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Ok so it has been exactly 10 days since I received the Pearl Laser (full face) and Pearl Fractional Laser (Half Face – two passes).
I hope this information of my experience helps anyone considering Pearl Laser and Pearl Fractional Laser by Cutera.
It is important to understand the difference between the two lasers.
Pearl Laser: The pearl laser is a non ablative laser; it treats fine lines on the face and neck, uneven skin texture and light & dark spots caused by sun damage.
Pearl Fractional: The Pearl Fractional procedure aggressively treats the signs of
photodamage in addition to a broad range of dermal imperfections.
I received a full face of the Pearl Laser and then half face (eyes down) of the Pearl Fractional Laser.
Before:
Please understand my acne scarring wasn't severe. However where they were on my cheeks made them extremely noticeable. I had a few pitted scars on my cheeks and around my chin, which gave the appearance of sort of bumpy skin in some areas.
When I met with my plastic surgeon he told me that I would see an improvement in my scarring however full results would be seen three months after.
OPERATION:
Saturday 18th July 2009.
My Dr started on the forehead first with the pearl laser:
The pain was bearable, moving over the cheeks around the eyes and jaw line I must admit did hurt quite a bit but still bearable. Once he had completed the full face it was now time for the Fractional Laser.
PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE PEARL FRACTIONAL LASER IS NOT FOR THE LIGHT HEARTED!
The pain was unbelievable, I had numbing cream on and had been given four anaesthetic needles however I could still feel it. My description would be it felt like pin sized shots of heat to your face 15 at a time. It hurt so much and your face gets extremely hot, luckily my doctor had a vacuum type cylinder that he held and blew cold air onto my face. Im not sure what a tattoo feels like but I can imagine the pearl fractional would feel like ten tattoo guns going at once in each section (and I had two passes of it – SEVER PAIN!)
The whole procedure took around 45 minutes. Once the doctor had finished my face was burning, It felt like my head had been cooking in an oven, all I could do was hold the vacuum fan onto my face to try to cool it down.
The nurse then applied a layer of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) over my face, and I finally looked in the mirror. My face was quite red and I had started to bleed in certain areas.
After the procedure, my face eventually cooled down and stoped stinging and when I got home and that night I did around 4 vinegar soaks and reapplied the Vaseline after each. My face was red, bloody and oozing. I looked like someone out of a horror film! My face was also very swollen!
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4703 downloads This was taken that night by a friend. Very swollen and bleeding!
Day 2: Still looked quite the same as last night, however by the afternoon most of the bleeding has stoped and I was left with a bright red face. Kept up the vinegar washes, I tried to do at least one every hour as this speeds up the healing process, you can never do enough!
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4504 downloadsTaken late afternoon of day 2. Still very swollen however most of the blood has gone.
Day 3: Still much the same except all the blood had gone. Skin started to turn brownish in certain areas. Still keeping up the vinegar soaks!
Day 4: The brown skin I realised was the skin that was ready to start peeling. Still keeping up the vinegar soaks!
Day 5: Starting to peel a little and keeping up the vinegar washes.
Day 6: Still peeling. Visited the nurse and she said everything was looking normal, still bright red however I would start on the recovery pack that night that I received from the Drs which included a face wash and other products for healing skin.
Day 7: Still peeling and still red.
Day 8: Majority of peeling gone, Wore make up for the first time (You are only recommended to use pure mineral makeup), I use youngblood mineral makeup, which is a pure mineral and was developed for people with sensitive skin due to acne, or burns etc etc. However because my skin is still very dry my make up didn’t look very good after awhile. However makeup covered the pinkness quite well!
Day 9: Wore makeup again, my skin is still very dry and red and it just doesn’t sit on nicely but I need it to cover the redness.
Day 10: Back at work, skins still dry and very like day 9.
Over all I can see a little difference in my skin. My face was swollen up until around day 5ish and now the pinkness is eventually starting to fade I can see that some pigmentation issues I had look diminished. However my main problem was my scars, I have noticed a decrease in the pitted scars, they aren’t as noticeable, however not much of a difference, Im hoping this is due to the fact that it takes up to three months to see the final results as the collagen needs to rebuild. Fingers crossed it improves some more. I will keep you all posted though and add some more pictures.
