1224 replies to this topic

[Poe]

Wow ann_a_bell, I never thought about that.. Yeah, tomorrow would be two weeks to the day that I'm getting it done so Ã? better run to the drug store and get me some vitamins. Should I just get a multivitamin? Vitamin E capsules? I don't really know much about which vitamin helps what.. Any suggestions..? Oh yeah, I put up some of my scar pics in the gallery. Do you think I would need just one dermabrasion or two? Thanks so much for that suggestion, I'm hoping for a speedy recovery when I get back.. I'm glad to hear that you're healing so well! Take care!

Poe

[LoveGreenSmoothies]

DO NOT TAKE VITAMIN E. IT WILL INCREASE YOUR BLEEDING TIME. IT IS CONTRAINDICATED FOR ANY SURGERY.

Sorry to shout, but I wanted to be certain you knew it was serious. Please talk to Dr. Y before taking any supplements or medicines.

[Poe]

Thanks for the warning Emma and forgive my ignorance.. I will be calling Dr. Y's office later on today to see what he would suggest I do.

AHHH!!!! I'm getting really scared now!! Man, I hope I don't freak out when the day comes.. I think I will though cuz I'm the biggest wuss ever.. hehe....

Poe

[vpm]

Sorry if you already said this, but do you have any pix leopolda?
I would love to see your results.

This is a very interesting thread, you have really shared a lot of good info.

[ann_a_bell]

Yeah Poe, but you probably already knew that you shouldn't take any vit. E or A 2 weeks before the surgery b/c they should have sent you the info and probably told you over the phone.

Anyways, I took vit. C and 50mg Zinc , before hand every day. Right after surgery you can begin taking ANYTHING YOU WANT. I take 1,000 mg of Vit. E, 50 mg Zinc, Grapeseed extract(antioxident), Vit. C (very important for collagen), Vit. A., and Ester-C ( also for collagen support).

I the Zinc and Vit. C are the most important before and after to help with healing and rebuilding new cells.

[ann_a_bell]

I would say that you probably would only need one, but Dr. Y will tell you what he thinks. I'm jealous, your scarring is much less than mine was!!!

[Poe]

Howdy Ann_a_bell,

Hmm, nope, I haven't received any package(s) from their office yet. I'll be asking about that as well when I call. How are you looking now? Are you able to go out and feel "normal"? Week 3 after my dermabrasion, I will be going to Seattle to visit some friends, so I'm just trying to estimate if I would be able to feel "normal" with makeup on. Again, thanks so much for the vitamin info! I hope I'm not being a pain by asking so many questions.


Poe

[Poe]

Ann_a_Bell,

You're awesome.. I forgot to mention that in my last post.. hehe..

[Moonsoon]

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!


I'm taking a picture once every week for the first month, then one every month, finally, every other months for a year.

Right now, I see 90% of my scars on forehead has improved. I can live with this. You can see some scar but it wasnt as bad as before. The skin tone is still pink but less pronounce then any part of my face. I'm still using the shaving foam to clean the crust and apply the vaseline right after. I still have some crust left on both cheeks, some on the chin, and some around the mouth area. I notice some of the raise scar on my nose has been reduce. Moving posterior and latterally from my forehead, the texture is noticable darker than my forehead. I'm a guy so I have a beard right now. It seems darker in that area too so I cant really tell the improvement.

Eating is not a problem for me NOW. Everysince I got back, my mom has been making porridge for me to eat and I drink lot of juice and water. I can open my mouth wide enough to eat a Big Mac if I wanted to, but I'm gonna keep eating soup, juice, fruit. I remember when I was in the hotel, The easiest thing to eat was prolly mash potato. yogurt, and I also shred turkey and fish up into little pieces. Sometime I had to stare into the mirror so I can make sure the food goes in correctly.

Does it hurt? Never. I think the most painful experience you might encounter is the two shot you get in the rear. Other than that, the once in a while itchiness from the vaselin is what bother me, but I just use a q-tip and gently massage it.

Was the plane ride ok? I thought it wasnt as bad as the to New Orlean. I felt great after a great sleep and dinner. I didnt encounter any problem other than stares which doesnt bother me since I have a mask on and they dont know who I am. I sat a row behind a family with a baby and when she look at my Jason mask, it frightens her. I hid my face of course.

LMK if you have anymore questions. Hope that help.
PS: ann_a_bell, I think I'm gonna start taking supplement now. Thank for the advice.

[leopolda]

Hi everyone! Wow, there's been so much activity on this thread in the past few days.

Monsoon, congratulations on your procedure! That's so great--I'm so happy to hear that everything went well for you down there. Please make sure to keep us posted as to what happenes. Oh, and you asked earlier about itching. Yes, it does itch like crazy after about week 2 or something, so I read somewhere that Sarna lotion works well to relieve itching and it does, so maybe try that.

I'm surpised that Dr. Y and Cassandra knew who you were talking about since you don't know my real name (but I guess I am probably the only femael patient from CA having only her forehead done, after all). How nice to hear that they thought I was nice--thanks for that. They really are great people down there and they make you feel like what is actually a big deal, is not that big a deal (if you know what I mean). Glad you liked the room--pretty nice for $40, huh? And no of course I don't mind you posting on this thread--it's all fine with me.

It was the 4-week mark for me yesterday and I can tell you that my redness/pinkness/splotchiness has really improved quite a bit. At this point, there is still a subtle difference b/t the abraded and non-abraded skin, but I can easily conceal it with make-up--if you have the full face and don't have to worry about blending those "border areas," you will be in great shape by week 4.

One thing just to re-emphasize (and warn about) is this: After about a week, when all the bandages come off but you are still swollen, your skin may look exeptionally good--no indentations at all (though I could still detect my deepest scars at that point), but it takes a good 2-3 weeks for all of the swelling to go down (even f you doin't look swollen, there may still be swelling), and at that point, the scars may begin to reappear. Beacuse you are treating scarring in two distinct ways (sanding down surface irregularities and also stimulating collagen from below), try to keep in mind that you will see more immediate results from the surface irregularities, but it takes about 3 months before detectable collagen formation can be noticed and this part of the improvement continues for up to one year. So, if your scars in which there is underlying tissue loss seem to reappear after swelling, don't assume that that was the peak of your improvement, because that is still to come. Even at only 4 weeks, it seems to me that my scars seem to fill in everyday. Also, hydration (both inside with H20 and putside with moisturizers) really help. And, as ann_a_bell mentioned, lots of vit. c and zinc. Also, try to get lots of sleep. Oh and vit. E is an anticoagulant (like aspirin), so that is why it should be avoided before surgery. Here are a few links that I found helpful about what is good and bad to ingest before and after surgery:

http://www.yestheyre..._list_print.htm

http://www.jromano.com/prep/drugs.html

and

http://www.jromano.com/prep/supp.html

As far as pics, I have to admit I haven't been that good about documenting it. Dr. Y took before pics and I haven't taken any since then (though I do plan to go down there next summer for vacation and to have "after" pics taken). I know that I should have done this (both for me but also so that I could share them with the board), but I have some sort of hang-up about that. Taking the pics is really tough for me to do, for some reason. Sorry. but I can tell you that I am most certainly my own worst critic and even I am so pleased! My husband also confirms that there has been a huge improvement (and he was always telling me that my scars were not that bad and that I made a much bigger deal of them than they were).

Poe, it's natual that you'll be nervous (may be a bad sign, in fact, if you weren't), but once you meet Dr. Y and Cassandra, they will put you at ease immediately. Also, the demerol in the rear and the valium under the tongue helps =)

Well, everyone, good luck to everyone is who healing from, preaparing for, or just thinking about dermabrasion!

--leo

[Poe]

Wow, thank you for the imformative posts Moonsoon and Leopolda! I'm so glad I found this site. I have been visiting this site for over a year now(joined under a different nic but forgot the password) and it has been so sooo very helpful. I never thought of dermabrasion as an option until I read of Dr. Yarborough on here. Many other doctors have turned me away for any ablative procedure because of my Asian skin. I thought I had no more hope left but now, I know not to give up.. I AM nervous but I'm also really excited and happy that I'm going to get this done. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I promise I will keep everyone updated when I get it done and I will try to keep a picture diary as well and post that up too.. Take care!

Poe

[LoveGreenSmoothies]

Good Luck!

[Moonsoon]

Thank Leopoda for your kind words and ann_a_bell for the supplement suggestion. Im taking the same supplements you are taking now.

Here are some pix before and after. I hope this doesnt get share on kazza or that would deter piracy. muhahaha

The before pictures is at least 6 months old. The after pictures is day 5 or 6. The forehead picuture is taken 2 hours, 16mins, and 22 sec wait 25 sec from now....

I use to have craters, rolling scars, lots of grin lines on my forehead. To me, this is a huge improvement and I can live with sexy instead of ultra uber hot. (just messing)

My jaw and if you head radially from the nose, it looks bad because I use to have hypertrophic scar there so he has to go deeper. As a result, crust and redness is still presence. To make it worse, I grow beard. It's kinda against the norm since I'm Asian. Like I mention before in the thread, I cant really tell how much improvement I have gotten from that area.

I hope this pictures give you, poe, or anyone considering doing this procedure by Dr Y some comfort. You are in skillful hand. Good luck!

Before2

Before1

Forehead

After1

After 2

[ann_a_bell]

Wow, looks like your healing pretty fast! Don't ya love that vasoline!!!
Soon you won't have to use it any more.

[ann_a_bell]

Oh and Poe, I was just really pink around day 10, but I couldn't take it anymore so I put on sunscreen and make-up so I could do a little shopping for myself, and so I could get out of the house. You could still see a lot of red under the make-up. I didn't want to use the green concealer b/c I had a full facial also and I didn't want to pile a bunch of stuff on. I did notice that the makeup seemed to make the itchy phase, well a little more itchy. I washed the makeup off a lot (that helps w/the itching) and either reapply if I was @ work or just moisturize while I was @ home. I did however buy some green concealer, later on when it started to fade b/c I was very blotchy and still am. I don't mind the redness or blotchyness (is that a word) though.

Keep in mind that the healing times do vary for each individual. I think Leo also said that she was able to put on make-up also after 10 days, I could be wrong though. Cassandra told me that it usually takes anywhere from 10 to 14 days for the new pink skin to come in. At that time you can put on your suncreen and cosmetics (chose them wisely though).

[Moonsoon]

ann_a_bell and leopoda, do you develop small circular pus like lesion on your face? I have some and I ask the Dr and he reassure it's not reoccurence of acne but I forgot to ask him if I should leave it alone or do what to it.

[ann_a_bell]

OH YES I DID!!! Don't worry the Dr. told me that it was just a pustuals that formed from using all of the vasoline. LEAVE THEM ALONE!!! They will eventually fall out as you wash in a few days.

[Poe]

hehe, went out and bought me some Vit C, Zinc and ALA last night.. I had a hugeeeee ass headache today and all I had was Bayer(pure aspirin) and Ibuprofin.. had to run to the store to get some aspirin-free medicine. Damn headaches, I wish I didn't get them all the time ... Sometimes I think I'm gonna go crazy one day.. lol..

AHHH! It's freakin' raining so loud right now and I'm home alone.. power went out once already.. getting a bit scurred here... hehehe(nervous laugh)..... sorry to get off the subject.

Poe

[ann_a_bell]

Poe*

Don't be scurred!!!

Glad to here you got your vitamins. When are you leaving again? I will be thinking of you and hoping that everything goes well (which it will).

[Poe]

Howdy AnN-A-BeLL

Ã?'m leaving Monday, August 2nd.. getting it done Aug 3rd and flying back to Indy Sat. Aug 7th.. hehe.. I'm glad you mentioned the vitamins because I haven't taken it yet tonight!.. EEEeeiikk! gonna go take it now!.. Adios

Oh yeah, thanks for the thought!

Poe