The evening after your treatment: how to care for your skin at home

Just before leaving the treatment room, these are the questions I hear most often from patients.

• "Can I wash my face when I get home tonight?"
• "Can I keep using my usual skincare?"
• "When can I go back to the sauna or the gym?"

The answer varies a little from procedure to procedure, but the principle is the same. Here is how to spend the evening of your treatment day.

Redness fading does not mean recovery is finished

After laser, radiofrequency or injection treatments, the redness often settles within a few hours. Some patients take that as the all-clear and go straight back to their usual routine.

But visible redness and the skin barrier recover at different speeds. The surface may look calm while the barrier is still repairing itself. Add irritation at this stage and stinging or redness can linger: and in some cases lead to pigmentation.

Rather than trying to do more that evening, it helps to think of it as "the day I let my skin do its work".

How does same-day care differ by treatment type?

Instructions vary between clinics and with treatment intensity. The aftercare instructions from the clinic that treated you always come first: treat the table below as a general guide.

As the table shows, cleansing and moisturising themselves are possible from day one after most treatments. The difference lies in how you do them.

The evening routine, step by step

First, cleanse with lukewarm water, without rubbing. Hot water dilates blood vessels and can prolong redness and swelling. For cleansing, letting the foam sit and rinsing it away is enough.

Second, moisturise generously with simple ingredients. Products built around low-irritation ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, panthenol and ceramides work well. At this stage a simple moisturiser beats one packed with multiple active ingredients.

Third, add nothing else. This is the hardest part. After a treatment, many patients feel they should "care harder" and layer on products, even home-care devices: but as I covered in my previous column on home-care devices, skin that has already been stressed needs recovery first.

When can I start things again?

Taking the questions in the order I hear them most.

Sunscreen. If you go outside, you need it from day one. Skin is more sensitive to UV after a treatment, so skipping sunscreen actually raises the risk of pigmentation. If the skin is broken, as after peeling-type treatments, follow your clinic's instructions.

Makeup. From the next day is fine in most cases. If you must wear it on the day, keep it light and away from the treated area: and not rubbing when you remove it matters even more.

Retinol, AHA, BHA. Rest them for a few days and restart once your skin feels comfortable again. The exact timing depends on treatment intensity, so I recommend asking at the time of treatment("when can I restart my retinol?")especially if you are flying home afterwards and cannot easily drop back in.

Exercise and sauna. Sweat and heat can increase irritation and the chance of infection at the treated site. Light walking is fine, but heavy-sweat workouts, saunas and steam rooms are safer avoided for several days. With lifting treatments, be especially careful with strong heat.

Alcohol. It dilates blood vessels and can prolong swelling and redness. Best avoided on the day.

What not to do, once more

• Restarting retinol, AHA or BHA the same day · irritation stacked on irritation
• Hot-water cleansing, saunas and steam rooms · redness and swelling last longer
• Massaging or rubbing the treated area · especially after injection treatments
• Alcohol · prolongs swelling and redness
• Using home-care devices "to recover faster" · recovering skin needs less irritation, not more

Same-day care comes down to doing less

Aftercare sounds as if it should mean doing more, but what I tell patients in the consultation room is the opposite. Good care on the evening of your treatment means lukewarm-water cleansing, generous moisturising, and not doing the rest.

Skin recovers better than you might expect. Until it does, moisture and soothing are enough. And when questions come up, asking the clinic that treated you is more accurate than searching online: the same procedure comes with different instructions depending on intensity and skin condition. If you travelled to Korea for the treatment, ask your questions before you fly home.

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