CO2 Laser Textural Damage to Cheeks

hi, nope , not really.. I am trying dermapen but just at home... im sorry too , definitely a horrible experience that seems to have no fix.. have you found anything to help?

Don't do dermapen! Some women had significant damage from that alone. I saw a really good derm who said the setting were too high . Every damage I asked about she repeated the settings were too high . She openly admits everything we have and said she has had many come to her office with the same exact look. She told me not to use anything at all, I said moisturizer ? She said 'nothing'. For 10 days I did nothing , I have not even washed my hair because shampoo will get on my face. I have been trying to figure out how to wash my hair ! I wash my body from the neck down with barely warm water and leave the door open so no heat build up , I feel like a freak . I use nothing on my body skin either aside from John masters organic wash and that's it . I also have been taking my usual supplements but added what was missing , flax seed oil and zinc . I was already taking fish oil, vit d, vit e, evening promise and biotin. I juice 2 grapefruits in the morning and make a vegetable juice (not smoothie) in the evening of carrots , beers, spinach , parsley , ginger , sometimes red/yellow/orange peppers and a lemon . I made a collagen broth out of chicken feet and ox tails , disgusting I know but my acupuncturist told me to do it and they've been doing this in China for thousands of years . You also need circulation , I can't exercise due to a spinal injury but you must get circulation so my acupuncturist helps me with that . I run 2 humidifiers and change the air indoors daily by opening the windows . This may all sound silly but it's the only hope we hsve . I also ordered "transform your skin naturally " by Ben Johnson md. Started reading it yesterday and everything he says , you'll recognize after laser damage , as being true . You must not exfoiluate either chemically nor manually , ever again . You must not add any inflammation to your face and topicals do just that . If we were normal , we can handle it, but we are not any longer. I hsve to take 3 histamine blockers and my face burns , I had zero redness or flushing pre laser and now my face is super red and scary . The rednes has improved with the do notjinb method and some of the hyper p the ipl gave me is resolving a bit . I got actual wrinkles from ipl and some are going bsck
To smooth skin . My texture is repulsive , looks like wax and my pores dialated and I had no visible pores pre ipl. The butcher derm admitted they were now huge in person and that my skin was waxy but later denied saying it . It's clear as day . I also have hypopigmentation which is so gross . The white patch in the middle of your right cheek? I hsve one on my left cheek and it's white so safe to say it's scars . Basically your barrier and epidermis are no more . Since you had minor texture isssues there , ipl or laser should never be out there , it makes it 3D and distorts it. I had a few irregularities that I never even saw and one is now 5 times the size , it's so bizarre , it re-arranges your skin textutevand add weird carbuncles . I look kind of melted . I hsve pastel pink all over my face and when light hits it, it looks metalic. So I dot have any fixes but I can say using nothing is the best advice I received to date . I don't have flare ups anymore , my face is quiet . The accordion wrinkles up my cheek are gone now and I was so dehydrated . I think eating the salmon and taking the oils out some kind of moisture back and those wrinkles went away . I had zero wrinkles pre ipl, none . So that was scary . My biggest issue now is texture . I have no human skin left , I look like a waxed fruit . I would recommend you stay far away from dermapen and rollers , forever . Same goes for peels , retin a , vit c , HA, all of it . Your goal is to keep all inflammation at bay so your face has a chance to heal by its own processes , anything you do, Manually or chemically , will hasten the damage and certainly interfere with any healing . The early period is the 'golden period' as my acupuncturist says, you can lose that window , you must cease even touching your face , don't even put water on it except once every 10 days and he said use filtered /bottled water , a few splashes and pat dry, that's it . I notice most people keep trying things and it's natural to want to , I kept trying to moisturize for the fist several weeks bevaude the butcher derm told me to moisturize and I became fixated on it , if I didn't , damage would be worse . It's just the opposite , any chemical , any oil , is a disruptive to the skins natural processes , you will keep setting yourself back . I don't know what will happen anf I hope I'm not imagining but the damage seems to have halted in progression and there are clear improvements . I had very good skin prior so I hsve that on my side but it is badly damaged . Since I've been using notjinb , some of th red marks from laser hsve disappeared , I see skin patching in . 2 dents that just appeared on my forehead are half the size now . I'll take any improvement ! But the key is what you eat or nothing can heal . The skin is still contending with all the things normal skin must contend with plus massive laser damage , you hsve to consume zero sugar and zero processed food and drink 5- 6 glasses of water daily , don't overdo it or you'll become neutropenic. Basically , you need to spend a lot of your time working on your food and drinks all day long , everyday . It's like a past time job but it's good for you anyways and it does help . I also am taking neocell collagen , no idea if it's real or not but I added it . I'm nkt doing msm and don't recommend it , you hsve redness so you hsve allergies and don't need to throw sulfer into the mix. I would go see an allergist , you may meee rx antihistamines . I developed horrible hives 24 hrs post bbl ipl, These lasers/lights cause massive inflammation in the skin and body and severe oxidative stress , you hsve to scan bsck from your face skin because you hsve bigger problems now and if you address those , the skin can do it's work . I don't know if my face fat will fall away or if I'll get worse or not better , I'm scared . But since I've seen some improvement after 10 days on this program , I would like to think something is happening and maybe in 6 months I can see s lot of improvement . I hsve to eventually go in public and it's embarassing , I don't even want to check the mailbox . But if I walk around hideous for 6 months and put nothing on my face and get much better then that will be great and I'll keep it up . I will
Never , ever use an active again in my life . Ever . Our skin is chsnged, down the line I'll look into s basic simple moisturizer or make one myself anf a simple cream cleanser and use it a few times s week. We really can't use things anymore . A lot of people don't think using notjinb is s good idea and that's ok, what I do know is many here kept putting stuff on their face anf didn't get better so I'm not doing that . The only chance is that our skin repairs itself , we can't 'help' it, I think we did enough already . Let your barrier repair itself , keep inflsmnation off your face , no home projects , needling of any kind will make you worse despite temp swelling which might make you think it looks better , it doesn't . Just let it be .

I am actually looking into that now. did u use it for acne scars?

Hi ceecee thanks for your comment. Im so sorry you lived through that. it is truly horrible especially fearing that it may get worse with time. Reading your comment makes me feel a lot better Thank you. im so glad you have seen improvement., or that it hasnot gotten worse. I did erbium Co2 laser; so desperate to remove some acne scars ...lol. lesson learned, the doctors make it seem so simple and when the texture comes out looking bad they deny; at least mine did.
Thanks I have been using it a month and may see some positive effects. I have been dermarolling once a month too and will continue
. I am still too scared to try a chemical peel or anything harsh but let me know how it went ? or any toehr advice you may have.
thank you again; its really nice to hear from people who have gone through laser because most people cannot understand the extent of damage physically and emotionally.

Okay, so I am not an expert here as there are soooo many types of lasers - but the conclusion I came to for me is that the "fractionated" type such as fraxel and even some erbium leave pinprick holes that are supposed to fill in with collagen. Well, I think in some of us that reaction is delayed or doesn't happen as it should for whatever reason leaving the pinprick holes which can then also look like lines since they are so close together. Just my uneducated theory. Also, I was on Accutane several times when I was much younger and some derms agree that that will change the skin forever. Could this have played a part? Who knows?

I just know I was devastated for a number of months and even my husband told me later he was terrified for me (at the time he was being nice and trying to support me lol). It truly did get a lot better but I had to baby the heck out of it and give it time. I just think the collagen remodeling was slower for me. Which is why I was determined this time around to do a fully ablative procedure and not something that was fractionated or pixelated. In ny opinion if you put holes in my face (even small ones at that) they are still going to fill in... as holes. I also made sure that I drastically increased my vitamin intake as well as protein intake (around 80-100 grams/day via protein shakes - IMO that is SUPER important) and am drinking tons of water. I think my nutritional deficits previously MAY have played a part - again who knows?

Like the other posters I think your skin looks beautiful and isn't as bad as you imagine by a long shot... but I also know that when you are used to seeing something a certain way it is terrifying when it changes overnight. Try to be patient and use all of the special products etc. and definitely make sure you are giving your body nutritionally what it needs.

And try no to live on this website too much - get out and enjoy life. I swear it isn't as noticeable as you think it is. As for me well so far I think I'm going to be happy with my results (I am 6 days out) - but it has been 5 years and this time I went to a PS - no more derms or derm clinics or medspas for me EVER again.

You aren't alone - I hope this helps - please know that mist people wouldn't even notice - I can see it because it is similar to what happened to me - but truly you are beautiful.

Hi ceecee sorry I take so long to answer. Thank you for your nice words and advice that is really nice of you. because ya this situation is so isolating. I hope so because to me especailly in natural light it is so unnatural looking well actually scary i think lol. I am so glad I only did my cheeks but the difference in my cheeks versus the other skin is so obvious. But, hopefully people dont notice it like i do.
Let me know how your recovery has gone :) .

that is interesting what you said about accutane becasue I took it around years ago and that is when i really noticed acne scars . I really wonder about that too.
Thank you again it is really nice to be recognized in my feelings and worries after this experience.
let me know how the procedure and healing went and how you are now?
best, Blythe

So I will agree it is much more noticeable to you than it would be to anyone else - I promise. And the more we fixate on it the worse we think it is. Hard not to do, I know.

As for me I have been happy with the chemical peel. They did the CO2 laser under my eyes (ablative) and I AM having a few issues with that where the skin is thickening (i.e. becoming hypertrophic which is a precursor for scarring). The difference is that although I am worried I am in great, experienced hands and they have me a cortisone injection yesterday and have me on a special cortisone cream for two weeks. I already see a difference and honestly, it's not THAT noticeable because I jumped on it quickly. SO maybe we produce TOO much collagen which is what gives us the bumpy texture? Heck if I know... but I do think this is not caused by the doctor but is caused by my own weird biological response to wound healing. I will try to avoid lasers from here on out and will stick with chemical peels. Again though, even the chemical peel was a medium grade done by the doctor himself and I have known of him for years and trust he will help me get it right. Before I was at a medspa attached to my derm's office and I too felt like I was on my own - it was very invalidating.

Hang in there and once you are ready if it really continues to bug you find someone experienced in texture issues/scar revisions and have several consultations before picking a physician. I feel fairly confident that it can be fixed with the right treatment by the right person.

im not too sure, I know it was called ECo2 . erbium laser..

but not sure of the specific name