Do you know how to decrease swelling after a treatment? Keep reading to learn more.
What treatments cause swelling?
There are many cosmetic treatments that can lead to swelling after your treatment. Basically, any time you have any sort of insult on your skin, there can be swelling. And the bigger the insult, the more the swelling. This can occur from injectable treatments such as fillers or Kybella, laser treatments, chemical peels, microneedling, and more. Kybella is an injectable treatment that causes a lot of swelling because of the inflammation when it dissolves fat. Certain laser treatments such as Fractional CO2 are aggressive and cause more swelling than non-invasive laser treatments like an IPL photofacial treatment.
What can I do to reduce swelling?
There are a lot of things you can do to reduce swelling after a treatment.
Sleep on an extra pillow
You may notice more swelling when you wake up in the morning. That’s because when you lie down there’s more blood that goes to your face as compared to when you stand or sit. To reduce this, you can try sleeping on an extra pillow.
Drink plenty of fluids
Drinking plenty of fluids throughout the day will help your body get rid of the inflammation, making the swelling go down faster.
Cold compresses
You can apply cold compresses like ice packs to your skin. This will reduce the amount of blood that comes to your skin and decrease the swelling. Apply it for about five minutes at a time. You can apply an ice pack on one side of your face for a few minutes then alternate to the other side.
Avoid heat
Being in a hot environment cause increase swelling. That’s because it causes your body to bring more blood to your skin. So avoid hot environments such as being outdoors when the weather is hot. But also avoid hot environments indoors like a hot bath, sauna, or steam room. When taking a shower, make sure it’s not too hot and not too long. Also avoid hot foods or drinks such as soup, hot coffee, or hot tea. Iced coffee and iced tea are ok.
Avoid alcohol and spicy foods
Avoid alcohol and spicy foods. Both alcohol and spicy foods also cause your body to bring blood to you skin. And this can increase the amount of swelling.
Anti-bruise pads
After certain treatments, we provide you with anti-bruise pads. These contain arnica and ledum, which decrease the risk of bruising. At the same time, they decrease the inflammation in your skin and this reduces swelling. You’ll get one right after your treatment and another one to take home. Leave the first one on until bedtime. At that time, replace it with another one and leave that on overnight. You can take it off the next morning.
Anti-histamine
As a last resort, you can take an antihistamine such as Benadryl or Claritin. These are available over-the-counter. Benadryl is the most effective for most people, but it can make you drowsy. So you’ll want to take it at night and the other ones in the morning.
There are many things you can do to reduce swelling after your treatments. Be sure to follow all of the after care instructions you receive to decrease the swelling.
Dr. Alex has performed over 10,000 cosmetic treatments with many satisfied patients. Contact us to schedule an appointment for a free consultation with Dr. Alex in our Encino, CA office.