Here's one of my "before" shots.

Another "before."

The first "after." Dr. Zimmet took this one in his office.

Still Tuesday, July 27

See the Active FX Laser Resurfacing Video, part 1.

It’s the evening of the procedure day and I want to give a quick recap. First we shot some “before” pictures. At about an hour before the actual procedure began Dr. Zimmet’s aesthetician, Hadley, covered my face with a topical anesthetic and gave me a Xanax (mild tranquilizer) and a Vicodin (pain reliever). After about 30 minutes my face started to feel quite numb. After 60 minutes, Dr. Zimmet came and in and administered shots (nerve blockers) to my forehead, near my eyes, and near my mouth. The shots weren’t too bad; Dr. Zimmet “shakes” the area so the shot doesn’t pinch much. And by this time I was feeling the Xanax, which tends to make everything easier. I tied my hair back and Hadley gave me a headband to get all of my hair off my face. They started the chiller—chilled air was blowing on my face the entire time, which felt really good, because the primary feeling from the laser was heat.

Dr. Zimmet started the laser treatment around the edges of my face—he called that “feathering,” I’m not sure why. I think he starts there because the sensation is the least strong. The most sensitive place was around my mouth. It reminded me a little of the sensation with Thermage, which is kind of like being zapped with something hot. He did my eyelids last, and I think using a different tip. I expected that area to be the most sensitive but it wasn’t bad at all. The whole procedure took maybe 30-35 minutes. Afterwards, they gave me a mirror. My face was already kind of brown with little spots all over my skin. We took some more pictures, and then Hadley covered my face with ointment. Dr. Zimmet had told me that it would feel like a major sunburn, and having had some bad sunburns in my teens I remember what that feels like, but I think this may have been even hotter. They gave me some ice to hold to my face, and I did so all the way home. (I went through P. Terry’s–best veggie burgers in Austin!–drive-through on the way home, and I’m sure the guy thought I looked freakish, but I was starving and didn’t really care).

When I got home I felt very sleepy, probably from the Xanax. (And I’m still sleepy now, so will post the recovery directions tomorrow.) When I woke up it felt like most of the ointment had soaked in, so I put some more on and took a close look at my face. It’s pretty puffy, which is normal for the first couple of days. It’s quite brown, like someone with really terrible sun damage. You can see the little dots created by the machine. I took a few pictures. I don’t really feel pain unless I touch my face; the right side feels a little bit sore. I’m supposed to put the ointment on four times a day and not let my face get dry, and I think I might need to apply it even more than that because it feels like it’s soaking in. It still feels kind of hot, and tight. All of which I expected. Can’t wait to see what I look like when I wake up in the morning!

Monday, July 26

Tomorrow is the day. I’m excited.  Yesterday I bought some inexpensive blue pillowcases at Target. Dr. Zimmet suggested old pillowcases but I don’t have any of those (except some that I used to cover up plants during winter freezes).  This evening I am planning to go grocery shopping and to the movie store.

Dr. Zimmet’s office called in two prescriptions for me and I picked them up at Walgreen’s on 4^5th and Guadalupe. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Zimmet called me on Friday to discuss the pre-op instructions, and I took these notes.

“Basically, I wanted to tell you what to expect on the day of your appointment. And there are a couple of medications we might want you to take. We prescribe Valtrex to everyone whether or not you have a history of fever blisters, as a precaution; and a painkiller in case you have trouble sleeping the first night. You come in an hour before your appointment, we take some photos, you’ll review the consent form, and we’ll apply a topical anesthetic. After 30 minutes we’ll administer a local anesthetic nerve block and, if you’d like, we can give you a Xanax.” (Yes, please!) “If you do elect to take the Xanax we’d want someone to drive you home.” Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, July 22

Four days away and have to admit, I’m getting a bit nervous. Will it hurt? Will I be totally grossed out by what I look like? Will I look OK when I finally do venture out on the sixth day after the procedure? It has been challenging to keep all meetings and social activities off my calendar for five days without disclosing why. I made the mistake of telling a couple of people that I was going out of town. It just seemed easier than coming up with another excuse for people I didn’t want to tell. Now I’m worried that I won’t remember who I said that to, and that I’ll slip up later. “What a tangled web we weave . . . “ Also, as I’m pretty active on social media and it’s conceivable that they could wonder where my vacation pictures are. OK, that’s probably going too far with the worrying. Read the rest of this entry »

by Clare Sargent

Wednesday, June 21

Today I arranged for a videographer to shoot my procedure. Dr. Zimmet had someone in mind who couldn’t do it on the day I wanted the procedure, so we got my colleague and friend Julia Hilder. I waited until after I’d lined her up and explained the project (filming for two hours and a couple of interviews) to tell her that I am the actual patient. I was quite surprised when she emailed back that she “knows it well” referring to laser resurfacing. Her main issue was sun spots—she’s blond and has fair skin. She said that her spots faded and her skin tightened—she described the effect as subtle. I’m counting on a lot more than subtle. I should have asked what kind of equipment was used when she did it, as according to Dr. Zimmet that can make a big difference.

When Dr. Zimmet had one of his staff perform the procedure on him, he used two different kinds of anesthetic, one on each side of his face, so that he could tell which was more effective. I’m not worried about the pain, in part because I’ve had a number of things done now and imagine that this won’t be too different. Back when I had the series of photofacial treatments I remember Dr. Zimmet saying that it would feel like my face was being snapped by a rubber band. Some of the zaps were uncomfortable but at the same time I always thought that it had to hurt a bit to be really effective.

Now that I think about it I have no idea what this will feel like and I haven’t really asked. I’ll definitely be taking a Xanax to take the edge off. The only thing I’ve had done that hurt kind of a lot was the shots in my lips, which I guess are harder to anesthetize. I still got it done a second time, though, because I liked the results so much. One thing I really, really appreciate about Dr. Zimmet is that you wouldn’t look at me and think “Oh, she had her lips done.” He even cautioned me the first time I had it done that he would be somewhat conservative. (When you have a few hours to waste, check out www.awfulplasticsurgery.com for some hideous celebrity examples of way overdone lips—Lindsay Lohan, Melanie Griffith and Carson Kressley are two that come to mind and there are many, many others.)