Delayed Pain normal after Pixel Laser Resurfacing?

Delayed pain after Pixel depends on the depth of penetration. Since most of our patients prefer more aggressive treatments, we have made a pre and post treatment plan that has helped our patients tremendously. To prepare our patients for the Pixel laser, we recommend stopping any Retinoic acid products such as Retin-A, Tazorac two days before the treatment, using Motrin 600mg or Celebrex 200mg one day before the treatment as well as the day of treatment and Preparation H one to two hours before treatment. Preparation H is an inexpensive numbing medication along with a mild steroid to help with discomfort and healing after the treatment. During the treatment, we use cool air to help with the discomfort followed by cool compresses. Most people state it felt like a bad sun burn. And about 30 minutes after the treatment the sensation of deep heat had subsided significantly. For those that continue to feel it, we recommend using the Motrin every six hours as needed, applying cool compresses at home and using either Aquaphor or Cicalfate (the preferred product for acneic patients) every few hours. so they are prepare with the above and are ready After the treatment, patients appear pink or red for about one day. The next day you will see small pixel marks (dots) over the treated area that will appear red or brown depending on your skin tone. These will eventually slough off over the next few days. Do not pick at the skin but let the skin naturally exfoliate. Most people will recover fully by 5-7 days.

The recovery from the  pixel depends alot on how many stacks you had.  This refrrs to the depth of penetration.  The skin usually remains red after the first 24 hours, flaking with 48-72 hours post procedure, depending on the size of the area treated. full recovery in about 5 days.  There is as you say usually minimal pain during the procedure but a half hour of "sunburn feeling" is normal immidiatley after the procedure.  This can be managed with ice, water spray and a fan.  There is usually no more discomfort after this.  On occasion however we have had patients complain on some increase in tenderness or heat at bedtime on the first night.  We strongly suggest Aqua Phor for the first 24 hours.  We then have our patients wear Lycogel as a coverup.  We use this because it actually speads the healing time.  It contains a live cell yeast extract which increases the oxygenation to the skin three hundred percent. If you would like to read more about post laser care there is a blog posted that I wrote under my name.  I hope you enjoy your results.  I love that laser.   Gail Humble MD