What exact laser was used? albative fractional laser or fully albative laser?You have got the texture of an orange peel. A common side effect of fractional ablative laser. At the moment it is best not to do anything aggressive with your skin (no acids and exfoliation). Keep your skin moist. You can use creams to restore the skin barrier ( avene cicaflate, la roche posay cicaplast baume b5, elta md skin recovery, etc.) If by 6 months you do not see progress, you can include retin A or tretinoin in your routine, but it is best to consult a doctor. If the texture remains constant and does not improve you should discuss treatments with a doctor.

Yes it was full ablative I forget the exact name eCo2 or something of that nature so this is normal during the healing stages?

My apologies it was fractional

Lutronic eCO2 is a fractional ablative laser. In principle, the healing process should not proceed with the texture of an orange peel, but this is a very common side effect that is not mentioned by doctors. The fractional laser removes the skin in portions, creating point lesions. Hence enlarged pores result, which together with dehydration and micro-inflammation, which are common after heat treatments, contribute to this texture. At the moment, you are still in the healing process. You should not judge the results before 6 to 9 months .Your texture is very light and you have a good chance to recover without additional procedures. All the best and good luck with your recovery !

Thank you for the response and the glimmer of hope that this is not permanent!

Rapid like all of us who know it so well, every change in light or shadow basically goes from "oh there's nothing" to... "hideous frankenstein" depending on the light, glare, shadow, shine, etc.

That's actually very normal and natural and no matter how much time passes it still gets to us and gives us ptsd. So when it looks like nothing in outside light, in darkness or half light it could look awful. A slight angle could look bad too. That's just how scars are sadly.

You're lucky in that your temple scars aren't that bad but I get it. What to recommend I don't know if laser made things worse you could try subcision/filler or something but on temple it's seriously tenuous in low fat areas.

Not gonna lie though I think you look great bro, totally normal. I wouldn't even think twice seeing you out there even if I saw in a bad light I'd be like, oh, whatever.

Is some of this related to swelling still as it is red in normal lighting