Yesterday, I reported on my 2nd Treatment with the Fraxel Laser, administered by Dr. Gervaise Gerstner. I left feeling pretty good. My face didn’t look too red, my skin didn’t feel irritated or hot, and nothing seemed swollen.
This morning, however, I woke up to a face that looked sunburned, with dry patches, and tiny scabs that can be side effects of the treatment. A swollen eye and cheeks, however, is true evidence that Dr. Gerstner had increased the power of the Fraxel laser.
These things are expected, so I’ am not upset about it, but, it certainly doesn’t look nice. Luckily, I’m not going anywhere special today. These side effects should diminish today and be gone within a few days. You know the old saying: “no pain, no gain.” While I’m not sure that’s true for everything in life, when it comes to the Fraxel Laser, I was warned before my first treatment that my skin would look worse, before it looked better.
I’ll be moisturizing like crazy (with a light moisturizer) and using at least an SPF30 sun block whenever I go out. Also, I’ll be wearing a hat with a huge brim. Since it’s still Summer, I blend..sort of. But the key is to keep your skin protected from the sun at all times. I never realized how much my skin is really exposed when you aren’t deliberately sunbathing, until I began to focus on it while walking to the subway, sitting in cars, stopping on the street to talk to someone on my Blackberry..etc.
I am very optimistic about how I’ll look in a few days to a week…I know the “good stuff” is coming!
More reports, to follow.