Bruises, blisters and burns - Laser Surgery.

Yesterday I had laser surgery for the first time.  My main problem with it was the 'no drinking part.'  No drinking 4 days before the procedure and 2 weeks afterwards.  A dry bank-holiday...does such a thing exist?!  (For once I'm not talking about the weather!)

After I'd got over the shock of being a designated driver, I turned to the real concerns of laser surgery; bruises, blisters and burns.  Both to my credit and my detriment, I like to know what procedures involve.  It gives me a good idea of how things work and the results I can hope for.  It also gives me an over-blown, knees-knocking insight into, 'WHAT CAN GO WRONG.'

Have you ever read that piece of paper you get inside Paracetamol?  The flimsy, folded up small print covered in 50% instructions and 50% debilitating side-effects?   And that's just an over-the-counter remedy that people take without a care in the world.  You can only imagine what I'm like by the time I get to the hospital for my appointments.

Pulsed - dye laser treatment  is used for many skin conditions, including port-wine birthmarks, rosacea and acne-scarring.  It works by causing trauma to the scarred area and effectiveness increases when temporary bruising is caused.  From what I understand from my consultant, the blood vessels are destroyed and the cells broken down in the scarred skin.  However, the practitioner administering the treatment does not want to cause so much trauma that blisters and burns become present.  It's a fine line to walk.

The lady who treated me was very upfront about the treatment.  She said that blistering is a minimal risk.  As she administers the laser, she can see the skin changing.  This means she should be able to recognise a negative reaction in the skin; hyper-pigmentation, blistering or burning.  Hopefully I could expect the redness to ebb out of my scarring and possibly even see an improvement in the texture of the skin.  I signed my waver and off we went for a test round.

Laser has been around a while but seems a space-age thing to me!  The instrument that applies the pulse looks like one of those mini-whisks you use to froth up the milk in a coffee.  It is positioned over your skin and a ZAP! fills the air.  This is accompanied with a blinding, lightening-flash of blue-white light.  Blue lense glasses are required to protect your eyes from this Star Wars flare.

I had 2 shots of laser in 4 tiny areas, each about the diameter of a 5 pence piece.  This is to determine what results the laser will yield.  The first two areas were completely numb - I had no feeling at all.  This might be because my skin still has few or no nerve endings.  They were damaged during the burn and the graft procedure.  The two zaps further down my arm did sting and I am not sure how big an area I could cope with at a time.  The lady said she could stick to small areas and there is no rush.  There is no end to the course and I can have it for a year or more if needed.  So I guess we will take it slow!

Aloe Vera Gel was applied immediately and helped cool the zapped area down.  I was advised to apply it very regularly at home to aid healing.

Three areas went black immediately.  These are parts of the new scars from my most recent operation.  They didn't just bruise but turned deep black with a purple tinge.  It  looks similar to a large blood blister under the skin with a reddened outline.    They also swelled up quite a bit, considering how small the treated areas were.  I was a bit worried the swelling might pop into a blister but this morning they have gone down and are a bit flatter.

The worst area of scarring, the original burn scar, did nothing.  It didn't redden, blacken or swell.  It stayed the same! I imagine that means an increased pulse, or multiple 'zaps' can be used next time.  Especially as I didn't feel this one at all!

Before the treatment, in consultation, the lady said she has really good results with laser and hopefully we will see a positive change even in the little parts she has done.  I'm going back on October 12th to have another session.  Although this time the treatment was manageable both pain-wise and post-treatment-wise, I think having a larger area done at once could hurt.  It also might be quite shocking afterwards.  Having a few blood-blisters is one thing but having a large area of black skin might be hard to contend with.

Still, I am pleased that I've had the laser done.  Despite all the worry it was one of the less traumatic things I've had done and was far easier to cope with than the slicing pain of steroid injections.  I'm looking forward to the results...let's hope there's some improvement!

A previous post on laser - HERE