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Final Result - TBD, but Read Along with Me on my Fraxel Journey... Part 2
8/24/19 - later in the day (Still the First Day After Treatment)
I do the whole routine with SPF, I’m using a wet paper towel to wash my face with cetaphil gentle cleanser. I usually use my Clarisonic skin brush but that’s out for a minute. (****I will give out a gentle warning to everybody considering fraxel at this point. I used to have very oily skin. I still do on some parts of my face. But I DO believe that where I’ve had fraxel on the lower part of my face is more susceptible to drying out ever since I started doing laser treatments.****) I take my dog out for a walk, come back in and take a nice long warmish shower. The itchy feels I’m getting are not horrible but it’s there. So is the weird dry stretchy feeling I’m getting around my mouth. I remoisterize again. I end up washing my face & reapplying the serum, la mer, cerave ointment and SPF 50 times. I only stop the SPF doing it when the sun sets, (That’d be a “duh” statement any other day but I’ve just recently discovered there are people who wear SPF at night kind of religiously.)
I’m typing in bed right now contemplating another wash/rinse/moisturize session but it’s 1:19am and I’m too tired to think about it. I’m ignoring my itchy feels and reminding myself to remoisturize. I’ve already re-blocked out the window near my bed and am going to try to sleep. Will let you know what day 3 looks like in the morning!
8/25/19 - Second Day after Treatment
Woke up. Looked in the mirror and observe that the brown little speckles on my skin look more freckly than sunburny. Meaning the damage doesn’t look as bad as I was expecting. My top layer of skin looks super dry at the very least. But that’s about it. Going in to work tomorrow won’t be so bad. In fact, maybe I’m speaking too soon but this whole fraxel journey isn’t as arduous as I thought it would be.
My skin isn’t peeling in a way that’s embarrassing. I also can’t tell if it’s because my skin is still swollen but the huges pores I’m accustomed to seeing on my nose have been minimized to the point of non-existence. I don’t see them anymore!!! Hooray! Skin is pretty rough and discolored due to the brown crusty speckles but once that sloughs off naturally, I’m pretty excited to see what lies underneath there. Still wearing sunscreen and limiting outdoor exposure.
It’s 10:10 PM & I realize I didn’t moisturize but only 2x today. Closer look on my face it’s still very red compared to the rest of my body. I’m remoisturizing and trying to figure out my work situation tomorrow. I have to bring cleanser and lotion to ensure that my skin is during well moisturized in the air conditioned office during the day.
8/26/19 - Third Day after Treatment
I’m at work full time today. With makeup and sunscreen I look scaley and dry. But my skin feels fine. My face just looks SUPER DEHYDRATED. Oh well.
It’s 12:30am at night… I think I will try to exfoliate tonight with my Clarisonic.
Did it! Lightly but I did it. Did the Ferulic/hyaluronic acid/squalane oil/cerave moisturizing Cream and ointment oil. Let’s see how this goes!
8/27/19 - Fourth Day after Treatment
11:00am - I definitely have that glow. I think I’m healing faster than the average bear. Have added squalane oil to my routine. Skin looks great. Pores are still tiny. My cheeks still feel rough and look discolored but makeup lays ok enough on it. Just don’t look too close!
7:00pm - Because I’m at the office & because it’s air conditioned I haven’t been able to moisturize as much as I’d like too. The lower part of my face is itching. I’m trying to ignore it since I can’t do anything until I get home. Still, my coloring looks really great. My pores are still on the small side. The small wrinkles on my forehead are less noticeable. I’m feeling very satisfied over the results so far. Hopefully, it gets even better. Have already scheduled my second appointment a month from now.
Once I get home, I plan on washing my face & putting a hydrating mask on. Also must remind myself to pick up more Ferulic/Vitamin C treatment. I accidentally spilled the bottle last night. I really, really believe the serum helped my skin heal faster.
11:40pm
Washed face with clarisonic again,, did the ferulic/vit c serum, did face mask with argan oil, did hyaluronic acid mixed with squalene, cerave moisturizing cream and then the cerave healing ointment. I can see my pores again. I may have overdone it but the lower half of my face is so ITCHY. I know certain things are going to be temporary like the pore size. I can’t wait for next month’s fraxel session. I hope it moves things along with my skin and my pore size, old acne scars, tiny wrinkles on my forehead, etc.
I do the whole routine with SPF, I’m using a wet paper towel to wash my face with cetaphil gentle cleanser. I usually use my Clarisonic skin brush but that’s out for a minute. (****I will give out a gentle warning to everybody considering fraxel at this point. I used to have very oily skin. I still do on some parts of my face. But I DO believe that where I’ve had fraxel on the lower part of my face is more susceptible to drying out ever since I started doing laser treatments.****) I take my dog out for a walk, come back in and take a nice long warmish shower. The itchy feels I’m getting are not horrible but it’s there. So is the weird dry stretchy feeling I’m getting around my mouth. I remoisterize again. I end up washing my face & reapplying the serum, la mer, cerave ointment and SPF 50 times. I only stop the SPF doing it when the sun sets, (That’d be a “duh” statement any other day but I’ve just recently discovered there are people who wear SPF at night kind of religiously.)
I’m typing in bed right now contemplating another wash/rinse/moisturize session but it’s 1:19am and I’m too tired to think about it. I’m ignoring my itchy feels and reminding myself to remoisturize. I’ve already re-blocked out the window near my bed and am going to try to sleep. Will let you know what day 3 looks like in the morning!
8/25/19 - Second Day after Treatment
Woke up. Looked in the mirror and observe that the brown little speckles on my skin look more freckly than sunburny. Meaning the damage doesn’t look as bad as I was expecting. My top layer of skin looks super dry at the very least. But that’s about it. Going in to work tomorrow won’t be so bad. In fact, maybe I’m speaking too soon but this whole fraxel journey isn’t as arduous as I thought it would be.
My skin isn’t peeling in a way that’s embarrassing. I also can’t tell if it’s because my skin is still swollen but the huges pores I’m accustomed to seeing on my nose have been minimized to the point of non-existence. I don’t see them anymore!!! Hooray! Skin is pretty rough and discolored due to the brown crusty speckles but once that sloughs off naturally, I’m pretty excited to see what lies underneath there. Still wearing sunscreen and limiting outdoor exposure.
It’s 10:10 PM & I realize I didn’t moisturize but only 2x today. Closer look on my face it’s still very red compared to the rest of my body. I’m remoisturizing and trying to figure out my work situation tomorrow. I have to bring cleanser and lotion to ensure that my skin is during well moisturized in the air conditioned office during the day.
8/26/19 - Third Day after Treatment
I’m at work full time today. With makeup and sunscreen I look scaley and dry. But my skin feels fine. My face just looks SUPER DEHYDRATED. Oh well.
It’s 12:30am at night… I think I will try to exfoliate tonight with my Clarisonic.
Did it! Lightly but I did it. Did the Ferulic/hyaluronic acid/squalane oil/cerave moisturizing Cream and ointment oil. Let’s see how this goes!
8/27/19 - Fourth Day after Treatment
11:00am - I definitely have that glow. I think I’m healing faster than the average bear. Have added squalane oil to my routine. Skin looks great. Pores are still tiny. My cheeks still feel rough and look discolored but makeup lays ok enough on it. Just don’t look too close!
7:00pm - Because I’m at the office & because it’s air conditioned I haven’t been able to moisturize as much as I’d like too. The lower part of my face is itching. I’m trying to ignore it since I can’t do anything until I get home. Still, my coloring looks really great. My pores are still on the small side. The small wrinkles on my forehead are less noticeable. I’m feeling very satisfied over the results so far. Hopefully, it gets even better. Have already scheduled my second appointment a month from now.
Once I get home, I plan on washing my face & putting a hydrating mask on. Also must remind myself to pick up more Ferulic/Vitamin C treatment. I accidentally spilled the bottle last night. I really, really believe the serum helped my skin heal faster.
11:40pm
Washed face with clarisonic again,, did the ferulic/vit c serum, did face mask with argan oil, did hyaluronic acid mixed with squalene, cerave moisturizing cream and then the cerave healing ointment. I can see my pores again. I may have overdone it but the lower half of my face is so ITCHY. I know certain things are going to be temporary like the pore size. I can’t wait for next month’s fraxel session. I hope it moves things along with my skin and my pore size, old acne scars, tiny wrinkles on my forehead, etc.
Final Result - TBD, but Read Along with Me on my Fraxel Journey...
Let me start by saying the reason I decided to sign up for Fraxel was the last Clear and Brilliant Laser treatment I recently had (1-1/2 Months ago) did not produce the usual results I'm accustomed to with regards to "Baby Fraxel". I blamed it on the technician at first. I figured they went way too low on the settings since it had been 2 years since my last Clear and Brilliant treatment. I just decided to upgrade and got Fraxel instead. I'll continue to update as my skin progresses during the first treatment and healing stage.
8/23/19
Day of Procedure: I did my due diligence. Stocked up on Aquaphor AND Cerave Healing Ointment, Ferulic & Vitamin C Serum, Cerave Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 and lots of wipes. The Ointments are very heavy and get EVERYWHERE, especially when sleeping. I blocked out the window near my bed since even with the blinds down, it still gets a TON of natural sunlight in the morning. Scheduled an extra day off from work and signed up for Door Dash. I already have Seamless/Grubhub but wanted to make sure I had extra food delivery options for the weekend I would unpresentable to the outside world. There's some controversy with regards to the Ferulic Acid/Vitamin C serum. My Doctor didn't want me to use any powerful serums and acids, etc while I'm healing but having read up about Skinceuticals and the use of their Ferulic products during the healing process, I've decided to ignor her advice and proceed as I've done with Clear and Brilliant. With Clear and Brilliant I'd use the Ferulic Acid after my treatments and my skin always looked great. Listen, I'll do the mea culpa dance if this doesn't work out but my experience with the serum I use after non-ablative laster treatments makes me believe that it helps with my healing process. What does the MD know? Ok, I know... pie in the face if the serum ruins my face...
After the treatment, did the ferulic/vitamin C treatment, put sunblock 50 and a hat on and went to lunch. Throughout the day my face gets progressively redder and redder until it's a sunburn shade of "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?! Purple". The color is a purple only reserved for hospital grade-regrettable sunburns from the tropics. I handle it like a brave woman. I wash my face 2 times with Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser, pat dry with a clean paper towel, do the whole ferulic/vit c serum, dab La Mer over my eyes and a bit around my skin and layer it with the Cerave Healing Ointment. I'm starting to itch a tiny under my jawline. My skin starts feeling slightly sandpapery. It's the same sandpaper feeling I would get with Clear and Brilliant. I rejoice. This means it's working.
8/24/19
Day after treatment. I wake up to more sandpaper feels on my skin. My skin still looks very plump. I I had slept with 2 pillows instead of 1 last night. I wonder if that wasn't enough elevation for my head. Oh well. On top of last night's sandpapery feeling skin, I start to see brown speckles all over my face, like dry crusty freckles. Lovely. The treatment is working!!! Yay!!! Not lovely, because I understand I could scare little children with this mug of mine.
I wash my face as gently as I can, but I do it 2x with Cetaphil, and do my whole layering job with the Ferulic Acid, La Mer & Cerave Healing Ointment. This time I add Cerave Mineral Sunscreen SPF50 and my Giorgio Armani Silk Foundation since I'm trying to walk my dog outside. I add my wool felt hat for added sun protection. Total time skin-prepping: 45 Minutes. Total time outside: 7 minutes. Was it worth it? OF COURSE! Who's gonna walk my dog if I don't? Plus think of all those non-frightened children.
8/23/19
Day of Procedure: I did my due diligence. Stocked up on Aquaphor AND Cerave Healing Ointment, Ferulic & Vitamin C Serum, Cerave Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 and lots of wipes. The Ointments are very heavy and get EVERYWHERE, especially when sleeping. I blocked out the window near my bed since even with the blinds down, it still gets a TON of natural sunlight in the morning. Scheduled an extra day off from work and signed up for Door Dash. I already have Seamless/Grubhub but wanted to make sure I had extra food delivery options for the weekend I would unpresentable to the outside world. There's some controversy with regards to the Ferulic Acid/Vitamin C serum. My Doctor didn't want me to use any powerful serums and acids, etc while I'm healing but having read up about Skinceuticals and the use of their Ferulic products during the healing process, I've decided to ignor her advice and proceed as I've done with Clear and Brilliant. With Clear and Brilliant I'd use the Ferulic Acid after my treatments and my skin always looked great. Listen, I'll do the mea culpa dance if this doesn't work out but my experience with the serum I use after non-ablative laster treatments makes me believe that it helps with my healing process. What does the MD know? Ok, I know... pie in the face if the serum ruins my face...
After the treatment, did the ferulic/vitamin C treatment, put sunblock 50 and a hat on and went to lunch. Throughout the day my face gets progressively redder and redder until it's a sunburn shade of "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?! Purple". The color is a purple only reserved for hospital grade-regrettable sunburns from the tropics. I handle it like a brave woman. I wash my face 2 times with Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser, pat dry with a clean paper towel, do the whole ferulic/vit c serum, dab La Mer over my eyes and a bit around my skin and layer it with the Cerave Healing Ointment. I'm starting to itch a tiny under my jawline. My skin starts feeling slightly sandpapery. It's the same sandpaper feeling I would get with Clear and Brilliant. I rejoice. This means it's working.
8/24/19
Day after treatment. I wake up to more sandpaper feels on my skin. My skin still looks very plump. I I had slept with 2 pillows instead of 1 last night. I wonder if that wasn't enough elevation for my head. Oh well. On top of last night's sandpapery feeling skin, I start to see brown speckles all over my face, like dry crusty freckles. Lovely. The treatment is working!!! Yay!!! Not lovely, because I understand I could scare little children with this mug of mine.
I wash my face as gently as I can, but I do it 2x with Cetaphil, and do my whole layering job with the Ferulic Acid, La Mer & Cerave Healing Ointment. This time I add Cerave Mineral Sunscreen SPF50 and my Giorgio Armani Silk Foundation since I'm trying to walk my dog outside. I add my wool felt hat for added sun protection. Total time skin-prepping: 45 Minutes. Total time outside: 7 minutes. Was it worth it? OF COURSE! Who's gonna walk my dog if I don't? Plus think of all those non-frightened children.