What is the recovery like after Venus Viva? How much downtime is to be expected?

Our office employs Venus Viva as a nano fractional ablative and non-ablative RF treatment that has less downtime than traditional laser resurfacing. The Venus Viva can be titrated up or down to increase efficacy and thus have more downtime. It is recommended that you apply a ceramics cream such as Elevase Moisture Booster once the skin is epithelialized in order to reduce sensitivity. Best, Dr. KaramanoukianRealself100 Surgeon

It's a day or two of looking a bit sunburned while feeling pretty normal. Expect to be able to go out to dinner the day after the procedure.  

As with a mild sunburn, you should anticipate some redness and slight swelling in the treated area, which normally goes away in 24 to 48 hours. Most patients are able to resume their regular activities the next day, but in order to give the skin enough time to heal, it is advised to refrain from intense exercise and prolonged sun exposure for a few days. There's normally not much downtime, and any residual redness may usually be covered up with cosmetics 24 hours later.

Venus Viva is a minimally invasive, FDA cleared procedure that results in a minor exfoliation of the skin and is classified as low downtime, which means you can continue daily activities immediately. After a Venus Viva treatment our patients apply an occlusive dressing for the first day, followed by their regular moisturizer on subsequent days. On the first day the skin will feel like a mild sunburn and have a slight redness, but afterwards the skin should simply feel dry for up to 5 days. The light red hue could remain for those 5 days, but makeup can be applied after 24 hours to cover this coloration. By the 5th day both the dryness and redness should dissipate and you will be left with smoother, naturally healthy looking skin.

There isn't a whole lot of down time for this treatment because it is very much less aggressive than a fractional erbium laser that performs an ablative/non-ablative procedure. The results are typically seen in 30-60 days, but are less than that of stronger laser treatments. A bad sunburn and red peeling skin for a couple of days is typically the effect, leaving a fresher layer of skin with slight improvement. Thank you for your question.