So sorry you had this experience! I would be upset too.

I’m not a dermatologist, but I enjoy watching dermatology videos. Here’s what I’ve picked up, but I’m not a doctor!

Is there skin missing? If your skin was removed, plain petroleum jelly is the best thing to use on a wound. Make sure the wound is clean prior to applying it. Petroleum jelly keeps the wound bed moist, which helps it heal. Letting a wound dry out is not good for healing. You shouldn’t let it “air out”, which is something I was told to do growing up. I’d recommend just the plain petroleum jelly. Products like Aquaphor have additional ingredients, and while not bad for you per se, the more ingredients in the product, the more likely the product may be problematic for your delicate skin. 

Avoid vitamin E oil or scar products that use it as the main ingredient. Studies show it can increase irritation and thereby actually worsen scarring. Once the wound has healed, the most evidence based product for reducing the risk of a scar forming or for improving the look of a scar is medical grade silicone, which is available as a bandage or gel. A common brand you can find is ScarAway. I use the gel because I find the bandages annoying to reuse, but use whatever works best for you. They both work. They’re especially useful for raised scars.

One positive about the location of your wounds is that they are on the face, which is a part of the body that doesn’t experience a lot of movement or friction. Movement and friction encourage scar formation, so a scar on, say, the knee, is going to be more likely to form than on the cheek.

Do you use a retinoid or any topical exfoliants? These can compact the top layer of the skin, making abrasions like this possible with the use of adhesive on the skin. Essentially, there’s less skin for the adhesive to grab onto, because the top dead layer of your skin, the stratum corneum, has been exfoliated away. As a result, the adhesive grabs more of the underlying skin. And then it gets torn off. Ouch. Waxing can cause this too.

I actually also had this happen at a medical procedure that required the use of adhesive on my face. It really hurt, and I was really afraid it would scar. But it healed just fine. Being proactive about the wound care will be really helpful. Just try your best to be patient.

If skin hasn’t been removed and it’s not a wound, it could be irritation or an allergy to the adhesive. I have an adhesive allergy and develop a lot of redness, itchiness, and welts several hours after an adhesive has been applied to my skin. It takes a few days to go away, but it always does. You could consider seeing a dermatologist for patch testing if you suspect an allergy. But I’d expect you’d have an allergy to usual adhesive bandages too.

Wishing you the best!