My name is Susan Story, and I have succumbed to the call of vanity. For many years, I have had a pigment spot on my right cheek (that the dermatologist so impolitely called "a stain"). I can't really remember when it came to be; I guess I could look at photos and date it. I have attributed it to hormonal changes during my pregnancy with Mac because that's when I can really remember it being noticeable. The dermatologist last week told me that it was sun-related and we could remove it, and I jumped on the bandwagon hook, line, and sinker.
She explained that to remove the spot, she'd apply a topical anesthetic cream to numb the face (by now she'd decided I needed to do my whole face to remove all sun damage and not just "the stain" and when she told me it would even reduce wrinkles and fine lines, I was totally in), then she'd apply a gel and use a laser over my whole face. She assured me it wasn't painful - her words were "I am - how do you say in America - chicken and it was fine for me when I had it done." So I got the next available appointment which was today.
I arrived at her office at 9:30 for the application of the anesthetic cream. Then I waited until I was called back for the procedure with my dermatologist and another doctor as well. My doctor was apparently so taken by the really unnatural whiteness (I prefer pearl-like condition) of my stomach that she felt the need to show the other doctor it before we started. Then they got down to business. They cleaned my face of the anesthetic cream, applied little adhesive strips to my eyebrows (to prevent singeing???), applied this very cold gel all over my face and gave me these little glasses to wear to protect my eyes. The glasses look like what I'd imagine you'd wear in a tanning booth. I have never been to a tanning booth because I prefer my sun damage au natural.
And then the zapping began. It wasn't terribly painful except for the instant the always-surprising flash of light hit the skin. The two doctors kept talking among themselves and of course it was in Portuguese and it was medical lingo which I haven't studied, so I had no idea if they were saying "isn't this interesting that her skin is falling off of her face and she doesn't complain at all". Within 10 minutes they were done and they told me not to panic, that my face was very red but this was normal, and my freckles (and "the stain" we were supposed to be removing) were very dark but this was normal, too. The redness would disappear within an hour or two and my freckles and "the stain" were going to peel off in the next week or so.
So I walked out of the treatment room to pay and wouldn't you know that in a city of 18 million people, there was somebody I knew sitting in the waiting room waiting on her appointment. And I looked a sight, let me assure you. Big red splotches all over my face, freckles that looked like I'd painted brown magic marker on them and greasy residue from the gel around my hairline. I now understand why movie stars get their treatments done after-hours and in very private clinics!!!
I'm now about 2 hours past the treatment and the stinging has totally stopped, the numbness from the anesthetic cream is wearing off, and the redness has now fully encompassed my cheeks so it's more uniform and not as splotchy. But wow, those freckles and "the stain" look prominent!! I am hoping and praying for a quick peeling off of those because I won't leave the house in the present condition. Vanity does have its price. I just can't believe that I paid for it!
No comments:
Post a Comment