Bandage me up and send me home!

Once I had endured the 4 different rounds of treatment that took approximately 40 minutes to complete, I was sent off with a nurse for a cooling facial and to dress my battle scars.  I was again asked to lay down and some type of cooling machine was ran over the surface of my face for about 5 minutes.  It felt like an ice cube being applied directly to my skin and produced an uncomfortable cold burning sensation.  After this there was a kind of light treatment for another 5 -10 minutes and finally I was bandaged up with Duoderm slow healing bandages and sent on my way.  I had scheduled an appointment for exactly a week to have my bandages removed and receive another facial and cleansing.

With my hat pulled down close to my eyes and my head down, I made my way back to Gangnam station amidst the hustle and bustle of the usual Gangnam area foot traffic.  To my surprise no one really even looked at my busted face.  I guess when you live in Gangnam where plastic surgery clinics out number 7-11's, you become desensitized to seeing people in facial bandages.  The ride home was without incident, and when I finally made it back to my building I spent several minutes staring at myself in the mirror accessing the damage.  My skin was bright red, shiny and slightly swollen.  I looked like I had a bad sunburn.  The surface of my skin was dotted with tiny needle marks in perfect little rows and the texture was slightly leathery.  I had several giant Duoderm bandages covering my cheeks that I was instructed to leave on for at least 42 hours before changing them.  In short, I looked like a mess.  But the worst was yet to come because I was scheduled to teach the next morning.

The morning after the treatment was shocking to say the least.  I spent the night laying on my back (I usually sleep on my side) and kept waking up to avoid rolling over onto my face.  When I finally gained full consciousness and pulled myself out of bed I made my way to the bathroom to inspect my unusually tight feeling skin.  I discovered that the bandages had leaked though the night and the plasma that was discharged during the healing process had ran down my cheeks and dried in crusty yellow pools around my neck.  It was completely disgusting and fascinating at the same time.  My only concern was that in 2 hours I would be in front of a class of 24 fifth graders who were going to be wondering what the hell was up with my face.  But calling in sick was not an option so I pulled myself together and worked the entire day as my face leaked periodically.   I kept a tissue in my pocket at all times that day and would take it out and blot off any discharge that i felt seeping from the bandages as I taught.  (I would highly recommend that if you are a teacher in Korea and considering having this procedure, do it on a Friday night and by Monday morning with a bandage change, you will be good to go!)

The below pictures are of the first week after treatment, up until my bandages were removed (1 week) and 30 days after treatment:

Leaking bandages. For the first 42 hours, my bandages were leaking plasma. This was by far the most repulsive and uncomfortable part of the process.

The morning after the first treatment... It burns!

 

Day 2. The burning stopped and inflammation went down.

Day 2. Discharge subsided.

  Day 2. You can see the needle marks as well as patches from laser burns.

 Day 3. Bandage change. Laser burns in healing and crusty plasma... yummeh!

 Day4: Shedding my burnt epidermis.

Day 5: Dry and flaky skin and uncomfortable DuoDERM bandages... Incredibly itchy and I can't scratch! ㅠㅠ

 Day 6: Really tired of these DuoDERM bandages!

 Day 7: Post-check up and facial.  Still looking spotty... 3 weeks of bandage-free healing until my next encounter with lasers and needles ^^