48 Years Old, Trying EMatrix.

thevirginiaadams's provider

Kevin Stasney, MD

Physician

My practitioner was very professional and kind. She's been administering eMatrix for 3 years and has had "phenomenal success." She told me about all the common things to expect, uncommon things that might happen and what to do for everything. She said I'd be "really red" for 2-3 days with swelling beginning to subside after Day 1. She told me about the "rectangles and pixelation," and followed up with me post treatment and both days since, via text. The procedure itself was joltingly painful, like a hundred beestings concentrated to the tiny area where the wand tip touches the skin. I have a high pain tolerance and almost came out of my seat a few times. I declined the numbing cream, as I would have had to wait almost an hour for it to take effect enough to make a difference and I have read it doesn't seem to help much anyway... All that being said, I didn't curse or scream, so it was tolerable. If you have trouble with pain, take the numbing cream and pop a pain reliever ahead of time. What I hadn't realized, in my mind's eye, is how AWFUL I was going to look! I had a hard time finding images of immediately post treatment... (glad I have finally found this forum!) Since the machine doesn't disrupt the epidermis, I guess I thought that I would simply be flushed. OH HELL NO! When I got out of the treatment, my skin looked like raw steak. 2 hours later, my overall swelling was subsiding but I looked like a character from a sci-fi fi movie, with the rectangles bright red and swollen. On a very bright note, my pain was minimal! I took 2 ibuprofen when I left the Dr.'s office because my skin felt ON FIRE, once the meds hit my system, I had ZERO pain. I don't understand how that can be, since I look like a serious burn victim, but zero pain. Nada. I'm now 54 hours post procedure and my skin is tight, leathery and ITCHING like a mofo. I still have swelling and redness, though I'm no longer the color of a baboon's behind, it's dulling down as the pixelated scabs are forming. If this works and I have great results, I'll be thrilled and will consider it a success. If my results suck, I'll be madder than hell that I've paid to put myself through this. No pain, no gain, and all that jazz... All of the eMatrix info I have read say that you can put make up on the day after and that you can resume your normal activities. I'm glad that I work from home, because there's no way IN HELL that I'd ever let my coworkers see me like this! And make up? No thanks. Make up on top of scabs looks like it sounds, and it's not good. So take care in scheduling more recovery time than you are told you need. Unless it's Halloween and you are going as a science fiction character. Time will tell! I'll continue to post photos. PS - I don't know why my photos are sideways, pardon me.