Yesterday at 3.30pm I had IPL laser rejunvination on my face. It’s a procedure where they put goggles on you and shoot you with a laser that makes you see pretty colours. Your eyes are closed tight and there are these flashes of red, orange, yellow and white that explode behind your eyeballs and stick needles into your brain. It’s like being flicked in the face with a hot rubber band … over and over and over.
The procedure lasted about 20 minutes all up. My ‘beauty therapist’ (or as I fondly think of her, horrid torturous bitch-thing) was my best friend for a while, as she alone controlled the pain.
I walked out at 4.30 and drove home with an icepack on my face and the air conditioner on high. The highest it would go. My body was freezing, I couldn’t feel my fingers but my face … ahhhhh.
Then, once in the house, I used facewashers I had put in the freezer (I was told that there could be ‘some discomfit’ and that I might ‘feel flushed’) that morning. Ahhhhh. Nice.
At 5.00pm I felt as though someone had thrown petrol on me and then a friendly match. Fuck. I’m on fire.
By 6.00pm the pain had gone away but the SWELLING had started. The pigmentation that the laser targetted has turned black. I look like Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood, Price of Thieves. Yeah - the tattooed man.
This morning I look like the Magic Pudding. My eyes are like piss-holes in the snow and I have cheeks like a chipmunk. My face is fat. I don’t have any wrinkles because of the fatness. However, I am assured that in 24 hours, all will have returned to normal and the black pigmentation will start to flake off. Hooray. But did I mention the swelling?
At least I’m not on fire anymore. Vanity is a bitch.
If ever there was a time to make your mark in a Doper picture thread, this is it! Document the cost of vanity for your descendents!
In short: Cite?
FWIW, I lost vanity around the same time I lost my hair. Now I wear sandals with black socks and shorts - preferrably where my 15-year-olds friends can see.
IPL is actually not a laser, it’s Intense Pulsed Light, which is not the same as laser. But I can sympathize. I had five treatments and they did hurt pretty bad, but I didn’t have the swelling and stuff afterwards. I hope that they’re right and you feel better soon.
I work in an office in the middle of the building - so, I’m not really in contact with anyone who would point and laugh. I’m 38 with skin that’s seen a lot of the sun as a kid (I don’t think I ever used sunscreen or moisturiser until I was in my mid 20s and by then the damage was done).
Some of the ‘sun spots’ are starting to ‘ridge up’ so that’s what I decided to have it done. No regrets - and it probably wasn’t that painful on reflection … 24 hours later. Will keep you posted on results.
IPL treats acne, brown spots (sun damage) and broken capillaries, and does hair removal. I don’t know what the OP had, but it could’ve easily been $150 per treatment, with several treatments needed. It is NOT cheap in most cases.
I only needed the one treatment - the butterfly (both cheeks and over nose). The full face here in Oz is about $280. It is seriously a godsend for those with particularly damaged skin. Some of the before and after photos are awesome.
