Once you have already had the Opus Laser treatment, what product should you use on your skin?

After the Opus its totally normal for your face to feel dry and tight. You can use a medical grade moisturizer, or an HA serum. Keep moisturizing! You can also use white vinegar mixed with distilled water--I usually recommend 1/4 cup of vinegar for a gallon of water. Keep it in the fridge, then soak gauze pads with the solution and lay them on your face. This will soothe and help heal your skin faster.

HA serum is great to use after the treatment. You can use it the same day as your treatment, and keep moisturizing while you heal.

After the Opus procedure your skin is going to look and feel like it is badly sunburned and just like a sunburn you want to keep it moist. There are many medical grade post procedure products and every physician will have a specific regimen and recommended product that they are most familiar with. There are a couple products that I love post Opus procedure. Environ's Super Moisturizer and Antioxidant gel together or IS Clinical Shield Recovery Balm. I always recommend to stay very well hydrated and if any area of the skin cracks apply Aquaphor to protect that area and keep it moist. Stay out of direct sunlight and use an SPF of 40 or greater (reapply every 2 hours), sunhat and sunglasses too. Hope this is helpful.

There are many options for treating the skin before and after laser procedures - your physician should be providing detailed instructions. When performing resurfacing procedures, the key is to make sure that your skin barrier is intact and not inflamed before and is kept moist for healing afterward. Thus most physicians recommend using bland moisturizers - petrolatum or non-petrolatum based ointments or thick creams are often used to speed healing. In addition, there are specific ingredients that have been found to speed healing and enhance results. One is the trihex technology in Alastin products which has been shown to help with the turnover of old collagen and elastin to new when started a week or two before and continued after biostimulatory procedures. The Alastin regenerating skin nectar also contains arnica and antioxidants and is preservative free making it ideal for recovery from resurfacing procedures. Your physician may also recommend you avoid topical retinoids or other exfoliants a week prior and one to two weeks after any resurfacing procedure.

In summary - check with your treating physician before starting/stopping any topical regimen around the time of a procedure.