I am writing this to warn unsuspecting acne scar suffers considering dermabrasion.

I am asian with natural type IV tanned skin tone. I had dermabrasion with Dr. Yarborough in February 2005. It has been 18 months, I suffer severe overall loss of pigment, prominent demarcation line along the jaw and below hairline, and redness and my face flushes easily now. Dermabraded skin also has different texture and is shiny.

In 2005 at least 3 other asian acne.org forum members (hopefulskin, dolmal, kipster) reported similar suffering after having dermabrasion with Dr. Y.

A responsible surgeon (regardless of skill level) would have warned us about the very probable aftermath of dermabrasion for darker skin tone, but all Dr. Yarborough did was downplay the risks and mislead us by saying none of his patients ever had any serious problem, except for a lady who put on makeup to board a plane few days after dermabrasion, and another who had sunburn 6 months after. Dr. Yarborough assured me he dermabraded many asian patients before and had no problem whatsoever. He claimed that the redness always goes away. He also said the use of makeup will make the abnormal color "undetectable" while the skin healed.

Of course, none of that was true. First of all type IV is high risk for hypopigmentation, I only found out by researching AFTER the dermabrasion. 6 months after dermabrasion, I questioned him why he underplay the risks, he maintained I was his patient who experienced such level of hypopigmentation and lasting redness. Makeup only increased the humiliation factor. To this day, some people still laugh at my demarcation lines and redness.

To Dr. Yarborough, the quick money ($4500 a pop) definitely outweighed any concerns for the patient. He was definitely not honest with the 4 of us, before and after the dermabrasion. I don't know how he handles his patients today, but the life of 4 people are forever changed because of his negligence and/or greed.

I was considered a medical deformity due to the horrible cystic scars that i had. I had 19 scars cut out of my face at age 18. I went on Accutane twice, 10 years ago and i've had laser and dermabrasion. The laser would have most likely reduced any fine lines, but at 18 i had none. So let me tell you about dermabrasion. I'm white, really pale so i was considered a good candidate. While I saw a 50% improvement in the craters (not ice picks) the size of dimes....i also noticed that i had pockets under my skin that revealed a worse scar then before for one of the scars that were originally cut out. I'm now currently 30 years old and have spent 10,000.00 on surgeries. I can only say that the pocket was due to an inexperienced surgeon, who by a fluke did the the rest my face a great good. I did not know at the time, i was his first procedure with dermabrasion. Research your surgeon. How many times have your performed dermabrasion? Can I see photos? Can i speak with some of your patients? You can also check online to see how many times some one has been sued...I would highly suggest a board certified plastic surgeon, who only deals with facial plastic surgery, not buts, boobs and tummys...just faces. I am currently scheduled for another surgery, for dermabrasion...i will let you know how it goes....i have done my research and i quit smoking...so we will see....at this point, i truly believe, it can't be any worse.....do your research!!!!! Ask Questions!!!....and do not settle!!!

I am an Idian in my mid 20's, I too struggle with the same problems as most of you all have in finding a solution for acne scars, so I will give some input since I did have the procedure. I will tell you ahead of time right now that it will not remove you acne scars if you have done it only once, you will need to have it done at least 2-3 times to get satisfactory results. DO NOT ASSUME THAT DERMABRASION WILL REMOVE YOUR SCARS, FOR THIS IT WILL NOT! DERMABRASION WILL ONLY MAKE THEM LESS NOTICEABLE BY SANDING THE SURROUNDING AREA TO MAKE THEM LESS NOTICEABLE! I have had dermabrasion performed on me twice this year once on Jan, 15 2006 and again March 8, 2006. The cost for me to have a full face dermabrasion the first time was 4 grand total. I was excited because I thought this would be a life line for me to have kinda normal skin, considered I have lived with these craters all over me face going on about 9 years now. After about 4 weeks I decided to get dermabrasion done for a second time since I was not satisfied with the results from the first time (I'd say no more than a 10% improvement on the scars)besides, the surgeon offered the operation for free and all I had to pay was a grand for the hospital fee. So I was down for a second try. This time he was a little more agressive on my skin. well it has been over a month since my last dermabrasion and Id say there is a 20% improvement overall in my scars. The smaller scars are still there but much more shallower. As for the larger one they are smoother but you can still see the scars. I don't know if I am going to try dermabrasion for a 3rd time. I see some improvements, but I don't think it was worth the total of 5 grand I have spent. Dermabrasion is not by any means cheap. be prepared to pay around $1500 per cheek and around a grand for the forehead. LASTLY DO NOT ASSUME THAT DERMABRASION WILL REMOVE YOUR SCARS, FOR THIS IT WILL NOT! DERMABRASION WILL ONLY MAKE THEM LESS NOTICEABLE BY SANDING THE SURROUNDING AREA TO MAKE THEM LESS NOTICEABLE! I WOULD NOT RECCOMEND THIS TO ANYONE MAINLY BECAUSE OF THE MONEY FACTOR. You most likely have to get it done more than once. Also there is a recovery factor. I healed in about 10 days but my face was still red for a good 6 weeks.

I had two deep acne scars excised (cut out and stiched up). The excision was awesome. That wiped out my two worst scars. They were very deep depressions and the skin was damaged beyond repair in those spots. My doctor said collagen would never grow back in those areas. Then I had Dermabrasion done twice (about 1 year apart). I've noticed that some people might be confusing Microdermabrasion with Dermabrasion. Dermabrasion is a surgical procedure and it worked pretty well for me. I went from having scars that were so deep that I was ashamed to go out in public, to being able to feel that I look like a normal person. My skin is not perfect and I plan to have more surgery eventually. (I've already spent about $2000). But after each procedure I saw big improvements. Also, I healed surprisingly fast after the Dermabrasions. Only about 2-3 days of oozing blood and pus. (Although my doctor did say that most people take longer than that to heal.) The redness took about 6 months to fade away, but that was expected and I wore makeup to cover it. Also, my skin actually broke out less after the procedures. Keep in mind that I've had two scar excisions and two rounds of Dermabrasion and if money was no issue, I would have more. With a lot of these procedures, you may have to go back several times to get good results. I used to avoid looking in mirrors and wouldn't go to parties or anything like that, but now I feel better. I just wanted to share my experience to offer hope to some people out there.

Dr. John Yarborough is the MASTER! I had my first full face dermabrasion done by someone who didn't know what they were doing and they did not go deep enough, it was like having road rash on your face and looking more horrible afterwards than before, I saw no results. Then I found my angel Dr. Yarborough (New Orleans, LA). He did the second one for me a few years ago, and I am scheduled to have another later this year(my last one). I knew going into this it would take 2 times to get my face the way I want it and to virtually rid me of my acne scars. I agree with the some of the others in this forum; If you are going to do this (b/c it is quite painful) make sure you have a highly skilled and talented professional such as Dr. Yarborough, otherwise you are wasting your time and money! Another thing that helps is that in my opinion, Dr. Yarborough is the most honest Doctor I have ever come across and he has an excellent bedside manner, they don't come any better than him. He is expensive (in my opinion), but well worth the money.

Like everyone else, I have tried just about everything. I have suffered with acne and scarring for years and years! I am in a profession that you are meeting beautiful people on a daily basis and they just look at you like your a walking skin disease. I am schedule for the dermabrasion in a week and am very excited about it because I feel this is the only option left. I have researched several other procedures and thought I was almost professional, but my surgeon suggested dermabrasion over laser and chemical peels. I saw his own before and afters and also spoke with one of the patients (which I HIGHLY recommend to avoid blogs like this!!)whos scarring is pretty much nonexistant. He also does the incisions/stiches that gets those deeps scars. I am moving next month and I think that may have helped a lot because he knew I had other great options of surgeons over there... I paid about $4k for the procedure and am looking forward to the results. If I have a scar here or there, I am not too concerned because I know it will be much better than it was.

Had dermabrasion twice over twenty years ago. It's expensive, hurts and there is a down time of at least two weeks each time you do it while your bloody face scabs over and heals. It makes your face softer but no help on the ice picks and still left with rolling depressions. I'd guess maybe 10-20% improvement. I gave up over the years and just lived what what I had. Now with new procedures, I'm currently starting subcission and Frexal laser which I've seen (before and after) pictures of and seems to be a suitable replacement for dermabrasion. Not that I wanted to have dermabrasion again but through the years I asked about it and there were many dermatologists who didn't want to risk trying a third one. Guess maybe the upper dermis is too thin. The sad thing is that when you're young you think that it can't get any worse and then as you age and everything else starts looking crummy also, it looks worse including now getting those little hard white spots that have to be fried off (hyperplasia). The only good news was that a dermatoligist once told me that with the oily skin I would have not have age lines and he was at least correct there. Hope springs eternal and on the outside chance that there will be some improvement I'm starting on a latest round, which will set me back thousands of dollars. I'll let you know if it is worth it.

I had a Dermabrasion back in 1979 for my scars with a great Dr. I don't know if he's still around but his name was Dr Alt. He was in SLP MN. He was the only one around who knew what he was doing, and highly recommended. He took before and after photos of me. The surgery didn't remove all deep scars but it improved it by at least 50%. It made my skin so soft and smooth to the touch. It was great. All discoloring from the old acne was gone. I couln't believe it. I was thrilled. I was still getting Acne, but it slowed it down, then came Accutane, around 1982?? another great product. I would of had another Dermabrasion but it is a lot more expensive today. He told me, everytime you have one it improves it up to 50%. If I would of had more it would of helped even more. I also have had jessner peels, dermapeels and etc... but nothing was as good as that Dermabrasion. Down time was a bummer, I had to constantly keep my face moist with a solution of water and boric acid for about 10 days until the new skin came in. I loved the results and would do it again if I had the $$$, but only with a Dr. who knew what he was doing, preferably with one who has worked with Dr Alt.. Remember, beauty is only skin deep. It's who you are inside is what really matters. It didn't slow me down after high school. I had acne since 3rd grade. Everyone has something they hate about themselves, and they think it's the worst thing ever.. It could be worse, you could have health issues or something that affects your quality of life. Look for your strongest traits and focus on them. You'll be much happier

I am a veteran of all of these treatments. I never had deep scarring but they were noticeable enough on my cheeks and like everyone else I want perfectly smooth skin. I've done the C02 laser. I was not prepared for the downtime and recovery that came afterwards. My Doctor put me in so many bandages that I looked like a burn victim. I remember thinking that life could not get much worse than this. So after months of redness it probably made my skin 40% smoother. All in all I was pretty happy b/c I could look in a mirror (even in bad lighting) and see fairly smooth skin. But over time (as I hit my early thirties) my smoothness seemed to go away. I think it's just the skin agining, so scars that went away kind of look more noticeable again. So I have done micro-derm plus a glycolic peel. I have probably done it a total of 8 times. The bottom line is I would do that treatment once a month for the rest of my life if it didn't cost so much. My skin looks a little raw right after, but by the next day it looks as fresh and smooth as it's going to look. I found a pretty good person to do it. I think it does make a difference. It does hurt a little bit too. If I thought there was a one time way to completely smooth out my skin, I would do it. But it's a lifetime effort. If you have rough skin, you will always be working on making it smoother.

I spend sleepless nights researching the web about what doctors are doing about "craters" and hyperpigmentations. Most before and after pictures are taken from white patients and the results seem encouraging, though there aren't very many, if any, pictures for patients treated for "craters". I'm asian with dark to olive complexion and scar very easily. I have tried a back to back dermabrasion and laser treatment (summer '05).

The first week I went in for dermabrasion and although my face felt cleaner, the "craters" still looked as deep as it did before the treatment. The following week I went in for the laser treatment. It was painful, but my coworkers and friends saw an immediate change. I have dark to olive skin, so the laser treatment put a "rosier" colour to my face. I think that's what they were referring to because a few days later they said the craters still looked the same. I did this for 7 weeks, back to back and I was told by the doctor that because my skin can't take a deeper dermabrasion and higher laser treatment than 25 (white skin can go up to 65), I would have to come back for atleast 6 more treatments. By the way, when I started the laser treatment, the initial heat was at 5 and went up to 30 by the third treatment. When it was at 30 it burnt my skin so we had to turn it down.

I'm asian and I'm only 24 years old, so when people say I look like I'm 30 I know it's because of the craters and hyperpigmentation on my face. People say I look older than my almost 50 mom who has a great complexion with very little wrinkles! I hate taking pictures, not just because of the acne and the scars, but because my insecurity shows!

I'm currently using Proactive which is helping with the acne and a cream called Stri-vectin. They say it works with wrinkles and stretch marks so I figured it could do the same for the craters. I have been using it nightly with Proactive for two months and so far I have seen better results compared to the results I got from dermabrasion and laser. Proactive definitely works! They also have a cream to lighten hyperpigmentation. I have not tried that yet because I thought Stri-vectin should be enough. If you're trying Stri-vectin for the same purpose let me know if it's working for you.