A day-by-day breakdown on Plexr and NeoGen skin treatment healing, what’s normal at each stage, and what your skin needs from you along the way.
Clients always ask what healing looks like before they book. What they don’t expect is how different it feels once they’re actually in it, standing at the mirror on day two of a Plexr or high-energy NeoGen recovery, quietly checking that what they’re seeing is normal. It almost always is. Plexr and NeoGen both work by triggering the skin’s own regenerative response, but they don’t heal the same way, and knowing what to expect from each one changes how you move through the days that follow. Below outlines how healing unfolds, and what your skin needs from you along the way.
How Plexr and NeoGen Heal Differently
Both technologies use plasma energy to stimulate collagen and elastin remodeling, but they take different paths to get there — Plexr works at the surface for precise, localized adjustments, while NeoGen works through the full thickness of the skin to rebuild strength and structure more broadly. Each approach serves a different purpose, and the aftercare reflects that. The two are often used to complement each other, though the healing process looks quite different for each.
Plexr creates small carbon crusts on the skin’s surface. These crusts are a visible marker of tissue sublimation, the process the treatment uses to trigger contraction and structural remodeling underneath. The crusts protect the treated area while regeneration happens beneath them, which is why they need to stay completely dry and undisturbed until they’re ready to release on their own.
NeoGen takes a different route. The outer layer of skin stays intact through the entire healing process and functions as the skin’s own biological bandage, protecting the deeper regenerative work happening underneath it. This is why NeoGen recovery looks and feels more like a sunburn, with redness, warmth, tightness, and eventual bronzing and peeling, rather than carbon crust formation.
Plexr vs NeoGen Recovery: Key Differences
| Recovery Stage | Plexr | NeoGen |
|---|---|---|
| Surface response | Carbon crusts | Intact skin, sunburn-like appearance |
| Keep skin | Completely dry throughout | Dry to light barrier product (lower energy) or moist with barrier product (higher energy) |
| Visible healing window | 7 to 10 days | 5 to 10 days (lower energy), 7 to 10 days (higher energy) |
| Downtime | Present for all treatments | Adjustable by energy level, from minimal to more visible |
| Follow-up | Around 30 days | Around 30 days |
If you’re still weighing which approach fits your skin, our Plexr and NeoGen pages walk through what each treatment targets and why.
For a closer look at what the healing stages above actually look like day by day, the Recovery Guide has real photos for both.
Surface Response
- Plexr: Carbon crusts
- NeoGen: Intact skin, sunburn-like appearance
Keep Skin
- Plexr: Completely dry throughout
- NeoGen: Dry to light barrier product (lower energy) or moist with barrier product (higher energy)
Visible Healing Window
- Plexr: 7 to 10 days
- NeoGen: 5 to 10 days (lower energy), 7 to 10 days (higher energy)
Downtime
- Plexr: Present for all treatments
- NeoGen: Adjustable by energy level, from minimal to more visible
Follow-Up
- Plexr: Around 30 days
- NeoGen: Around 30 days
If you’re still weighing which approach fits your skin, our Plexr and NeoGen pages walk through what each treatment targets and why.
For a closer look at what the healing stages above actually look like day by day, the Recovery Guide has real photos for both.
FACT: NeoGen & Plexr both offer a unique advantage in treatment aftercare, as they preserve the skin barrier while stimulating regeneration. This reduces overall risk and speeds up the healing process.
Q&A: Does healing take longer during perimenopause or menopause?
It can. Declining estrogen accelerates collagen loss and generally slows the skin’s healing response, so recovery and results may unfold a little more gradually during this stage than they would have a decade earlier — expected, not a sign anything’s off.
What to Avoid During Healing
Regardless of which treatment you’ve had, a few rules apply across the board.
- No picking, peeling, or touching the treated area. This is the leading avoidable cause of scarring and infection.
- No active skincare ingredients, scrubs, or exfoliants for several weeks. Plexr requires 6 weeks, NeoGen 30 days for lower energy and 60 days for higher energy.
- No saunas, hot tubs, steam, swimming, or intense exercise for at least one week. Delayed showering immediately after treatments. Heat disrupts the healing barrier, whether that’s a carbon crust or intact skin, and can prolong downtime.
- No sun exposure for 4 weeks, and regular sunscreen use even indoors. New skin is especially vulnerable to pigment changes.
- No ice packs or anti-inflammatory medications in the first week. Inflammation is part of the regenerative process, not a problem to suppress. Tylenol is fine for discomfort; NSAIDs are not recommended during this window.
Managing Discomfort
Itching is common and is usually a sign that healing is progressing. An oral antihistamine can help. Tylenol is the preferred option for any discomfort, since anti-inflammatory medications can interfere with the healing response the treatment is designed to trigger.
When to Contact Your Provider
Most of what you’ll notice during healing, redness, tightness, bronzing, mild swelling, is expected. Contact your provider if you notice excessive or prolonged redness, blistering, oozing, signs of infection such as warmth, pus, or fever, delayed healing, unexpected pigment changes, or cold sore reactivation.
When Will I See Final Results?
With Plexr, visible change appears once swelling resolves and crusts have shed, with continued tightening over the following weeks as tissue remodels. NeoGen follows a slower arc. The 30, 60, and 90 day framework is the general guide, but most clients begin to see the clearest change closer to that 90 day point, with results continuing to build in the months after this. This can shift slightly with age, since collagen decline often accelerates during perimenopause and menopause specifically. Skin in the 40s can show change at the earlier side of that window, while skin in the 50s and beyond may need a little more time, though it typically still starts within that three month mark and keeps unfolding from there.
The structural work continues long after the skin looks settled, and how it unfolds isn’t shaped by the treatment alone. Hydration, skincare routine, sun exposure, and your body’s general healing capacity all play a role in how fully and how quickly that structural work completes. You can see what that progression looks like in the Results Galleries.
The Right Approach to Healing
Plexr and NeoGen work in different ways to support long-term skin strength and vitality. The short healing phase that follows is part of that process, not separate from it. Understanding what to expect, and giving your skin what it needs at each stage, is what allows the regenerative work to fully take hold. If you’d like to see the fuller picture of how these two technologies compare, the Plexr vs NeoGen blog covers both in depth, and the FAQ page answers many questions that tend to come up before and after treatment.
If you’re in Calgary and considering Plexr or NeoGen, a consultation is the best place to start. We’ll walk through your skin, your goals, and what recovery would realistically look like for you. Consults can be booked through the form below.
Sarah is a Registered Nurse and is the founder of Gia Sena | providing regenerative plasma aesthetics in Calgary. Her approach blends clinical expertise with a regenerative philosophy, supporting midlife skin through treatments that restore structure, resilience, and long-term skin health.
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