1224 replies to this topic

[tricia]

Thanks for the info Leo, I live in New Orleans area, just moved here recently, and am thinking of consulting with Dr Y. I am giving my scars a little more time to heal over, because my derm said they may improve in a few more months. I was wondering was it $1500 to get your WHOLE forehead done or was it a relatively small area of the forehead. I would probably just get a relatively small area done under my eye area, but wonder if it is even too close under my eye to be dermabraded. I'll probably get a consult in a few more months, but really don't have $1500 to spend. I would spend under $1000. Also what type of scarring do you have, it is boxcar like? Have a speedy recovery and glad the trip went so well!

[OursFan]

Wow, thanks for all this detail Leo!

I am so excited for you and also to hear of your final results.

[L0VE]

Leo,

Well my friend, I hope you never allow anyone to infer you're anything but thorough! I'm so pleased the trip/procedure was a positive experience for you. All the details are comforting, as I'll be seeing Dr.Y for an initial consult in just over a week.

[GoldRex]

Leo, that was fantastic.

It's exactly that kind of information all of us need.

[leopolda]

Hi everyone. Thanks for all the kind words. I continue to do better day by day. Today was the day Dr. Y said that I could probably start wearing make-up, though I thought I'd just hibernate a bit longer. I'm still slathering on the vaseline. I was also supposed to call in today to the office to give them an update. When I called, both Dr. Y and Cassandra were doing a dermabrasion (maybe it was Ann_a_Bell!!--Even though you're not reading this now, I meant to wish you a good trip before you left, but in any case I was sending you good wishes today --or maybe it's tomorrow), so they took a message. I was expecting Cassandra to call me back, but Dr. Y did instead. He's so great. Made sure I got in okay and that I was all set. He urged me to give up the vaseline at this point and start with this other soap and lotion they give you (they give you a lot of little samples of stuff to use in sequence in the coming weeks) so I promised I would try tomorrow. Anyway, I told him that now that my swelling is gone (at least all noticable swelling is gone), I can still detect the biggest scars (though they are still much better and smoother). He assured me that that was natural and that I will continue to see them filling in as the weeks and months go by (don't get me wrong--I'm still VERY pleased even with the improvement as it is now). Anyway, I'll continue to update.


Tricia: While it might be smart to give the scars a little while to heal up, Dr. Y is one of the few derms out there who advocates early intervention in scar remediation (for example, one of my excision scars was only about 5 weeks old when I went out there), and he tends to get great results with this (better even than with mature scars). The $1500 was for my entire forehead (bridge of nose and eyebrows up to my hairline and then out to each temple). He actually preferes to begin with a full face to avoid pigment differnces (which seem t fade anyway) and for uniformity for texture, and I had to push him a little bit to consider just doing my forehead. he will do spot dermabrasion, but I'm pretty sure he'll only do that as follow-up touch ups. In short, I don't think you could get him to begin with just spot treatments. I have a sense that my $1500 was about a cheap as one could begin with. Also, although I didn't have the full face, I know that when he does do the full face, he stops short of going up to the bottome eyelid (I think he stops about where your orbital bone ends), because the undereye skin is so thin and fragile (that's why people get bags and wrinkles there more easily), so he applies a 35% (I think) TCA peel in that area to blend the demarcation lines. So, I'm not sure how close to your eye your scarring is, but that might be a consideration. I'm sorry if that's not the answer you wanted to hear, but the great news is that since you live down there, you should just go in for a consult and have him advise you. He's so sweet and he will do whatever he can to make you feel better. Good luck to you.

Monsoon, I will respond soon to your pm.

And Kiki, ha ha--your post made me laugh. Yes, I tend to be "thorough!" Hopefully my students feel the same as you--I think I'm one of the only teachers who still makes them diagram sentences! And I'm not even an old-fogey teacher (well, maybe a little bit at heart). I will respond your e-mail soon.

cheers, everyone.

--leo

[ritashelton]

Leo...great letter..I hope you got the results you wanted. I would love to have this done..Not sure If I will be able to anytime soon. He evidently gets patients from all over the world..that says alot for him..

[tricia]

Thanks Leo, I will probably get a consultation with him soon. I have some scars that have hard thick tissue and it is indented around this. My derm thinks there might still be inflamation that could go down. However, it's been a good year since it started and probably 6 months that I've had the hard tissue I guess hypertrophic scarring form. I wonder if he would do a laser for spot treatment, even nob-ablative might work to soften the scar tissue. Do you know if he works with lasers? It's sad that my insurance won't cover anything from a derm who knows what he's doing, my military insurance thru my husband has refered me to derms who have not helped a bit. Maybe even helped to cause the scars.

[smilingeyes]

Derek, $4500 for a full face dermabrasion is nothing to what I've been quoted in Portland, OR. It would cost me anywhere from $5500 to $7000 depending on which doctor I chose, so to get it done for $4500 by someone who gets glowing reviews actually seems very reasonable.

[smilingeyes]

And Thank-you Leo for your post.......I'm still kind of interested in dermabrasion even though my local doctor seems to recommend against it, so it was wonderful reading about your experience.

[rosegirl]

I've been lurking the scar forums for almost a year, and this is my first time posting. I had a consultation with Dr. Yarbrough yesterday, and I'm planning to have dermabrasion in December. Lucky for me, I'm from about an hour away from New Orleans, and although I currently live in D.C., my parents still live there. So I just visited the doctor when I went home to see my family, and I'm going to take an extra long Christmas vacation to do the dermabrasion and go home for a visit.

I guess my scarring is mild, mostly boxscars, with a few moderate icepicks concentrated on my front cheeks (like the part facing the front underneath the eyes).

Motivated by posts in these forums, I've purchased and used copper peptides, mandelic acid, and Perfect Complexion TCA Complex, only to realize later that they do nothing for anything but the most superficial scarring. I don't want to spend years and many more dollars trying this and that, so I've decided to just go for it and try to get this problem fixed in one shot.

I also wanted to mention that I've tried TCA CROSS with 100% TCA, and I haven't had the success that others here have. I spot treated all my scars once, then did two more treatments on just a few scars at a time. It looks like it's made 2 of my icepicks a little worse (last treatment over 2 months ago.) I still want to try it again though on my deepest icepicks, because I've seen other people's before and after picks, and they look impressive. I'd like to get them as shallow as possible before my dermabrasion. I'm going to try with the colostrum stuff next time. Wish me luck, as I do to all of you.

[ann_a_bell]

Good luck Rosegirl, you in incredible hands w/Dr. Y

[leopolda]

Hi, everyone.

Thanks smilingeyes--I do hope you at least leave the door open on this one as I have also been waved off by other docs about dermabrasion as have many of Dr. Y's former patients.

Rosegirl, congrats on making the first step and good luck in that consultation--you won't be disappointed. I agree with you that all of those topicals don't really do much for already existing scars, but I think they can be quite helpful when you are healing up after a procedure, so hang on to them. As far as the cross goes, I'm sorry it hasn't worked for you thus far. I do think it's probably a good idea to get the ice-pick scars squared away before the dermabrasion, as it won't help those scars, but can help smooth everything over after other procedures (punch excision or cross "scars").

Well, it's been a little more that 2.5 weeks and I'm healing up very well. Out of the itchy phase finally and still pretty darned red, but I can now see parts of my forehead returning to it's normal color, while other areas are still quite pink (kind of splotchy effect). I can now go out with make-up on and feel very comfortable (but I still wear a hat to shield myself from the sun).

Best of luck to everyone else out there paying a visit to Dr. Y!

--Leo

[leopolda]

Hi, everyone. Well, it's now been 3 weeks (and one day=) since my dermabrasion with Dr. Y and I continue to heal up and continue to be very pleased with my decision to go out there. In fact, I just sent off thank you cards to both Dr. Y and Cassandra today. I am still pretty darned red, though I can conceal it pretty well with make-up. Some areas are fading faster than others and I think that corresponds to how deep he went in different areas. The most recent excision scar is nearly invisivle with make-up on (except for than danged little "dog-ear" mound of skin thart I should have had corrected before going out there. It's common after excision and supposedly really easy to fix, but I just didn't want to tamper with my skin again too close to the dermabrasion. It is still much softer and more subtle, but I just wish I had made the decision to go back to my doc here to resolve it. This is in no way a reflection of Dr. Y's abilities and he gave me an accurate picture of what to expect from it), and my larger, older excision scar seems to flucuate. It's wierd, sometimes it seems almost gone, and at other times it is more visible (though far improved over what it was), and from what I've heard (both from Dr. Y and from former patients), the real collagen build up is still to come. So after all of that, the nutshell is that I am very happy I went out there. This has been, hands down, the best thing I have ever done for my skin, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, I'm thinking that after my skin heals up a bit more, I'd like to get that "dog-ear" excised (small enough to maybe only need a punch excision), and then, if I need it, a spot treatment next summer. But who knows, I may not need it at all.

Anyway, that's my three week update. I hope everyone else traveling out to see him or who has already seen him is doing well and in good spirits.

--leo

[Moonsoon]

I was gonna write a new thread about this but Leopoda did such a wonderful job at explaining it just seems waste of effort to rewrite my experience (plus, i'm lazy ). I can confirm with what leopoda wrote is all what I have experience.

My History
I had severe case of acne scars. I took Accutane ~4 years ago but it only helped clear what acne I have at that time. It stop my oilness but Im more prone to scarring. My current situation is that I have mostly rolling scars on both cheeks, indents on my forehead, soft rolling scars on the temples, and hypertrophic scars on both jaw lines

I just had a FULL FACE dermabrasion done by Dr. Y on July 13 (Tuesday). I came back July 16 (Friday).

I'm currenly healthing nicely. I see some blothes of new skins here and there and some spots are still red. As of right now, I cant see any indent on my forehead or my right cheek. My left cheek and jaw line are still kind of red so I cant really tell. I will keep updating when the swelling goes down and all the new skin are form.

PS: Leopoda sorry for hijacking your thread but I thought it's appropriate to put it here. I also mentioned you to Dr. Y and Cassandra and they think you are a really nice person. Good luck with you healing. BTW, im in CA.

[falnhart]

Moonsoon, I too was at Dr. Yarborough's office this week (Thursday). I saw a guy coming in with shorts and facial dressing mask around 11 that morning, perhaps that was you. Anyhow, keep us updated on your progress please.

[Moonsoon]

Heheh. I also saw someone with a mask around noon on Tuesday (July 13) in the cafeteria. Perhaps that was you?

Was that guy short and wearing a a green short? If so, that was me. Cassandra told me there was a patient who is leaving on July 15 (Thursday) that wanted to invite me to breakfast. She also mentioned this is the second time she had performed dermabrasions and she is from Alabama. Was that you?

PS: leopolda, you stayed in my room 759. No wonder it's so tidy when I got there.

Question: anyone know where to buy the face mask they give you when you perform a full face dermabrasion so you can travel from airport to airport?

[powerpooch]

Before you had your dermabrasion with Dr. Y did you pre treat your skin ie. RetinA or some other products to ensure better results???

[falnhart]

Moonsoon, Actually I just got there that Thursday, 15th of July, for a consult with Dr. Y. I haven't had a dermabrasion yet, as I am still on Accutane. Yeah, the guy that came in the office on Thurs. the 15th did have a green shirt. Just before you walked in, I also saw a girl, kinda tall, slim, blondish with shorts, come in the office with her mother I guess. She too had a facial dressing mask. She prob. invited you to breakfast.

[Poe]

Moonsoon,

I'm getting a full-face dermabrasion with Dr. Y on August 3rd, I'm just wondering if you are currently taking any progress pictures..? I'm planning on taking it every other day for 2 weeks and then twice a week and then once a week from there on until I see the full results. I know it's only been 6 days but how are you looking now? Is it still hard to eat? Does it still hurt? Was the plane ride back to Cali okay? I'm sorry for asking so many questions but I'm just mighty nervous about this. Thanks in advance.. I hope you heal well! Keep us posted!

Poe

[ann_a_bell]

Before you had your dermabrasion with Dr. Y did you pre treat your skin ie. RetinA or some other products to ensure better results???

I suggest that you load up on vitamins and supplements before you go, 1.) so you are healthy and to ensure proper healing. 2.) so you get used to doing everyday. I healed so fast, i couldn't believe it. The day I came home (4 days later) I had already healed so much. Everyone who saw me on a day to day basis was like WHOA!!! They told me that it changed so much even from morning until night. I have to believe that it was due to the fact that I really took care of myself 2 weeks before and thereafter.