Ultimate Wedding Countdown: How to Prep by the Week
Everyone wants to look and feel their best on their wedding day, so it is not uncommon for brides to schedule a cosmetic treatment or two before the big day. The key to getting great results in time for your wedding is to plan ahead and follow your dermatologist’s recommended timeline. To help you get started, here are some of the most popular skin treatments to get before a wedding and when to schedule them.
Five Months before Your Wedding
If you want to get rid of a stubborn double chin in time for wedding pictures, talk to a board-certified dermatologist about Kybella™ at least five months in advance. Kybella is a great way to dissolve unwanted fat in the submental, or double chin, area and is FDA-approved for treating neck fat. Most people need 3 to 6 treatments spaced 1 month apart, depending on how much excess fat they have.
Additionally, you’ll want to give yourself a two-month window after your last Kybella treatment to make sure swelling is gone before your wedding. This means that you should see your doctor at least five months beforehand, although you’ll need some extra time if you’re getting more than three treatments.
Six Weeks before Your Wedding
Dermal fillers can be great options if you want to smooth away lines and wrinkles, restore lost facial volume, or plump up your lips with lip fillers. While you could schedule fillers as little as two weeks before your wedding, it’s best to give yourself six weeks. That way, you’ll have time for a touch-up two weeks later if needed, and you’ll still have four weeks for any side effects like swelling or bruising to diminish.
If you’ve never had fillers before, talk to your dermatologist about trying hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers, since HA can be dissolved with a particular enzyme if you don’t like your results.
Four Weeks before Your Wedding
If you want to get rid of fine hair on your face (“peach fuzz”) that’s too light for laser treatments, you could be a great candidate for dermaplaning. This procedure also removes dry, dull-looking flakes of skin for a smoother and more radiant complexion. However, some people break out with dermaplaning, so you should book your treatment at least four weeks prior.
Another skin treatment you can get four weeks before your wedding is a chemical peel, as long as this is not your first one. If you’ve never had a chemical peel before, schedule it two months in advance, in case you have an adverse reaction. Otherwise, slightly stronger peels can be done four weeks ahead of time, and very light ones can wait until two weeks prior. If you are planning a destination wedding to a sunny location, though, skip the chemical peel altogether.
Three Weeks before Your Wedding
Plan neuromodulators like Botox®, Dysport®, and Xeomin® three weeks before your wedding. These injectable wrinkle treatments work by temporarily relaxing the facial muscles that cause dynamic expression lines and wrinkles such as forehead wrinkles, 11 lines, and crow’s feet. Their effects can take 3 to 7 days to kick in, and some people notice a “frozen” effect for the first week or two. Because of this, schedule your appointment around the three-week mark. Do not get neuromodulators any earlier than three months before an event because results usually only last for 3 to 6 months.
Two Weeks before Your Wedding
As with chemical peels, if you’ve never had a facial before, you need to give yourself at least two weeks to make sure you don’t break out or have a reaction to one of the products. If you are going to try your first facial two weeks before your wedding, make sure it does not include extractions. Extractions need to be done at least three weeks before an event.
One Week before Your Wedding
The VBeam pulsed-dye laser is an excellent skin treatment that gets rid of facial redness, evens skin tone, and smooths your complexion. You can get this treatment the week before your wedding for smoother, clearer, and more even skin.
The Bottom Line
To get beautiful, glowing skin for your wedding day, talk with a board-certified dermatologist about the most appropriate skin treatments and when to schedule them to allow enough time to heal and see results. If you don’t already know your Baumann Skin Type, find a doctor in your area and take the skin typing quiz. Do this as soon as possible so you have enough time to begin your new skincare regimen before your big day!
If you still have questions about the best skin treatments to get before your wedding, contact Baumann Cosmetic Dermatology online or find us on Facebook.
