Vanity and Laziness: 10 years later.

Here’s the thing about getting procedures done, you better be diligent about your skincare routine. Are you someone who has a hard time getting up every morning, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, and PUTTING ON YOUR SPF before you stumble out the door? You should probably avoid ablative lasers, chemical peels, and products (such as hydroquinone and Retin-A) that are geared toward improving the signs of photo-aging (otherwise known as age spots). How do I know this you ask?? My face.
In the recent past, around 2007-2009, I tried a couple of the new lasers around our office. I LOVED the results of the Fraxel Dualwave. Honestly, I am lucky and wrinkles are not a huge issue for me (probably due to the prophylactic Botox I’ve been getting since I was 23), but I do notice sun damage on my face. The Fraxel Dualwave knocked out a ton of pigmentation and also left my skin glowing. My face looked healthy and restored in so many ways after the Fraxel Dualwave. It was definitely a painful procedure, but still totally worth it.
I got my last Fraxel Dualwave in 2009 before I moved to Portland. Shortly after I moved, my mom got sick and I came back home to help her and my dad during this experience. In the process, I fell in love, got married, and started having babies (you know the story). So much joy in my life also came with lots of chaos and the only routine I was aware of was the attempt I was making at achieving a sleep routine with my kiddos. Fast forward 5 years later and my recent Visiapictures (below) show the effects of leaving my skin exposed.
The thing about ablative lasers and chemical peels is that they really do bring forward new skin. The process encourages your skin to turn over at a rapid pace and encourages your body’s natural healing process to bring forth beautiful youthful skin. Very cool, for sure, but you know how obsessive you are about covering your kiddos with SPF? That is how obsessive you should be about that new skin you just brought to the surface of your own face…..or you will lose all the improvements and continue to age.

The Visia pictures show that when I originally got my skin’s baseline in 2005, I had fewer sunspots than 85% of my peers. Nine years later, I was only better than 36% of my peers. Since the Visia is standardized based on your peers, unless I moved to the equator or STOPPED WEARING SUNSCREEN, I should stay roughly the same over the years. Instead, my skin shows that the lack of sunscreen has aged me much quicker than it should have, especially since I did procedures that removed earlier sun damage.
No worries though! I recently told myself that if I could use sunscreen daily for 2 months I would let myself try some procedures again to see if I could start to correct the recent damage. So, check back to see how the ELOS IPL improves my skin!