Cosmetic Patients
We hope to make your treatment as comfortable and side effect-free as possible. By reviewing our before and after treatment recommendations, you feel will feel more confident preparing for and recovering from your procedure.
What to Bring
- Stop blood thinners: Avoid taking nonprescribed blood thinning medications (e.g. aspirin, ibuprofen, Motrin, Naprosyn) or Vitamin E starting three days before your appointment. You may resume these medications the day after your procedure.
- Stop topicals: Before laser/light procedures, stop using any exfoliating topical creams (e.g. Retin A, Differin, retinols, retinaldehydes) one week before your treatment.
- Cleansing: Before your appointment, please cleanse the areas to be treated to remove any makeup, moisturizer or sunscreen.
- Avoid moisturizers: On your appointment day, before your treatment, please avoid using any moisturizer to the treatment areas. Use of moisturizer or other creams can reduce the effectiveness of your laser/light treatment and interferes with our treatment of spider vein treatment on the legs.
- Numbing: For injectables (not including Botox or Dysport) and for laser/light treatments, begin to apply the numbing cream that was given to you at the cosmetic consultation as directed. If you do not have the numbing cream at home, please come 30 minutes early for your appointment and tell the receptionist that you need to apply numbing cream. Numbing cream is not needed for Botox or Dysport injections, or for treatment of broken capillaries and leg veins with Vbeam laser or sclerotherapy.
- Supplies:
- Ice packs: Be prepared to use cold compresses or ice packs (do not apply ice directly to skin – place ice in Zip-Lock bag and cover with thin towel) at home after your treatments.
- Oil-Free Moisturizer: Laser/light treatments may require frequent moisturizing for a number of days after treatment. Be sure you have an oil-free moisturizer on hand such as Cetaphil, Aquanil, Cerave or DML cream.
- Cold sore prevention: If you have a history of cold sores, please inform your doctor before your treatment – a preventative antiviral medication may be prescribed to reduce your risk of an outbreak.
- Sun-sensitivity: If you are on sun-sensitizing medications or have a history of sun-sensitive rashes, please inform our office staff before a laser/light treatment.
After Your Treatment
- Cold compresses/ice packs:
- Injectables: Following injections, reduce risk of bruising by applying cool compresses or ice packs (wrapped in a thin towel) to injected area for 15 minutes every couple of hours during the first day. It is not unusual to experience some mild swelling, redness and tenderness in the injected area for several days. Any bruises that develop can be concealed with makeup concealer.
- Laser/Light treatments: Following laser/light treatments you may experience a mild stinging or “sunburn” feeling, mild swelling, and redness. Use of cool compresses or ice packs (wrapped in a thin towel) for 15-20 minutes every two to four hours while awake for the first couple of days as needed may lessen these expected side effects.
- Gentle care: Do not rub or massage the treated areas. Cleanse the treated area with soap and water (no washcloths), splash with water to rinse, and pat to dry.
- Sun avoidance/Sun protection: Avoid sun exposure for a week as this may increase your risk of hyperpigmentation in treated areas. Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen of at least SPF 30 if you must be outdoors.
- Moisturize: After a laser/light procedure, liberally use an oil-free moisturizer twice or three times daily for at least one week. The laser/light treatments work by delivering heat energy into the skin and in some treatments by causing some of the skin to shed. In order for the skin to heal optimally, it is important to restore hydration with moisturizer.
- Discomfort/Pain/Redness/Swelling: You may experience minimal after effects with your treatment.
- Injectables: Injections potentially will leave treated areas slightly tender to touch and with minimal swelling and redness for several days. If you require a pain medication, you may use Tylenol (acetaminophen) as directed. After injection of dermal fillers (i.e. Restylane, Juvederm, etc.), palpable but not visible lumps may be present for several weeks – this will usually disappear and blend into the surrounding skin.
- Laser/light treatments: After effects from these treatment will vary depending on the type of treatment. Some treatments will leave little to no appreciable discomfort or swelling. Other treatments, especially those that work more aggressively to alter wrinkles or scarring by resurfacing the skin, will result in a number of days of redness (resembling a sunburn), mild swelling, and possibly some scaling or crusting.
- Sclerotherapy: Injection of leg veins may leave areas of minor tenderness or bruising at the injection sites. Cotton balls and tape applied to veins during the treatment should be left on and vigorous physical activity minimized for 12 hours after treatment. While extremely rare, ulceration or exquisite pain at injection sites should be discussed with your doctor.