Friends who knows me in real life knows I battle with acne and scars. I've tried chemical peels, skin rejuvenation etc. to lighten my facial scars. They work, but only for a fair extent (5% maybe?). but I'm grateful they work.
Last year, in preparation for my wedding, I decide to look for ways to further improve the scars, and upon the recommendation of my facial therapist, I decide to go for CO2 fractional laser. Did some googling to see which doctor I should go to, and decide on Skinlab. To be very honest, I'm sceptic even though I've read good reviews about that in the forums. The reason for my scepticism is because 1) their website looks blah (ok, that's a job-related thing), and most importantly, alot of the search results online (other than the one in forums), are paid advertorials by famous bloggers. I've slowly grown to ignore what the famous bloggers are talking about since their blogs seems to be a space for advertorials, after adverorials, and nothing looks honest or personal anymore.
Anyway, I made an appointment to see Dr Kelvin Chua, and started on my fractional CO2 laser journey. The effects of CO2 laser is great! It improves my complexion ALOT (about 30%?), and a great by-product is my skin is fairer and brighter. The only down-side to this treatment is the down time and the pain. Unlike chemical peel and skin rejuvenation where there's no downtime at all (except having to keep out from the sun), there's a 3 to 5 days of down time (differs on individual), and it can be really painful.
Before each treatment, they will help me remove my make-up, before putting on a layer of numbing cream and then rest/wait for 30 mins for the numbing cream to take effect before Dr Chua will come and do the laser for me.
Even after the numbing cream, the laser process can feel pretty painful (but I've a high pain threshold), but for beauty, it's still bearable. Dr Chua is very patient and nice and whenever he sees or sense I'm in pain, he will go "sorry ah, pain right" in the most gentle manner. We chat alot about anything and everything during the whole treatment, which I think is his way of distracting his patient from the pain. There will be this "beep beep" sound whenever the machine and skin touch, and also a burnt (chao dar) smell, probably from the burning of the skin or facial hair. Whole treatment takes around 20-30 mins I think? After the laser, you can opt to do a cooling mask to help soothe the pain. Personally, I find it makes no difference so I decide to save the $80. After the laser, the heat/burning sensation on the face can be quite horrible, especially if it's your first few treatment. It's so awful, that I need to park myself in front of a fan or aircon to feel better. During my first laser, Skinlab ran out of the mask, so I got to experience what it feels like without the soothing of the mask. Second time, I tried the mask. When the mask is on, it feels slightly better (slightly only), but once they remove it, the burning sensation is back in full blast, so that's why I decide that I don't need the mask since I'll need to go through the pain anyway. Usually the burning sensation lasts for about 2 -3 hours, afterwards, it's just slight pain (like you cut yourself then got wound that kind of pain). For the next 3 days, you only need to wash your face gently with water (no facial foam or whatever), and apply the cream they provide.
Below are some photos from my treatment. WARNING: it may make you feel uncomfortable.
Day 1: Taken immediately after the laser. My face looks red/burnt.
Day 2: The redness grows darker, and looks dark red/brown like a charred. My sister jokingly calls me "An Pan Man" because of my chao dar looking face
Day 3: The redness or chaodar-ness starts to fade off, and the scabs (which is this pixel looking thing) starts to look more obvious.
By Day 5, most of my scabs are off (with some remaining on the jaw area) and it's back to business! Will still need to hide under the shade though as you'll feel the skin is very sensitive to sun/heat.
Going for CO2 laser is one of the best decision I've made and I'm loving the results. :) Usually, I'll go for my laser treatment on Friday evening (after work), so I have the weekend to hide at home, and by Monday, as long as there's no big meetings or presentation, I'll usually be back at work with a mask on. Skinlab do give MCs so you can stay at home, but for me, I think it's ok la, I'm quite thick skin. hahaha..
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