Wondering what it’s really like to have DOT Laser Skin Resurfacing? Step into the shoes of our patient who was looking to improve her skin’s texture and tone, remove sunspots and start her 30th year rejuvenated & refreshed.
Day 1: Procedure
Spent the majority of the night before the procedure googling patient diaries and before and afters – safe to say I didn’t get much sleep. When I got to the office, I immediately began the numbing process and was given a pain med and a calming med to help with the procedure. When the process began, I could hear and smell my skin burning with each application of the laser, which was more concerning to me than the pain. It was fairly more uncomfortable than other lasers I have done, but overall a quick process. I left the office with a heavy application of hydrocortisone and was on my way home.
Day 1: Night – Ouch – when the numbing cream wore off I was very raw and had a burning sensation on my face. I had a handheld fan I kept close to my face for the majority of the evening. At bedtime, I added more Aquaphor and hydrocortisone, popped a Benadryl, and went to sleep with my head elevated.
Day 2: Woke up with zero pain, just raw, itchy, and SWOLLEN. I immediately cleaned my skin, which was tough with all of the Aquaphor from the night before. When my skin was dry I had the ZO skin health post-procedure soak packet and I added those on my face which took the swelling down. Overall skin was too red and swollen to notice any changes today.
Day 3: Day 2 and 3 were similar, didn’t see many changes on my face. The skin did get darker where it was beginning to peel off. The soaks felt so nice today. Kept a HEAVY layer of Aquaphor today. Continued to sleep on 3 pillows.
Day 4: Finally beginning to see spots of hope on my face! Soaks continued to feel so nice and help exfoliate the dead skin off my face. This is when the itchiness started for me, the itchy feeling was 24/7, so Benadryl was needed to keep my hands off my face and prevent scratching. The soaks also helped to alleviate some of this as well.
Day 5: Yep – like what I am seeing in spots where the fresh skin is showing. With each soak today, I was able to wipe off a lot of dead skin, revealing awesome skin underneath.
Day 7: New skin, new me! The honeycomb pattern was still present and red looking in areas where we went more intense (cheeks), but fresh skin is revealed and looks AMAZING. Aquaphor and sunscreen.
Day 14: I have baby skin. I am ready to show my friends that my patience paid off and I am ready for events.
Day 30: Continuing to see improving results at this point. Very happy with the way my skin looks, all of my melasma has gone away, my scar has faded and I am loving the way I look.
Day 45: All honeycomb patterns that were present have faded and my skin continues to look and feel good every day. Applying makeup is so fun because the skin is so smooth and I barely have to wear foundation. I would recommend this to anyone who is able to take a week of downtime, who is looking to rejuvenate the skin. They say there are great results with older skin, but as someone who did this at 30 years old, I can say this is a procedure that is great for any ages.
Watch this patient’s experience and recovery below!
