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| My Personal Photos & Treatment Diary for 2008 |
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 January 11, 2008 (Treatment #28): 12 Years of Treatments! Woo Wee. I was just reviewing my entries from last year (2007). I started using a new topical emulsion Dr. Friedman prescribed called Biafine and its now a staple in my post-treatment regimen. I was planning to use Auriderm as well since it seemed to work well last time but it didn't make it into my take home bag so I am just using Biafine and Aquaphor.
I wasn't nearly as swollen this time for some reason. Dr. Friedman now provides frozen peas in latex gloves to take home and that was a nice creature comfort for the 3 hour drive back to Austin. Since I had picked my Dad up that morning we drove back to my parents house and I enjoyed a really nice 2 hour nap there. After waking up we had a nice dinner together and I drove home.
I had a topical tri-caine applied pre-treatment that was covered, very professionally I might add, in plastic wrap. I even managed to take a pic of my face with my phone's camera just to show what a professional occlusion looks like. I'll try and get it posted up here soon.
Dr. Friedman and his team set the bar very high for other doctors and their staffs. My Dad and I always appreciate the kindness, comfort, and concern shown us throughout each visit. It was great seeing Denise in her official P.A. role as well as Linda!
Dr. Friedman mentioned he has a book-in-progress... and it's not a work of fiction. What’s it going to be about AND where does he find the time to work on it? Stay tuned here...
BTW, I think this treatment was the smoothest quickest one to date. The eye shield went right in and came right out, and the zaps were quickly paced. I had two squeeze balls but never needed to use them.
VBeam Perfecta, 595-nm, 10-mm spot, 9.5 j/cm2, 1.5 ms, cryo 30/30. |
January 14, 2008: 3 days post-op. Maybe it's from not using the Auriderm but I had a few faint electric tickles last night and some mild discomfort. It's a little worse today but overall still well down on the mild scale. If history repeats itself, the electric "tickles" are usually over by Day 4 or 5.
The weather has been very cool for Austin (I had to wear a long sleeve shirt with my shorts to work today). I know I know... you can feel sorry for me :). But it does feel good on my cheek.
A few scabs have tried to appear but I'm keeping the treated area, especially where the scabs traditionally form, well oiled with Aquaphor and Biafine. |
January 15, 2008: Hey hey... guess what? I found my tube of Auriderm from last year. It doesn't have an expiry date so I've gone ahead and used it. I really do think it somehow speeds up the healing... I've seen an improvement just from this morning to tonight.
I ended up with just a bit of scabbing in the usual places and took a couple Aleve yesterday just to reduce the discomfort. |
| January 21, 2008: Officially 9 days post-op. Other than a couple small scabs on my nose and one on my eyelid I'm healed up (my birthmark is still a little darker than normal). I can actually shave today though its cold enough here in Austin to perhaps keep the grizzly look going for awhile (my wife hates it!). |
May 5, 2008: I had my fifth Cynergy treatment (#29 overall) from Dr. Martin Kassir at Mona Lisa Dermatology in Dallas, TX on Friday May 2. My last Cynosure Cynergy treatment was Nov 2006. I’ve had 3 Candela Perfecta treatments during the interim as well. Dr. Kassir was great as usual. BTW, he said he’ll try to attend our Austin Summer Gathering that Charlie is planning.
I’ve got a very resistant circular area on my cheek about the size of a quarter. As the rest of my pws continues to fade it has become more and more prominent. Dr. Kassir checked his notes and decided to customize the Cynergy’s settings for that area. For those of you who keep track of such things, the Cynergy uses two lasers (pdl and Nd:Yag) that fire one after another. The theory is the pdl turns the oxy-hemoglobin to methemoglobin which increases absorption of the Nd:YAG wavelength allowing for greater depth and efficacy of the Yag at lower energies (reducing scarring). There are many more parameters to play with as you might imagine! He increased the time between firings from 150msecs to 300msecs. Unlike my previous 4 treatments, this time when I left his office I definitely looked like I’d been in a fight J. There was only minor swelling but the resistant area definitely had purpuric response. He treated the rest of my pws with more conventional settings. Because of the overall reduced energies there wasn’t really any residual heat and I enjoyed a fun weekend out and about in Dallas (though using lots of sunscreen and wearing a hat outdoors at all times).
3 days out as of this writing and the purpura is almost all gone. I’ll report back on fading results in a few weeks.
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