6 replies to this topic

[hotburrito]

Er, exactly what the question sounds like, I guess. Also, if so, how long does the process usually take?

[DRaGZ]

My dad had a bunch of shallow boxcar scars like me.

Pictures of mine here:

http://www.acne.org/...aken-on-nov-30/

Apparently, his weren't as bad, but they took him about 20 years to go away. Also, there is still one boxcar scar left near one of his ears. fairly shallow, but I honestly don't notice it unless I'm really looking for it.

[hotburrito]

Yikes, that's discouraging. Thank you for the answer though, and good luck with the Lux 1540! I'm Asian too - I hate that our skin is so prone to red/dark marks and scarring. *sighs*

Edited by hotburrito, 02 December 2011 - 05:21 PM.

[makethatchange]

One of my icepick scars went away on it's own. It happened this July when I had a really strange zit which I tried to squeeze and all I got was blood under skin. I squeezed it so hard that it turned into like a scab a few days later. When it fell of I had an ice pick which made me so mad! Same thing happened in August but that scar is bigger and shallow so I don't think it will go away like the ice pick

Also a scar on my nose has improved a lot and is rarely noticeable. I can never know which scar will stay or go away :/

I have to add that all my scars are shallow, I don't have any icepick scars now.

Edited by makethatchange, 06 December 2011 - 12:29 PM.

[Acnepolis]

Scars can improve a bit with time but mostly just when they're still pretty young. if they bother you I suggest you start a skin care routine to improve them... better to do something about it than just hope!
If they're shallow and you have patience you could just use tretinoin/retinoil cream and maybe do a chemical peel or dermarolling every now and then. Those can easily be done at home with no real down time and they should improve shallow acne scarring if given enough time.
And if they don't bother you that much just forget about them! Good luck!

[alphabetpony]

I am only half asian, and I seem to have inherited retarded skin healing too! But I've had shallow scars that went away before--so did my sister. It took about 2 years for me and longer for her because she didn't use anything on her face and sort of just let her acne peter out over the years. I think my scars were mostly shallow indents, but honestly, I'm not even sure 'cause I sort of avoided scrutinizing my face too much back then. I just knew that my skin looked like shit but I wasn't sure why....I always just blamed it on my makeup, but now that I have some new ones I realize they were actually acne scars.

The key is to get completely clear and stay that way, 'cause your skin can't heal when it's being repeatedly bombarded by zits. Also be careful about the chemicals you're using on your face cause harsh chemicals will only further destroy your healing skin. I used differin gel back then--but nothing else (I honestly think bp causes skin damage for some people). Anyways, by the time I started breaking out again, I only had a couple of icepicks left. Of course now I am starting all over again--with even more scars than before...I'm not sure my skin's gonna be up to the task (I have some boxcars, and I'm not sure those go away), but my doctor put me on Retin A and it seems to be working a lot faster than the differin gel. I also think using an emollient rich moisturizer like Cetaphil helps a lot too--especially if you're using topicals or accutane.

Also another thing is, try not to focus on it too much. I think everyone on this site has a really hard time doing that, but you've got to realize that even if these shallow scars don't completely go away, once the redness fades they'll just be uneven skin texture and pretty much no one but you (and the other people on this site) will notice them. Take a look around and you will notice that a lot of people have these types of scars, and many of them don't even seem to notice it themselves.

[hotburrito]

Thanks so much to everybody for their replies! I'm on Accutane right now so I can't do much to treat my scars, but I do feel really reassured that the shallower scars have gone away for at least some of you