Acne Journey: Laser for Pores & Acne Scarring Aftercare + Skin Update!

Narcissistic much... starting off with a giant picture of my face HAHA

Hola guys!! Back again with another skin update + aftercare post as promised! Hope everyone is doing well! I have just recovered from a massive fever episode which jeopardised my entire weekend schedule. My fever has since went down but now I am stuck with a terrible cough. (T__T)

Anyway, a little while back, I did the Venus Viva Nano Fractional RF Energy treatment to get rid of my acne scars and my skin had improved so much from then. If you are interested, you can read the post here. Back then, I mentioned an amazing hack that drastically reduced my redness post treatment and today,
​I am gonna share all my aftercare secrets with you! *You can thank me later, yo' sister gotcha back ;) 

1. Cleansing

Super basic but often overlooked. Your skin is basically raw after whatever treatment you have put it through and having a good mild cleanser is extremely important in your regime. Having oily skin, I opted for Cetaphil's Oily Skin Cleanser. I have heard tons of amazing reviews regarding Cetaphil's face washes and had to give it a try. Lo and behold, this is definitely one of my holy grails now and I basically wash my face day and night with this. Not only does it help in getting every single gunk out of my pores, it is extremely gentle on the skin and does not dry it out like my other cleansers. Love! 

2. Moisturise

Moisturise your skin! To ease the redness, it is extremely important to keep a good moisture balance on your skin. My favourite way is to slap on a thick layer of Laneige Water Sleeping Mask before bed. Simple as that, I wake up everyday with hydrated skin that is less irritated than before. 

3. MAGICAL MASK!!

Wanna know how my skin had a drastic reduction in redness in just 10 minutes?!! It was all because of.....

Yes!! This insanely hyped up Lululun Masks from Japan! I got this when I was in Japan because it was so hyped I literally had to try it. Instead of buying the entire pack of 100, I decided to get a week trial first to see how it goes. Tried it in Japan and it did not make the cut therefore I forgo the thought of getting the 100s. BIG MISTAKE!!! This mask made such a huge difference in terms of reducing the redness on my face.

Immediately after I reached home from the treatment, my skin started to feel really hot and irritated. It was probably due to the weather in Singapore but it was extremely uncomfortable for me. Decided to whip out this Lululun mask because it was the only moisturising mask I had (others were for acne/whitening). Just 10 minutes, my face was VISIBLY less irritated and the redness had gone down by a notch. My wild guess is that my skin was lacking of moisture and this mask had greatly replenished whatever my skin was craving for therefore it significantly calmed down in just 10 minutes. Enough said, I basically applied this mask every single day for the entire week as part of my aftercare. 

4. Sunblock

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!! Cannot stress enough that a good sunblock is vital be it post treatment or just for daily usage. Protecting your skin from harmful UV rays is the key method to prevent your skin from degenerating. Some say to even apply a TEASPOON of sunblock daily just to protect the skin.

​My current favourite sunblock is from IDS Skincare and it is the Non-Tinted SPF50 Sunblock. I love how it has a high protection and yet it is so lightweight and does not feel oily at all. It sits perfectly under my make up and does not give me the crazy white cast during flash photography. 

If you are interested in IDS Skincare, you can check them out here.
Winter5: $5 off all orders above $80
Winter25: $25 off all orders above $250

5. Collagen

So I have always been curious about all these collagen drinks and whether it was worth the hype.. In conjunction with my recent skin treatment experience that is meant to boost collagen production within the skin, I decided to bite the bullet and get a box of DHC's 12000 EX. Chose this because it has one of the highest amount of marine collagen in a tiny bottle compared to all the other brands available in Watsons. 

I usually chill it and drink it only at night. Not too sure if it was my mind playing tricks but after my first bottle, I woke up to glowing skin that feels plumper and refreshed. Was pretty impressed with it to be honest... If you are ever curious about collagen drinks, definitely give this a go!

Skin Update

Clear skin 3 weeks ago that was short-lived af cuz' of period woes T_T

So if you follow me on Dayre, you would have seen how clear my skin was 3 weeks ago because I had been taking extra care by drinking 2 litres of water everyday. I guess good things never last and le skin decided to be a volcano again by popping a giant cystic zit in the middle of my cheek *rolls eye x100*

Applied numbing cream on the affected area before extraction

Supposed to head back down to my favourite clinic for another session of the laser for pores & acne scarring (Venus Viva). However, the session had to be curtailed because of that horrendous creature on my cheek. Just look at how angry it is!! Thank goodness for my amazing doctor cuz' she recommended to extract it for me. Tried so many times to extract it myself but it was way too deep and it refused to budge. Imagine having to deal with that giant bump for 2 weeks!!! 

​Anyway guys, please do not learn from me. Do not extract the pimples yourself because they may get further infection/leave a nasty scar. Learnt my lesson big time and officially stopped trying to pick at my pimples. Let a professional do it instead, trust me, it is much more worth it. 

The deep cystic acne was easily extracted under the skilled hands of my doctor using the treatment called "Electro-Cautery". Electrocautery is basically applying heat (converted by electrical currents) through a fine tip directly to the affected area. You can actually feel the electrical currents passing through in sharp waves with each zap. It was a little painful to be honest but I would totally do it all over again to get rid of it.

Cystic pimples usually last about a month on my face and I am so glad to find out that it can be treated so easily with professional help. Of course, there may be risks of scarring therefore finding a trustable & credible clinic is extremely important. Also, DO NOT pick on the scab when it is healing! Slap those itchy fingers away whenever you have the urge. 

A comedone extractor was then used to remove all the pus inside. This part was extremely painless because the surface was already numbed with the numbing cream. Haha, damn disgusting but does anyone else enjoy watching extraction videos too?! I get such a deep satisfaction whenever I see all the pus/sebum/blackheads coming out of the face. Who's with me?! 

YASSSSS!!!!! GOOD BYE FOR GOOD!

Easily done in a couple of minutes. The surface was then disinfected and antibiotics was applied to prevent further infection. So amazed (& disgusted) by how much pus that was inside that cystic pimple. Urgh, hate cystic pimples, they are the worst. It has been about two weeks and my skin has healed very well. There is still some slight discolouration but definitely no signs of any depressed scarring, thank heavens! 

Left the clinic with a prescribed IDS Skincare range that was tailored to my skin's needs. Been trying it out for a week during my recent trip to China and I am honestly impressed. Usually, I will get crazy breakouts due to the bad air quality, but this was actually the FIRST trip that my skin didn't break out at all. Not even a single tiny zit! Amazing right?! Will continue to test out the range and I will let you darlings know my thoughts in a couple of weeks. So far, it has been working ideally & I can't wait to share more about it! 

That's all folks! Hope this post helped you all and do let me know if you have any further questions! Received tons of questions regarding my Accutane journey and I promise, I am working on it. Thank you for reading! 

xx
​Winter