurt? Yes.
Is it expensive? Yes. ($750AU for each treatment, and that was with a discount!)
Is it gross? Yes.
Would I do it again? Without question.
For me, it has been worth it all, but no one should go ahead with any procedure until they've done their own research and their own risk/benefit analysis. You should only go with someone you know is qualified, someone you trust completely.
If anyone has any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them
Edited by Ava_Maria, 21 June 2011 - 05:47 PM.
