Our Favorite Products

I've had a few questions from other parents about what products we use after laser surgery. These are our favorites. These are affiliate links.

This is our daily cream. You can purchase HERE.



This is the non-petroleum jelly that we use on top of the Eucerin cream for scabs. This helps seal in the moisture from the Eucerin and create a nice, protective barrier. Purchase HERE



This is our preferred sun-block. You should always be using an SPF 50 (any time you are in the sun, not just after treatment!). Purchase HERE.





Finally, you should always put a hat on. The less sun-exposure that you get when you have a port-wine stain, the slower the capillaries will regenerate. Find these hats HERE. 





I hope this helps you find the products you need to keep your skin as healthy as possible!

xoxo,
Jena

Post treatment #17 Healing

Hi all! It will be one week tomorrow since Elliot's treatment. It's healing pretty nicely, though there were about 10 that scabbed (some very light, some heavier). We have been keeping Eucerin cream and a non-petroleum natural jelly on them to prevent them from scarring badly.

Elliot is about a year older than he was when he received his last full treatment. He has expressed that it does hurt when I rub cream on it (though he didn't today). I've been told by many people that it feels like a sunburn. It definitely hasn't slowed him down any LOL. He and his big brother, Ethan, love to wrestle and Elliot hasn't mentioned any pain other than when I am applying the cream. He also said the Lavender oil was burning when I attempted the first 2 days so we've stopped that. I think I will attempt it again on Friday once it's had more time to heal.

The first picture is from Monday night (5 days post-op) and the second is from tonight (6 days post op). The full treatments do take longer to heal.
*The deeper purple spots are where there are scabs.*

Post Op #17-Day 1

Elliot woke up with some swelling today. I expected this since he had a full treatment, including the eye area. His eye was swollen shut when he woke up but quickly opened. We had a very lazy day that included binge watching Animal Mechanicals and eating chicken noodle soup. I'm very blessed to be able to be home with him during this time!

I always find it fascinating to see the spots and their differences after. If you notice, along the outside of his face those spots are more white in the middle than the deep purple spots. This is part of his mark that has faded the most through treatments, thus not destroying as many capillaries during the laser therapy. The spots of his birthmark that are darker show the deep purple spots. I just thought that was interesting and wanted to point it out. :)

*This picture looks much darker than it did on my phone. I will get a clearer picture tomorrow, but you can still see the swelling. 

Laser Tx. #17

Everything went as planned! The weather was a little snowy on our trip to Ann Arbor but nothing we couldn't handle. Elliot woke up healthy and well enough for his procedure. We arrived at 9:45 for check-in and he was in the operating room by 10:10 am! Talk about speedy service! No pre-op med again and he did very well. This helps his post-op recovery so much and we were out of there in a blink of an eye. We did a "full treatment" this time meaning the maximum joules that he can handles and the entire Port Wine stain area. Since we were not diligent with the sunblock this summer I felt that it was best to get a full treatment, rather than just a blend.

We, of course, went to Chipotle afterwards. That's become our "thing" and he really looks forward to it. Usually Elliot orders a kids meal and eats a little of my burrito. This time he wanted his own burrito! If you've never been to Chipotle..you need to go! These burritos have to weigh 2 lbs by the time we're done filling them, haha. He ate nearly the entire thing (just a little shell and rice left over) plus some chips.

Aunt Lisha went with us like always. :)  I enjoy getting to spend the afternoon with my best friend and she's the perfect support I need. We stopped by Toys R Us on the way home (and by "stopped by" I mean we spent an hour browsing the entire store!). He was thrilllllled until we discovered they didn't have the one thing he was looking for...go figure!

I will post some follow-up pictures as his "spots" heal. I'm also going to test out the Lavender oils on a small part to see if it helps the spots fade quicker. I've heard this has helped others and it's worth a try! Elliot will be missing a couple weeks of school while the spots fade.

Pre-surgery

Picking his stickers before leaving!

Elliot's burrito the size of his head!

All ready to head back!

Snuggles with Mommy at home <3

Laser Surgery Tomorrow!

Elliot is scheduled for his treatment tomorrow at Mott's Children's hospital. Fingers crossed that nothing comes up between now and then! Today we are gathering his school work for the next two weeks since he will be missing school for recovery. Stay tuned for pictures tomorrow!