Affirm C02 Ablative Skin Retexturizing Resurfacing Treatment Results & Review

A month ago I started the Affirm C02 laser resurfacing. I've had one treatment so far and go in for the second in a few days. It'll be 3 1/2 weeks between treatments.This is my first report so it's pretty hard to rate just yet so I'll mainly talk here about the treatment, how much pain etc.Although the doctor helped with the pain by putting lots of numbing cream on my face, the procedure was still pretty uncomfortable. A little scary quite frankly. I think the hardest thing for me was the greasy metal protective shields they put on my eyeballs; I've never worn contacts so this frightened me a bit. I'm glad they did because it protected my eyes. I figure Hollywood actors have had to wear this sort of thing for movies so I should just try to buck up. My eyes are fine now although the eyelids are still a bit tender from the lasering.It also stung pretty good near my hairline so either they didn't put the cream up into my hair enough or that area is just very sensitive.The scariest part for me was the 1 1/2 hour drive home. I kept putting ice on my face but I was a bit in shock still and kept worrying that something might go wrong with the car because than I would have to stop and deal with people while my face looked awful and was burning terribly. Mainly it was a fear factor.I'm trying to get someone to drive with me this next time so I can take a pill to relax me.After the procedure, my faced burned like crazy for a good solid 24 hours. The best help was spraying water on my face while sitting in front of a fan. Ice worked too, and just rubbing bare ice cubes over my face. This time I will also try a bag of frozen peas.The scariest thing, after the drive home, was the swelling that occurred that evening. My eyes almost swelled shut so before bed I had to grope around and lay out everything I might need in case of emergency in case I couldn't see at all in the morning.I slept with my head elevated and in the morning I was still swollen but my eyes did not swell shut.The doctor told me that the second treatment is usually the worst for some reason so I am trying to get everything prepared this time. This time maybe my eyes will swell shut but I figure blind people have been dealing with this for a lifetime so I should take this time to increase my compassion and see what it feels like.I hid out for four full days, it took that long for the swelling to go down. My face stayed red a few more days and now, three weeks later it is still pinker than normal but not bad. I have olive skin so I actually like that it is a bit pinker.As the next treatment day approaches I realize that I am getting a little panicky about it so that's why I'm calling friends to see if someone can take a half day off to help me drive. Medicine would probably help...Let's see I think that's all I can report for now. I am 57 years old and am doing it for skin firming and smoothing mainly. I've never done anything like this before. I have a few acne scars near the hairline, usually hidden under bangs, so I'll watch those and see if they disappear and report back.I don't see much in the way of results yet but I'm told I shouldn't until after the other treatments. This makes sense to me because skin takes at least a month to completely regenerate and it has been less than a month.I'll try to remember to report back here because I think this sort of thing is very useful to patients. Wish me luck!