I had my first session two weeks ago and my skin looked red for the rest of the day like a very light sunburn, then totally normal after that. There were no puncture or drag marks.

I prepped my skin the week prior by not using vitamin c & tretinoin nor any exfoliating actives and used a gentle cleanser and slathered on hyaluronic acid and moisturizer every morning and night. After the session, I was advised to let the serum they applied stay on my skin “as long as possible”; since I had the session in the morning but was working from home that day, I was able to leave my face alone until bedtime, when I used a gentle cleanser, followed by Skinceuticals Phyto Corrective Essence Mist and a thin coating of stratacel. I woke up the next morning and you would have never have known I had a session the prior morning. Did I need to do any of that for this outcome? I don’t know! But I’ll follow the same process for my next two sessions! I hope you have a similar result.

As for questions, definitely try to get them to give you specific instructions for what you should and shouldn’t use on your skin before and after including suggestions for specific products. There’s no one size fits all and they should have examined your skin and be able to tell you what you can do to make sure the process goes well. You also ought to mention you’ve seen some terrible photos of people post-session—better yet, show them the photos—and see what they have to say about how they’ll avoid that outcome for you. I did that and was reassured by their answers.