Lifestyle

BLOODY GOOD

A 20-Minute Treatment Completely Transformed This Woman’s Skin

The initial results scared her children, but now, she has no regrets.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedMar 26, 2026, 5:06 PM EDT

UpdatedMar 26, 2026, 5:06 PM EDT

Updated Mar 26, 2026, 5:06 PM EDTPublished Mar 26, 2026, 5:06 PM EDT

When Raphaela Cohee’s children saw her after her CO₂ appointment, they were scared—and for good reason. Her face was a deep shade of red, and the lower half of her face was so bloody that it appeared almost scabbed.

The look was so drastic that an Instagram video she posted quickly drew over 1.5 million views and hundreds of comments.

“I am really swollen and puffy, but the worse it looks, the better the results, so they say,” she joked.

Cohee, 40, is a professional makeup artist in Reno, Nevada. After getting a CoolPeel CO₂, a noninvasive 20-minute laser treatment that addresses sun damage, fine lines, and skin texture, she decided to document the aftermath and her results.

Although she had the treatment performed on her entire face to minimize her pores, she had asked nurse practitioner Caitlin Peterson to use a deeper, fully ablative CO₂ laser on her smile lines, as well.

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While the downtime for the less aggressive CoolPeel CO₂ was around three to five days, the downtime for the deeper laser was up to two weeks.

“It hurts, but it feels more like I have a pound of wax on my face that I can’t move,” Cohee joked right after her $600 treatment.

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The next day, however, was even worse.

“It feels like I have a pile of s--t on my face that I desperately want to wash off. It’s cranky, annoying, and hideous,” she wrote on Instagram.

“The swelling has already gone down considerably,” she added. “Now it’s just the annoyance and dealing with the expression of horror on people’s faces.”

Still, Cohee soon noticed her skin was transforming.

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Eight days after the treatment, Cohee gushed over her results, saying her pores appeared smaller than ever, her skin was starting to feel smooth like a baby’s, and her smile lines, too, felt smoother.

Sixteen days after the treatment, Cohee had just one regret: that she did not treat her entire face with the deeper laser.

“The difference is drastic,” she rejoiced, noting her fine lines appeared smoother, her pore size smaller, and her skin texture all around better.

Although the results were already great, they will continue to improve over the next three months.

BEFORE & AFTER

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Cohee shared her journey on social media to help people who were curious about the procedure.

In the comments, many people praised her for her transparency and for helping them make informed choices about their individual treatment plans. Others expressed excitement for Cohee after undergoing the same treatment themselves, with one person writing, “This is the best thing I ever did to improve my skin—so worth it.”

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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