choosing a doctor for total fx

hi,
i don't know if anyone will have answers to this, but i'll take a stab at it...
i wanna do total fx for my face and neck. i spoke w/ a doctor on the east coast and he told me i'm a perfect candidate. but i'm asian, and i thought there were hypopigmentation risks, but he didn't mention that. anyway, i did a search on his name, and someone wrote a bad review about him, and mentioned that he's not certified in cosmetic or laser things. he's board certified in family medicine only (ABFM), which to me sounds like general medicine. is that a big deal that i should consider? anyone know where i can go to find out who's certified in cosmetic stuff?
if anyone actually did total fx and was happy, did you check to see if your doctor was board certified, or was it not a big deal to you?

dermaroller works w/ red markz!

hey guys! kind of a lot of info...where to begin. ok, i was in school only part time this semester, which was awesome, cuz i could work on my skin on my dayz off. my goal was to dermaroll (1.5mm) once a month. but i kept breakin out, and then i was stuck w/ red markz (i have asian skin, so those markz last forever). finally, the semester ended, and i never even did one dermaroll! i ran outta time! so i got pissed and did a roller session anyway (even though i had some active pimplez and tonz of red markz all over my cheekz n neck).
that was about 10 dayz ago. i did a home dermaroll session w/ a 1.5mm roller. now, of course, i didn't notice any improvement in my actual pitted scarz (but that's to be expected, really). the thing that i didn't even expect, is that it cleared my red markz (some people call it scarring, but it's not scarring; it's just red markz, aftermath of a nasty pimple). those stubborn markz caused me so much stress over the last few months and i couldn't get rid of em. but my little dermaroll session, and not even 2 weeks later, and they're practically all gone! some markz were almost a year old, some were newer. doesn't matter, virtually all gone!
i suppose i could post this in the red marks section of forums, but since dermaroll is usually for people w/ pitz, this seems like a more relevant place to post it (since we'll probably be more inclined to roll).
i have no idea why that happened. i read on the dermaroller site that it fades red markz, but i didn't believe it. and i only use topical vitamin c and terproline. i actually go out now! even 2 weeks ago, i'd not leave my apt unless i was covered pretty well (hat, collared coat to hide my neck). now i go out whenever, whatever time of day. i jog all over the place like i'm forrest gump! (well, i cross the street when people are comin, cuz i still got pitz, dammit!)

oh ya, it was stupid. i waited that whole semester for my skin to clear up before rolling. but it never frickin cleared up. and here i was, 4 months later and out of time. so i snapped, and rolled anyway. i could've been rolling the whole time! so, if you plan on rolling, do NOT worry about red markz healing beforehand. if you're like me, it'll just make them disappear quicker. but avoid active pimplez. i wish i knew that. but oh well. live and learn

be careful w/ home dermaroller!

PIX ARE BELOW, BUT PLEASE READ THIS TOO!

i've been using the .75mm daily roller from the aussie company. well, the last time i used it was over 3 weeks ago. i can STILL see red lines all over my face, neck, and especially my forehead. my forehead is the worst; i can actually feel the lines if i rub my finger up and down along my forehead. i really frickin hope it's not scarred, but there's nothing i can do about it now. so i'll just have to wait and see. i'm sick to my stomach right now just thinking about it...
i used the roller on bony parts of my face (my forehead and along the jawline), so maybe i bent the needlez. my point is, be CAREFUL and don't listen when they say you can use it for a year. i'm not bad mouthing the company; i'm just saying that if you use the roller, pay close attention to your skin and look for those lines. and, i'd say plan on buying it more often than once a year (but i do full face; you're lucky if you only need to spot treat).
so, i went gung ho on my face, carelessly (and naively) just rolling away. i just noticed these linez since last week, and every day they seem just as bad, if not worse. it's especially bad after i hop outta the shower. so what i did, was i did a couple test spots on my arms. i GENTLY GENTLY ROLLED along my arm, didn't even put any pressure on the roller, and sure enough, there's lines there, even a week after. i've included some pics of the test runs on my arms as well. now, on the arm pics, sorry i'll admit they're not great. but the point is, you can see lines, and it looks worse in real life. each red line represents one row of needlez. and remember, i didn't apply any pressure whatsoever (so the needlez probably didn't even go in all the way). just imagine how bad my face looks (since i jam that sucker down onto my skin). i've included a pic of my forehead too. there's no question about that one. and remember, it's been at LEAST 3 weeks since i've used the roller. and i just took those pictures today...

sorry the pictures are really bad quality. but remember, the point is, you can see linez. and trust me, it looks a lot worse in person. for the forehead, look to the sides (left and right) of my forehead; there's where the redness is most obvious. actually, if you look real close at my forehead, you can tell (even in those crappy pictures) that the lines stick out above skin level.
i feel like i'm in a cloudy nightmare right now. is this really happening? man this blows


my eyebrows are NOT that bushy! i caught a bad angle dammit! i look like a monster there

dehydration and adult acne?

my skin always looks like HELL after a drinking binge (and my urine is dark yellow/orange). it never occured to me that dehydration would be a factor; i just assumed it was toxins leaving my skin. anyway, 2 days ago i was bored, and i wondered if there was a correlation between the dark urine (more specifically, dehydration) and acne. so i did a yahoo search "dehydration acne".

http://www.joseibi.com/store/view_article.asp?idArticle=55

in short, this article says that dehydration is the cause of *adult* acne. it said that's why adults keep getting acne, even though they use meds/topicals. hey, sounds just like me!
that was me paraphrasing. but if you're interested, read the full thing!

says it also affects the overall redness, that makes you look irritated. makes sense. dry skin...exposure to the elements...fast skin cell turnover...

truth about blackheadz

i learned this the hard way, after laser resurfacing. i'm one of those sorry sobs that has hundreds of blackheads on my nose, and cheeks.
well, i had laser resurfacing done all over my face, including the nose. what happens, is you're all bloody and fulla pus for a few days, so every day they change the bandaging (your face is bandaged for 3-4 days).
laser burns off the top layer of skin on your face. so every time they took off the bandages, they would clean my face and wipe it down. i would look in the mirror while my bandages were off. they burned off the skin, so that now, the blackheads were exposed, and instead of being black, they were small white dots. but because they were now on TOP of the skin, i could just wipe them off (had to be kinda rough). so, all my blackheads were finally gone! except, the next day, every single one came back, and my nose and cheeks were all bumpy. and i'd wipe them off, and sure enough, they were back the next day.
it sucks. but there's really nothing you can do, cuz they just come back by the next day. you can sweat and jog, and they'll pop out easier, but they're comin back...
then again, i read about an asian man who said he had tons of blackheads too. he saw a chinese internal medicine doctor who prescribed some herbal tea. he said that in 2 months, he was clear of them. so, i'd say topically, doesn't last. but maybe if you work it internally, that's the way to do it.