As more and more celebrities ditch injections like Botox and fillers, many are turning to intensive laser treatments to keep their skin looking young and glowing.
Despite the brutal recovery process, stars emerge from extreme laser facials with brighter, clearer, and much younger-looking skin.
Fans of CO2 laser resurfacing include actress Ellen Barkin, singer Jhene Aiko, Love Island’s Alexandra Cane and Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra Judge, who bought herself the laser treatment and a brow lift as a gift for her 57th birthday.
Explaining the procedure to DailyMail.com, Dr Jonathan Sykes, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, said: “It’s a treatment that basically removes layers of skin to make it smoother.”
He continued: “It creates a little bit of firmness, but more than anything it rejuvenates the whole texture of the skin. It’s really good in combination with surgery. For people who have sagging, it lifts them up and then improves the quality of their skin.”
Celebrities like Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra Judge (pictured) are turning to extreme laser treatments to achieve younger-looking skin.
Actress Ellen Barkin (left) and singer Jhene Aiko (right) are also fans of laser treatments.
The 70-year-old actress attributes her “poreless” face to annual laser treatments.
Dr. Sykes said it’s generally safe to get plastic surgery and laser treatment in one session, as RHOC star Judge did, but stressed it should be done by an “experienced person.”
As for the different treatments, Dr. Sykes explained that patients can opt for full CO2 laser resurfacing or a less intensive fractional laser.
Recovery time for fractional lasers can be just a few days, while a full CO2 laser treatment can take around two weeks and can be incredibly painful for the first few days.
Dr. Sykes also recommends erbium laser resurfacing, which is more concentrated than other lasers and carries less risk of scarring.
In recent years, celebrities have begun to move away from fillers and Botox in favor of a more natural look.
Last year, Blac Chyna dissolved her cheek, jaw and lip fillers and said, “Enough is enough.”
Yolanda Hadid, Molly-Mae Hague, Megan McKenna and Courtney Cox have also stopped using injections.
Love Island UK star Alexandra Cane underwent CO2 laser resurfacing in 2019
The reality star is pictured shortly after the procedure (left) and then days later when her fresh new skin began to glow (right).
Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Sykes (pictured) said lasers are a good option for skin rejuvenation.
Barkin also gave up Botox after feeling it was hampering her ability to express herself as an actress.
“I don’t like the way Botox gives people. A lot of people overdo it and for an actress, that’s deadly. It stops you from having expressions,” she previously said. Oprah.com.
He dove deeper into his love of lasers with Violet grayand told the website: “I haven’t had surgery. I’ve had laser surgery. And I’ve tried every type of laser there is.”
She continued: ‘I’m now using the Ulthera laser. I do it once a year. It’s extremely painful. There’s no recovery time. And I’m very religious about my Fraxels. It removes discoloration and smooths out the surface of the skin. I still have almost no pores on my face.’
Meanwhile, Real Housewives of Orange County’s Tamra Judge recently vowed to stop going under the knife after a “brutal” brow lift, CO2 laser facial and chemical peel left her in agonizing pain.
The reality star, who spent a lot of money on the surgical makeover as a gift to herself for her 57th birthday, has spent days recovering in bed from the procedures.
“Grief comes in different ways,” she told DailyMail.com.
“At first my forehead hurt a lot for three days. I couldn’t even hear people talking. I couldn’t turn on the TV. All I could do was lie in the same place,” she continued.
“After a couple of days of that, my teeth started to hurt, then my sinuses started to hurt, and now my face is crusty. So every day is something new.”
Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra has vowed to stop going under the knife after a “brutal” brow lift, CO2 laser facial and chemical peel left her in agonizing pain.
Before and after: The judge is pictured at an event in 2022 (left) and this week after her proceedings (right)
The judge said she has cleared her entire schedule for the next two weeks to focus on her recovery.
When asked why he went under the knife again, Judge admitted he was trying to balance out a lower facelift he had done in 2017.
“I had a facelift on the lower part, so it was like my eyebrows started to get heavy, but the lower part of my face stayed the same,” she explained.
“So I thought, you know what? I’m going to go ahead and get a brow lift!”
When she went to see Newport Beach surgeon Dr. Donald Mowlds, he suggested she also get a CO2 laser treatment and a blue chemical peel to help with the texture and appearance of her skin.
“I have a lot of brown spots and fine lines and stuff like that, so it’s supposed to take 10 years off your skin,” she explained.
“So I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’ not knowing the CO2 laser was going to be so brutal!” the reality star admitted.
The judge said she decided to do so after her 57th birthday, noting that “sixty is just around the corner.”
“So I might as well do it now because there will come an age where I just stop caring,” he joked.
On Sunday, she shared an update on day three of recovery, with her face looking much more swollen and her skin peeling, as she told her followers that she felt like her skin was “going to burst.”
“I don’t know how it can get any worse. You can see it’s oozing. I can barely open my eyes,” he said.
Unlike some of her fellow Real Housewives stars, Judge said it was important for her to be “open and transparent” about the work she had done.
“I don’t want people to think that I don’t do anything and that’s what I look like. And if I can help someone else say, ‘You know what? I want to do that, too. I want to feel better about myself.’ Why not?’
As for the future, the star says she has returned to focusing on leading a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise and has no plans to get any more work done.
The judge has been documenting her painful recovery process on social media.
On Sunday, she shared an update on day three of her recovery, with her face looking much more swollen and her skin peeling, as she told her followers that she felt like her skin was “going to burst.”
“I don’t know how it can get any worse. You can tell it’s oozing. I can barely open my eyes,” she shared.
‘Third day and the swelling is noticeable. Progress isn’t always pretty, but it’s happening.’