I have to be honest, I’ve always had nice skin. I mean, I did go through the teenage acne stage, but it was never excessive. But at 42, I felt that my skin looked pretty good “for my age”. However, it’s the “for my age” part that started to bother me. For the past few years, I have noticed an increased need to buy a fuller coverage foundation to cover my sun spots, but then the downside would be the foundation would seep into my lines and wrinkles making me look older. With the help of Facebook memories, I was constantly reminded how wonderful my skin USED to look, so on a Breast Lift follow-up appointment with Dr. Eberle, I asked what I could do to get rid of my sun spots. He first suggested BBL Corrective, a simple outpatient procedure that takes about 30 minutes from prep to finish and has no downtime. A series of these is recommended, so I purchased a package of 2 to start.

In September 2018, I had my first BBL Corrective done. Did it hurt? Not really. Was it pleasant? Not at all. But the treatment is tolerable with absolutely no numbing cream and is over before you realize it. Within a week, my skin looked better. My 2 biggest sunspots were significantly lighter and my skin just felt smoother. I had already scheduled my next BBL for 6 weeks later, but now started to realize, I wanted more of a dramatic result. So once again, I asked the experts at Weston Center for Plastic Surgery what they suggested. The clear answer was to add the Halo treatment to my next BBL Corrective. Now the Halo is also a fairly quick outpatient treatment, but does have at least 3 weeks of prep work for your skin (I did 5) and has a more intense recovery period.

First step was to start prepping my skin. I Obagi Medical’s Nu Derm system with .05 Retinol Cream and started about a week after my first BBL Corrective. Let me tell you, this stuff is no joke. There is a reason they tell you to start slow. My skin became extremely dry and then peeled quite a bit, but as the weeks wore on, my skin was smoother, softer, and clearer than it had been in years. It’s hard to tell if it was the Obagi or the BBL Corrective, probably a combination of both, but my skin was already looking fantastic.
A week before my BBL/Halo Treatment, I received the Obagi Medical Blue “Lunchtime” Peel. This was a great way to further prep my skin for the upcoming treatment. I was fortunate to receive this treatment complimentary as part of the Obagi Medical 30th Birthday Celebration, but I will definitely do it again before my next Halo as a way of prep. This treatment had no downtime and I only ended up a little pink the first 24 hours after.

Now came the day I had been waiting for (and somewhat dreading). I picked the week before Thanksgiving as it is a slow time for me at work and I would be able to work from home. With the exception of not using my Obagi products 24 hours before the treatment, there was nothing special I had to do the day of. I came in and my skin was prepped with numbing cream and I relaxed for about an hour while my face numbed.
Then it was go time. With the numbing cream removed, Dr. Eberle started with the BBL Corrective. I have to say, this was much more pleasant with the numbing cream and seemed to go a lot faster. With that now done, it was time to move on to the Halo. Dr. Eberle started with my forehead. At first, it was barely noticeable, but the intensity started to increase. He did a great job telling me how far we had gone and how much we had left in that area. By the time the forehead was done, it was extremely hot.
He then moved on to the right side of my face, then the left side and then the nose. The nose was a piece of cake. The most intense spots were definitely my cheekbones and under and around my eyes. Did it hurt? Yes, but it was also bearable. Enough so that I’ve already scheduled my follow-up treatment.

Immediately after my Halo treatment, I received the CO2 Lift Pro Carboxy Treatment Mask. This stuff felt like a dream as it helped to cool my face as my face was burning with intense heat. I was the first patient to use this treatment mask as part of the Halo treatment, so I did receive it complimentary, but I do believe it helped with my recovery significantly and will add it on to any future procedures

So here is my diary of how I felt each day along with pictures.