David Campbell, MBBS, FRACS

I am sitting in the waiting area of the hospital waiting to go into have laser resurfacing surgery on my full face. I will have a general Apprehensive about what is to come. More worried about the recovery as I will have to wear a facial bandage for 7 days. I am staying overnight mainly to make sure I can deal with the bandage aftercare. I have taken some pre-surgery photos but am not sure of the quality. I will post the photos when I get the chance.

Updated on 22 Jun 2016:
I had ablative CO2 laser under a general anaesthetic. I had full-face including around the eyes. I am bright pink all over the face this morning. My before photos show nothing. I will ask my doctor for his before photos.
I stayed overnight in hospital so that they could help me with the bandage. I have to keep reapplying Vaseline to the bandage and Chlorsig around my eyes. Very little pain so far. My face was stinging when I woke up from the anaesthetic 17 hours ago. They gave me some strong painkiller and I have had no pain since except a bit where the bandage slipped. This was fixed by moving the bandage back up. There is no itching so far. I have uploaded a photo showing the bandage. I will wear this for a week.

Updated on 26 Jun 2016:
Still no pain or itching. Some redness. On days 2 and 3 there was some swelling especially under the eyes and of the cheeks but that has gone now. The worst part of this is being house-bound with a bandage all over my face and unwashed gooey hair. All up it has not been too bad an experience. I have to keep putting the Vaseline and Chlorsig on every 3 hours. The skin is now beginning to slough away and the bandage keeps slipping. Eating is interesting as I do not want to dirty the bandage. I drink through a straw. The bandage slipped off today and when I was placing the Vaseline on and replacing the bandage I took a good look at the skin underneath. I think I can see improvement already. Anyway 2 more days.

Updated on 2 Jul 2016:
Day 7 - bandage off and back to the doctors. He says I have healed well. Almost all of the scabs have gone. The skin is very pink. There are occasional random patches that bleed a little.
Day 11 - I am still pink and have to continue applying Vaseline until day 14. The Vaseline is causing whiteheads even though I am using soap as recommended by the doctor. There is some itchiness but it is not too bad. I can definitely see improvement in the fine lines on my skin. The spider veins that were at the corners of my mouth are gone. These were 2 x 1 cm2 patches. Underneath the pink is some patchiness to my skin colour.

Updated on 7 Jul 2016:
I stopped using the Vaseline yesterday and the skin felt very rough and dry. I applied a lot of moisturising lotion. Today my skin is peeling again. This is a light peeling compared to before. I have had a lot of whiteheads but they are going. I am still mostly pink but with some normal coloured patches.