What's the Best Moisturizing Cream to Use After Laser Resurfacing?

Cetaphil Facial Wash Soap to wash with after laser skin resurfacing and we recommend using clean finger tips or gloved hands to keep any bacteria out.

Aquaphor is then applied in an even coat all over the treated area, much like a liquid bandage, until the skin has reepithelialization / closed / healed over the next 7-10 days.  Right after the procedure, the Aquaphor is used a bit thicker then less and less to a thin film as the healing goes on. Then spot treat the areas as needed.

2 weeks after the procedure, A daily moisturizer free of frangrance or irritants with a sunscreen of atleast 30+spf is recommended to keep the skin moist and protected.

When going out into brighter sunlight, a higher spf sunscreen that contains the ACTIVE ingredients Zinc or Titanium or both is recommended at all times during extreme sun exposure. 

Fashionable hats, visors and even scarves are popular for my healing patients as added protection during the first 2 weeks and beyond to protect the delicate, fragile skin.

Elta is good as well.

We recommend our post laser patients to use Elta MD-UV Facial SPF 30+.  It is a light moisturizing cream that provides moisture and UVA/UVB protection.  It is for all skin types, especially moderate to dry.

Hi,

For heavy ablative procedures, we typically recommend for our patients to apply a generous layer of Aquaphor to the treated areas for the first 5-10 days. Once the skin starts to heal, we transition them over to gentle cleansers that contain green tea and soothing properties and introduce gentle calming creams that contain low potency hydrocortisone and chemical free sunscreens that are oil free and non-comedongenic. These are products we typically have the patients purchase in the office and I would recommend to ask your provider for recommendations as he or she may have something in particular for you. Gentle over the counter moisturizers such as Cerave or Cetaphil are wonderful as they are great for new sensitive skin and are fragrance free/non-comedogenic.  They even contain broad spectrum sunscreens. Hope this helps. 

At 10 days after CO2 laser resurfacing your skin is very fragile. It is very important to avoid creams or ointments that contain harsh ingredients as they can irritate the new skin and cause break outs.

Aquaphor, Elta and cetaphil are all very gentle and safe topical creams/ointments that can be used after laser resurfacing. There are vmany many sunblocks but I would wait until 2-3 weeks to use sun block. Neutragena makes a non-comedogenic fragrance fee block that is safe