What to expect after carbon dioxide laser treatment?
The local anaesthetic and the laser treatment may cause swelling to the treated area for several hours or even days.
If the treated area is near your eyes or near your forehead, your eye lid may become swollen and you may develop a mild “black eye”.
You may experience some discomfort after the CO2 laser treatment. For adults, take two tablets of paracetamol (eg. Panadol) every six hours when needed for pain (if you are not allergic to it).
During the first few weeks, the CO2 laser treated area may be wet but ultimately a dry scab will form. The edges of the wound may become reddened and you may see some yellowish crust in the wound. This is the normal appearance of a healing wound. These are not the signs of infection.
The wound will heal spontaneously.
If bleeding occurs, apply continuous pressure directly to the wound with your hand for 20 minutes. If the bleeding continues after 20 minutes of pressure, notify your doctor at the National Skin Centre. If he cannot be reached, go to the nearest general practitioner or hospital for advice.
Home care dressing for carbon dioxide laser treatment wound
Keep the treated area dry for 24 hours following the CO2 Laser treatment.
Remove the dressing after 24 hours.
If the dressing is stuck to the wound, soak dressing in saline solution to loosen.
Clean the wound either using cotton applicators (cotton bud) or cotton balls with prescribed cleansing solution, applying gentle pressure and cleaning the edges and inside the wound.
After cleaning the wound, dry the wound.
Apply antibiotic ointment with cotton applicators.
Cover the wound with non-adherent dressing eg. Airstrip or Melolin (this will prevent the dressing from adhering to the wound) and secure the dressing with tape.
Wound dressings may be changed daily or twice a day (morning and evening) depending on the cleanliness of the wound.
Do not use any cosmetic or cover-up on lasered wound until the skin has totally healed
