17 replies to this topic

[ScarsRevil]

Since recently needling a hypetrophic scar on my chin and noticing no real improvement, I have ordered compound w maximum strength wart remover. The active ingredient is salicylic acid. I will receive it in the mail in approximately a week or so, and I will follow the directions on it which I believe is to apply twice a day. When I receive it in the mail I will take a before pic of the hypetrophic scar and then post before & after pictures only if I notice an improvement in the scar. My ultimate goal is to just get the scar level with the surrounding skin, I don't care about the discoloration, I just want it to be flat with the surrounding skin. I wouldn't even mind it, if the scar was slightly sunken below the skin compared to raised above. I plan on applying it for up to 12 weeks as long as it doesn't make the scar worse. I've really only got 2 hypetrophic scars on my body which happen to both be on my chin as the result of excessive picking when I was younger. I'm not prone to developing hypetrophic scars as every other scar I have is below skin level. The reason I believed I developed these was due to excessive picking even during the healing process for several months which must have led to an overproduction of scar tissue. I have been needling sunken scars and not noticing too much of an improvement but maybe if I needled them more frequently it would result in an overproduction of tissue which occured with this hypetrophic scar. Anyways, I'll update this post when I receive and apply the wart remover for a few days.

Edited by ScarsRevil, 05 May 2010 - 07:39 PM.

[ScarsRevil]

I received the wart remover today. It's 17% salycylic acid. I applied a small drop to the scar and it stung slightly and the clear liquid turned whie. I'm going to leave it on and reapply later tonight. It can take up to 12 weeks of use but if I don't see some results within a month I will most likely try another treatment.

[kforkate]

how raised is the scar? i really think you should look into a silicone sheet. at least try it out for 12 weeks if you are going to wait out that long for the wart remover.

[ScarsRevil]

An update, I've been applying it more than recommended, to hopefully see faster results. The liquid turns into a hard white crust after burning off the top layer of the skin. I've applied it maybe a total of 7 or 8 times since yesterday. Each time I peel off the hard white crust it seems to remove a layer of it. Anyways, last night the scar was a white color with visible loose skin. I just peeled off this dead layer and I believe I am at the new dermal layer of the new scar tissue, if that makes any sense. I believe that the excess tissue of the scar raised the dermis to a higher level if this makes sense. Anyways, it has reduced in size due to the peeling of the top layer of the scar. I'm going to go wash the area for a bit and then apply the wart remover to the new area. I imagine it will burn this exposed excess layer and will most likely be more intense burning than the previous 1s. I'm going to reduce the application to the once or twice a day method now depending on what this next application does. I don't want to apply it too much now as to avoid creating an excessive indented scar. I'm hoping it can burn the excess scar tissue like slightly below skin level so that a more even scar results. I have been making sure to avoid applying the acid to healthy skin, just the raised scar tissue. Anyways, I believe this might work but only time will tell. I'll update again tomorrow or tonight depending on the results of this next application. As for silicone sheets, this scar is right under my lip, and silicone sheets are too noticeable. I don't want to take the time to wear them constantly and always be noticeable.

[ScarsRevil]

Wednesday, the 5th will be my last application of the wart remover until the end of the month. I will be having upcoming events and I want to allow at least 2 weeks of healing before these events so that my scar is not extremely red and inflammed. I will see in about 2 weeks if a reduction in the scar size actually did occur. I have before pics and I will compare them to pics in 2 weeks. I would like to apply it for a longer time, but I don't want to be in pictures with the scar red and inflammed compared to being a pale pink scar. I will see if 4 days of application caused a permanent reduction in scar size or temporary.

The application of the wart remover lately does burn a lot more than initial applications when the scar was not tampered with. I can only hope this is burning away the deeper layers of the scar tissue permanently. Anyways, I'll post another update soon, when something significant happens or healing has progressived after stopping applications.

[cleverjoe]

none

Edited by cleverjoe, 10 February 2013 - 10:03 PM.

[ScarsRevil]

I've decided I'm going to stop applications of the wart remover today. Yesterday the scarred area was looking very even with the rest of the skin. Tonight I saw the "bump" in the scar again. I believe once it heals back to normal the skin will still be elevated compared to surrounding skin.
Anyways, I've applied the last application for tonight and will sleep with it on. In the morning I will peel it off and let healing occur for 2 weeks. I'm not sure if this will result in any improvement, but I will post an update once the scabbing is gone, probably will be a 1/2 week - a week before that happens.

[ScarsRevil]

I'm editing before and after pics right now to upload. You can see in the after pics that the pit where the scar was burned off is more level with the skin. Hopefully it will remain at this level when healing is completed. It will take about a week or 2 before I know for sure, but I imagine that it's going to heal more level with the skin. It may be a pitted circle with slightly elevated skin surrounding it when it heals, which I will be more satisfied with than than a scarred bump. Also, I realize that this hypetrophic scar is very small but I said in the original post it is like a large zit / small wart size.

The after pics are almost 24 hours after peeling the last layer of the wart removal layer off. So the skin is still inflammed and scabby/ nasty looking. Also, the scar in the before pics was usually less noticeable (started out as a very pale white color; the scar is about 13 years old so it had aged and the hyperpigmentation had faded pretty well, needling caused a re-hyperpigmentation of it), but it was still minorly inflammed from the needling of it which occured 2 weeks before the start of this treatment.

If anyone considers doing this, do so at your own risk, and remember I am not prone to hypetrophic scarring, unless I aggravatve a wound for many months during the healing phase. i.e. picking off a scab until it bleeds again and never allowing the healing phase to complete

People have used salycylic acid to burn off moles/skin tags/ raised skin/ scars before. I read that someone used wart remover on their hypetrophic scar in another forum and that is where I got this idea from. Warts are an overproduction of epidermal skin. Hypetrophic scars are an overproduction of fibroblasts/collagen/scar tissue (whatever). So I could see why burning away excess scar tissue could result in a more level with the skin scar.

Also, when I would apply the liquid solution after the initial epidermal layer (outer) layer of the scar had peeled off. I started applying pressure to the solution after it had dried into a white crust for several seconds. I did this so that the salycylic acid would "attach" itself to the deeper scar tissue and "burn" it. It might be a good thing I stopped applying it when I did, I imagine if I had kept applying it I could have resulted in a very deep pit, this would be bad. I want to have the scar as level as possible without being too big compared to the surrounding skin or 2 pitted., but I don't know if this leveling of the skin is temporary or permanent yet. I imagine it will be permanent though as the skin surrounding the scabbed "pit" is higher than the pitted area. I don't imagine the skin will heal to its previous height but will most likely remain as this pitted area.

The amount I applied it, I would say approximately 8-10 times a day for 4 days. I would usually leave it on for an hour at a time, peel it off, reapply, apply pressure, then leave it on again for an hour. At night I would leave it on overnight. I'm not sure if the pit became deeper from the intial epidermal peeling from new applications, but I imagine it became slightly deeper.

When I applied pressure after waiting several seconds for the liquid to crust up, applying pressure made it sting even more than the application, so be ready for a burning/stinging sensation more intense than application. I applied pressure until the burning/stinging sensation subsided which let me know that the liquid had attached itself to the deeper scar tissue and dried attached to the skin.

Also, if you consider doing this you might want to apply a thick tape or something surrounding the scar tissue to protect your healthy skin. I didn't' but I also burned some healthy skin. The wart remover becomes like a gel so precise application becomes more complicated because it wants to stick to the applicator.

Anyways, so far I'm happy with the intial results even though healing isn't complete. I'm happy to have a scabbed pit right now compared to a white raised bump. Hopefully this will turn into a white pit. In a week I imagine healing will have progressed significantly to gauge the results. I may reapply at the end of this month if I feel like I need to level out the skin surrounding the pit or the pit becomes raised.

Also, a warning if you attempt this on keloids. Keloids like to grow beyond the initial scar boundaries so this could likely aggravate a keloid into growing even more. You can see that my skin type is a pale color and my skin isn't prone to hypetrophic scarring. I would say this is worth trying on hypetrophic scars, but not keloids.

Edited by ScarsRevil, 05 May 2010 - 08:31 PM.

[ScarsRevil]

Before pic 1:


After pic: 14:



Sorry for not hosting on an external website, but it only takes 2 seconds to register for these boards if you seriously want to see the pictures.

Well, the post in the text editor looks different from the way I set it up. Anyways, you can tell the difference in before/after. Before pics is light white/pink raised color. After pics is more irritated and level pit.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by ScarsRevil, 09 June 2010 - 01:11 PM.

[smoothmove]

hey, how old is that scar? In the first pictures it almost doesn't look like a scar, more like a clogged bump. I've had bumps before that would remain somewhat inflamed for like a year.

[ScarsRevil]

I've had it for at least 10 years. When I was younger I tried cutting it up with a knife to remove it and it was still there after healing. Today, the scabbing came off a little after washing it and bled for a little. I can feel that the scab is raised above the skin. I hope the scar is reshaped to be more level with the skin once the scab comes off. Won't know the real progress for several more days up to a week.

[smoothmove]

alright, good luck!

[ScarsRevil]

Well, today after bathing, the scab is essentially off. There's a slight line in the middle of the pit which is where the scab was. I would say I'm really satisfied with this treatment. My goal was to achieve more level skin where the scar is at and I'm sure I have achieved it. The scar is not likely to raise again. The skin surrounding the pit is slightly elevated compared to the rest of the skin. The area is still slightly red but it's just some hyperpigmentation and slight healing needed still. I imagine in 2 weeks it will be a lot less noticeable than before I started treatment. I may go back at the end of the month and do a touchup for a few days on the skin surrounding the pit to level that out as well. Not sure about that yet, I will see how it's looking in 2 weeks.

[ScarsRevil]

The scar is overall more even with the skin. There is still a small area that is slightly raised that I will do a touchup on in probably about 4 weeks approximately. I will take a pic of the new scar before I start the touchup. You can't really notice the raised area too much, but I will do a touchup on this area using tape on the areas I don't want affected by the acid, to ensure that I target only the area I want.

[mebe]

hmm interesting

[lauramg]

Hi, there!

Just wondering, have you experienced pigmentation problems as a result of your salicylic acid treatment? I'm very tempted to do this, but I just don't want to be left with HYPOpigmentation on my chest.

Thanks!

[blackplm]

Thank you so much for posting this! I have a raised scar that I've had since I was 11 years old. I have tried everything to flatten it! Nothing worked! I just started using the wart remover on it this week. I am into the 4th day of using wart remover once every two days as I am scared to use it more often than that. I just noticed the first layer of skin came off today! Yeah! I have decided to wear a silicon patch after the last layer of skin comes off. That way it will hopefully help the scar not raise again.
This is the first time I have ever posted on this kind of site.. I am just so thankful to you for explaining this to people like me who so much need this information! Oh, by the way I am in y 50's now.. Finally something is working Thanks again!