Body treatment aftercare
Water, loose clothes, and no hot bath tonight. Body skin sheds more slowly than the face, so give it longer.
Body skin is thicker than facial skin, and it’s slower at everything: reacting, recovering, shedding. Timings that look generous next to a facial aren’t caution. They’re the actual pace of the tissue.
Where the work was drainage, the treatment only finishes if you flush it. That part really is down to how much water you drink today.
The short version
Drink more water than usual today. Drainage work only finishes if you flush it.
Bruising after wood therapy is possible and settles within a week.
Keep treated skin covered, or under SPF if it will see daylight.
Hour by hour
The first 72 hours
Skin doesn’t run to a timetable, so read these as the usual shape rather than a promise. Yours may be quieter or slower.
0 - 24
hours
First 24 hours
What you may notice
After maderotherapy: warmth, tenderness, and occasionally small bruises where the tools worked hardest.
After a body peel: tightness and warmth across the treated area.
After stretch mark work: redness and pinpoint marks.
You’ll need the loo more often than usual. That’s the point of it.
What to do
Two litres of water across the day.
Loose clothing over the area. No waistband sitting on it.
Lukewarm shower only. No hot bath, no gym.
On a peeled area, use only the barrier cream I gave you.
24 - 48
hours
24 to 48 hours
What you may notice
Tenderness settling. Any bruising is at its most visible around now.
Peel and resurfacing areas beginning to tighten and flake.
What to do
Keep hydrating.
Walk. Gentle movement does more for drainage than resting does.
Shower lukewarm, pat dry, moisturise.
48 - 72
hours
48 to 72 hours
What you may notice
Flaking on resurfaced areas, which can run for up to a week. Body skin sheds far more slowly than facial skin.
What to do
Moisturise daily, morning and night.
No exfoliation, no mitts, no dry brushing.
SPF on anything that will be uncovered.
Not yet
Leave alone
Timings are the cautious end of the range on purpose. Waiting a day longer than you needed to costs nothing. The other way round is what leaves a mark. If you’re not sure, I’m always happy to guide you.
- Hot baths, saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs
- 48 hours
- Gym and heavy exercise
- 24 hours, 48 after resurfacing
- Swimming pools and the sea
- 72 hours
- Scrubs, exfoliating mitts, dry brushing
- 7 days
- Fake tan on the treated area
- 7 days
- Waxing or epilation of the area
- 7 days
- Sun and sunbeds on treated skin
- 2 weeks
Safety
Contact me if
None of these are common, and none of them mean something has gone badly wrong. They mean I’d rather see it than hear about it in six weeks.
Bruising that’s spreading, or still darkening after three days.
An area that’s hot, hard, or increasingly painful.
Blistering, weeping or broken skin.
Flaking that hasn’t finished after ten days.
This page is general guidance for people I have already treated. It does not replace what I said in the room, and it is not medical advice. If you feel unwell, or something is worsening quickly, contact NHS 111 or your GP rather than waiting for me.
What happens next
Your next appointment
Body work is always a course. Maderotherapy needs six to eight sessions to be worth doing, body peels three to six. The stretch mark programme is three sessions booked as one. Older, white stretch marks respond more slowly than newer red ones.