Halo Laser

Had the Halo and BBL at 1030 today! It’s still way to early to say if it’s “worth it” but I’ll keep you posted.

The BBL was unpleasant, but I have red and blotchy skin - so i really hope it works.

The Halo - holy heck. It hurt significantly more than and if the reviews led me to believe. But, I have a crappy pain tolerance. So for now, I want to review my doctor and his staff! I was such a baby that half way through I had to take a pain med and anti anxiety pill, and then restart the whole process. This meant that I had to reapply the numbing cream and wait another hour for it to really work. What should have taken 2 hours took 6, in total. It was not ideal. So, if you’re historically a wimp when it comes to pain, you should talk to your doctor ahead and take the meds before your appointment. The description is correct, it’s hot and like a million tiny bee stings all at once. They have to make several passes and each one hurt worse and worse. It takes 30-40 minutes but it’s bad. So bad. I just hope the results are so great it’s worth it. The important thing is how great the office staff was. They each get these done themselves regularly and so know how it feels, but still didn’t make me feel like a complete loser for being such a baby about the pain. They are awesome.

No pain - the pain went away pretty fast. But was swollen and very very very dry. I had a big zit on my chin, and it’s still there like nothing happened. I’m surprised by that. I’m red but it’s 4 degrees out today, so running to the groomer and store, no one looked twice at me. Could just be from cold.

Woke up today less swollen, less red (but less!), but some of the spots are much darker than they have been in the past. I understand that’s part of the healing.

My major concern is that, after all the appointment drama, it won’t be as effective because I couldn’t stand the pain of it. They wanted to do 30-35% and I think MAYBE we got 20%. She would do one pass and say it was only 2%, and then each additional pass hurt more than the first. Getting up to 30, holy cannoli. Strange thing was that on my nose I didn’t feel it hardly at all. But cheeks, chin. I asked her to stop the lip and just don’t do it, cause it hurt so bad after one pass, I cried.

After extensive research, I think I would do it again, but at a practice with laughing gas or some other way to address the pain that lidocaine. I didnt feel like the numbing cream did anything. It is hot, yes. But it’s like a million tiny electrocutions. Almost like the laser for hair removal, but 100x more “in your face” - pardon the pun. I do not know why people rsay it’s a 3-4. Maybe I’m a wimp or lidocaine is not as effective on me? My skin was super dry going in from Retin-A, maybe that impacted something. I don’t know but ouch. I’m still traumatized from the pain of the procedure.

The after though - so far so good, no big deal. A tiny bit itchy. It’s really like a sunburn. Ironic that too many sunburns in my youth could be fixed by a laser that causes a “sunburn” like recovery.