What to Expect with Laser Skin Treatments
Laser skin resurfacing’s primary role is to “resurface” your skin. The process involves the precise layer-by-layer removal of damaged skin. It stimulates new skin cells to grow, which gives your skin a tighter and fresher-looking surface. As such, laser skin treatment is highly effective at tackling discoloration, fine lines, scars, pigment, wrinkles, and sunspots. It also helps with crow’s feet, laugh lines, forehead lines, sagging skin, spider veins, texture, and more. Our friendly team will make you feel comfortable knowing that your treatment is administered safely.
Preparing for Your Skin Resurfacing Treatment
It would be prudent to avoid smoking for two weeks before your treatment. Since smoking tends to leave the skin dry, it might lead to a less effective procedure. It will also prolong your healing process, which you don’t want. Abstain from taking alcohol and supplements such as ibuprofen, vitamin E, and aspirin since they cause excessive blood thinning. Also, avoid tanning beds or stay out of the sun for several weeks before receiving laser skin treatment and for a few weeks afterward. The process will make your skin more tender and, thus, more prone to sunburn. It would help to wear hats as a protective measure after your laser skin resurfacing treatment.
Skin Resurfacing Treatment
This outpatient procedure usually takes between 30 minutes and 2 hours, depending on the specific issue you need to address and the area of your skin receiving treatment. You may experience some pain with CO2 laser resurfacing. The level of pain you encounter will depend on the degree and depth of resurfacing and your pain tolerance. Our medspa adopts specialized technology to control the depth of resurfacing, and, therefore, ensure minimal pain. We’ll often provide you with local anesthetic to curb pain and make you relax. Before the treatment starts, we’ll clean your skin thoroughly and offer you special eyewear to safeguard your eyes from the laser. The process involves the provider moving the laser wand steadily over the targeted skin area.
After Skin Resurfacing Treatments
Immediately after your laser skin resurfacing session, you may experience possible itching, dryness, peeling, and feeling sunburned with redness. We’d recommend you ice the treated area with an ice pack for about 15 minutes to prevent inflammation. You may also need to apply an antibacterial ointment to the treated skin. Ensure that you leave this on as per the instructions, usually for 24 hours. Remember to keep off smoking and stay out of the sun for two weeks after treatment. It’s also worth noting that you may need to schedule a follow-up treatment session, depending on your treatment plan and what you want to accomplish.