205 replies to this topic

[tonyocr]

From my research, I don't think dermarolling is a great idea at all. I doubt I would ever do it. Definitely not by myself!

And tonyocr, I definitely gave some of these scars to myself. I did it mostly as a teen, picking at some of the whiteheads I had at the time. But overall I would say my skin was pretty much okay until I got to be around 21, and that's when my skin became more oily, and seemed to change texture. I got crazy-big cysts in my cheeks and jaw. After squeezing just about 3 in my left cheek, I realized there was NO WAY I should continue to do that because it left big holes in my left cheek.

Fortunately, my cosmetic derm mostly fixed the big holes with what she calls "punch floats", I'm not sure what the proper term is for that procedure. And three little punch grafts on the left cheek. OMG, it looks so much better.

But now I'm so stuck on what sort of procedure to go with next. I'm much more happy with the way my skin looks now than when I was around 24, but I still have some scars that need to be worked on. I just don't know if I should go with lasering, do this Obagi mid-level peel my cosmetic derm seems to think I ought to go with, or do the permanent silicone injections.

These pictures of silicone injections really kind of took my breath away:

Before:
http://www.realself....7395-306608.jpg
After:
http://www.realself....7395-306609.jpg

I mean, whoa. Talk about an amazing improvement. Now, I do not expect that my skin will ever go back to the way it was when I was a younger person. I just would like it to become as good as I can get it to be.

The advice of those who have replied to my post has been to do lasering. It seems like that's maybe the way I should go. Which is a bummer in a way, because I was all set to have this peel done, and was told by my derm that my skin would look "perfect", as she termed it, after it was done with. I mean, come on, I know there's no such thing as perfect. There just isn't. But I am willing to accept "much better".

I'm just confused as to which route will take me to "much better". If anyone else has anymore contributing thoughts, I would be so grateful!

Well I have tiny holes all over my face from squeezing blackk and whiteheads. Also a couple of big holes. I don't even understand how I couldn't have noticed it earlyer and stopped. Scars are really a tricky thing. The holes I now have don't appear right after you squeeze. They become evident much later. So I just kept squeezing and squeezing until I noticed I was totally scarred. I thought it was always just OK to squueze non inflamed acne. By god was I so wrong.

[Mr.Don]

I don't really consider my scarring to be that bad. Kind of moderate. But yes, I will definitely keep you updated.

My scarring is very similar to you only that I never had cystic acne and I caused the scarring myself by squeezing whiteheads.Imagine how bad that makes me feel.

Anyway I was also planning on doing punch excisions followd by some kind of laser. I'm very skeptical of going for a laser treatment though since it often seems to cause additional damage or not help at all. I thinkin of the mixto laser. My initial plan was to go for at home dermarolling but I'm scared of not doing it properly + I don't think I'l be patient enough for it.

Ah fuck scarring why can't there be some fairy dust that fills in those damn holes with normal tissue or even scar tissue. Holes are unsightly.
Maybe nanotechnology in a few years.....

Are you kidding me? In the other thread you sound like your scars are extremely bad and like this is the end of the world for you. And this is all you've got.
Those are mild acne scars. If you do punch excision on them, you have a good change that they will look worse than before. TCA cross might be a better option and less risky. And fillers usually don't work for that type of scars.

Edited by Mr.Don, 23 June 2012 - 07:44 AM.

[tonyocr]

I don't really consider my scarring to be that bad. Kind of moderate. But yes, I will definitely keep you updated.

My scarring is very similar to you only that I never had cystic acne and I caused the scarring myself by squeezing whiteheads.Imagine how bad that makes me feel.

Anyway I was also planning on doing punch excisions followd by some kind of laser. I'm very skeptical of going for a laser treatment though since it often seems to cause additional damage or not help at all. I thinkin of the mixto laser. My initial plan was to go for at home dermarolling but I'm scared of not doing it properly + I don't think I'l be patient enough for it.

Ah fuck scarring why can't there be some fairy dust that fills in those damn holes with normal tissue or even scar tissue. Holes are unsightly.
Maybe nanotechnology in a few years.....

Are you kidding me? In the other thread you sound like your scars are extremely bad and like this is the end of the world for you. And this is all you've got.
Those are mild acne scars. If you do punch excision on them, you have a good change that they will look worse than before. TCA cross might be a better option and less risky. And fillers usually don't work for that type of scars.

Ok that saddens me because punch excision is my only way out. My scars are deep. I can't do tca cross because of my skiin color. I'v asked docter Lam if you are familiar with him.

I don't care if it leaves a linear scar, anythin is better than thsoe goddam pits.

I was planning on doing one fist and then see how it goes.

[Thatusernameisalreadytaken]

I don't really consider my scarring to be that bad. Kind of moderate. But yes, I will definitely keep you updated.

My scarring is very similar to you only that I never had cystic acne and I caused the scarring myself by squeezing whiteheads.Imagine how bad that makes me feel.

Anyway I was also planning on doing punch excisions followd by some kind of laser. I'm very skeptical of going for a laser treatment though since it often seems to cause additional damage or not help at all. I thinkin of the mixto laser. My initial plan was to go for at home dermarolling but I'm scared of not doing it properly + I don't think I'l be patient enough for it.

Ah fuck scarring why can't there be some fairy dust that fills in those damn holes with normal tissue or even scar tissue. Holes are unsightly.
Maybe nanotechnology in a few years.....

Are you kidding me? In the other thread you sound like your scars are extremely bad and like this is the end of the world for you. And this is all you've got.
Those are mild acne scars. If you do punch excision on them, you have a good change that they will look worse than before. TCA cross might be a better option and less risky. And fillers usually don't work for that type of scars.

not being funny tony but I agree you did make out that we're majorly bad you want us to help you and suggest treatments you need to post a better picture, your skin looks fine mate in your picture! Don't mess when you may not need to dude.

[DudleyDoRight]

I believe ablative fractionalized CO2 would work wonders for you. You could get by with as few as 2 lasers treatments, but choose your doctor carefully. I, of course, advocate Re:pair as you can tell by my signature. The headpiece of the laser is rolled across the skin, while other lasers are delivered in a more pick up and move system.
http://www.acne.org/...er-link-o-rama/

[Remicade]

Offtopic:
Cherrysoda you're so beautiful do you want marry me ?

[CherrySoda08]

Done by the right doctor, fillers are a great temporary solution. You can see improvement for 6-12 months.

I don't believe in peels for treating acne scars. Did your derm say how many peels would be required to reach your goal? I don't think one peel will provide much improvement. However, I have never done a Blue peel.

Hey TokyoGirl,

Thanks for your input! I have to say that I am certainly appreciative of the respectful, informed responses of those who replied to my original post here on acne.org.

To answer your question; my cosmetic derm seems to think that only one Obagi mid-level Blue peel will do it for me.

Please keep in mind that I have already had about 4 sessions of punch excisions, and one session of punch grafts. Those sessions of punch exisions involved me getting, goodness, literally dozens of those little excisions. I probably have had, gosh, 40 on each cheek total. And my derm really did do a marvelous job on some of them. On some places on my face, you would not be able to tell that there was ever a scar.

When my cosmetic derm smooths back the skin on my cheeks, the scars get noticeably smoother, and from what she tells me, that is how my face will look after having this one peel done. To begin with, my right cheek was the one with the least amount of scarring. It definitely was scarred, of course, but the boxcars on it and ice picks were much more shallow. So, now when she smooths it out in the office, or when I do at home in front of the mirror, you can hardly see any scarring. It just looks like I have large pores now. Which is fine. I was never going to have small pores, anyway. I'm an oily-skinned girl, and I can deal with the big pores that go along with that.

Oh, and about the silicone injections, I just learned about them for the first time the other day. I didn't know if they were suitable for my type of scarring or not. To be honest, I just saw those pictures, and was extremely, extremely impressed.

If you have any contributing thoughts, I would certainly appreciate it.

I don't really consider my scarring to be that bad. Kind of moderate. But yes, I will definitely keep you updated.

My scarring is very similar to you only that I never had cystic acne and I caused the scarring myself by squeezing whiteheads.Imagine how bad that makes me feel.

Anyway I was also planning on doing punch excisions followd by some kind of laser. I'm very skeptical of going for a laser treatment though since it often seems to cause additional damage or not help at all. I thinkin of the mixto laser. My initial plan was to go for at home dermarolling but I'm scared of not doing it properly + I don't think I'l be patient enough for it.

Ah fuck scarring why can't there be some fairy dust that fills in those damn holes with normal tissue or even scar tissue. Holes are unsightly.
Maybe nanotechnology in a few years.....

Are you kidding me? In the other thread you sound like your scars are extremely bad and like this is the end of the world for you. And this is all you've got.
Those are mild acne scars. If you do punch excision on them, you have a good change that they will look worse than before. TCA cross might be a better option and less risky. And fillers usually don't work for that type of scars.

Ok that saddens me because punch excision is my only way out. My scars are deep. I can't do tca cross because of my skiin color. I'v asked docter Lam if you are familiar with him.

I don't care if it leaves a linear scar, anythin is better than thsoe goddam pits.

I was planning on doing one fist and then see how it goes.

Tonyocr,

Have you ever visited a derm, or cosmetic derm to see what his or her opinion might be in regard to your scarring?

[*Inspired*]

If you've seen such great improvement from your derm, I would trust her then, and give a blue peel a try. You really don't have anything lose by trying it. While I have seen improvement from laser, not peels, I am also not a firm believer that laser is for everyone. It doesn't work for every person, and there are definitely more risks with laser.

[CherrySoda08]

I believe ablative fractionalized CO2 would work wonders for you. You could get by with as few as 2 lasers treatments, but choose your doctor carefully. I, of course, advocate Re:pair as you can tell by my signature. The headpiece of the laser is rolled across the skin, while other lasers are delivered in a more pick up and move system.
http://www.acne.org/...er-link-o-rama/

I appreciate your advice, DudleyDoRight! I really am excited about the idea of one day having laser treatments done, and I wonder, can you have lasering done AFTER a chemical peel?

Also, do you mind telling me a little bit about your experience with the Fraxel Re:pair? As in, why did you choose Fraxel over Deep FX, for example? What made you choose ablative fractionalized C02, as opposed to the other types of lasers out there? Any experience or advice you give me would be so, so appreciated.

Thanks,

H

[CherrySoda08]

If you've seen such great improvement from your derm, I would trust her then, and give a blue peel a try. You really don't have anything lose by trying it. While I have seen improvement from laser, not peels, I am also not a firm believer that laser is for everyone. It doesn't work for every person, and there are definitely more risks with laser.

I think you're right, TokyoGirl . I don't really have anything to lose by trying the Obagi Blue peel. The way I figure it is that if I don't see the results I had hoped for, or what my cosmetic derm told me I would see, well then it's time to move on to a different derm and a different approach to tackling these scars.

I think what sort of scared me from my last visit to my cosmetic derm is that she used the word "perfect" to describe how my skin would look after the peel. And I'm sure she meant "awesome" or "terrific", but I guess when I heard her use the word "perfect", it jarred me a little. I'm the type of person who tends to get their hopes up, and I just know I won't see perfect results. And I guess it made me not trust her quite as much as I did for saying that, and that was probably wrong of me.

I will never have perfect skin, and I can deal with that. It's okay. I'll never have the flawless, porcelain complexion of the women we see in movies and magazines, and that's something I have learned to accept.

However, I want to utilize the technology that we have available to us in this country, and help make my skin the best it can be, and I want to make sure I'm choosing the right technology for me.

I really appreciate your input, and you have been a true help for me. What types of treatments have you personally used?

[LZOMG]

I believe ablative fractionalized CO2 would work wonders for you. You could get by with as few as 2 lasers treatments, but choose your doctor carefully. I, of course, advocate Re:pair as you can tell by my signature. The headpiece of the laser is rolled across the skin, while other lasers are delivered in a more pick up and move system.
http://www.acne.org/...er-link-o-rama/

I appreciate your advice, DudleyDoRight! I really am excited about the idea of one day having laser treatments done, and I wonder, can you have lasering done AFTER a chemical peel?

Also, do you mind telling me a little bit about your experience with the Fraxel Re:pair? As in, why did you choose Fraxel over Deep FX, for example? What made you choose ablative fractionalized C02, as opposed to the other types of lasers out there? Any experience or advice you give me would be so, so appreciated.

Thanks,

H

I wowuld wait atleast 2weeks to a month, for your skin to fully recovery from the peel,
you dont want to get lasers done if you "thinned your skin".

[CherrySoda08]

I believe ablative fractionalized CO2 would work wonders for you. You could get by with as few as 2 lasers treatments, but choose your doctor carefully. I, of course, advocate Re:pair as you can tell by my signature. The headpiece of the laser is rolled across the skin, while other lasers are delivered in a more pick up and move system.
http://www.acne.org/...er-link-o-rama/

I appreciate your advice, DudleyDoRight! I really am excited about the idea of one day having laser treatments done, and I wonder, can you have lasering done AFTER a chemical peel?

Also, do you mind telling me a little bit about your experience with the Fraxel Re:pair? As in, why did you choose Fraxel over Deep FX, for example? What made you choose ablative fractionalized C02, as opposed to the other types of lasers out there? Any experience or advice you give me would be so, so appreciated.

Thanks,

H

I wowuld wait atleast 2weeks to a month, for your skin to fully recovery from the peel,
you dont want to get lasers done if you "thinned your skin".

Oh no. I definitely would want to wait for my skin to heal after a peel, and give it time to recover. I was wondering if I could ever have lasering done at all after a peel. I know that sounds pretty ignorant, but I am new to cosmetic dermatological procedures, outside of the ones I have had myself. I just didn't know if having a peel done would ever prohibit me from having lasering done in the future, or other types of dermatological procedures, as well.

I hate it if I come across as ignorant or uneducated about these types of procedures, but I am trying to learn. And I am super-thankful to those who have taken the time out of their day to provide me with the information that they have.

What if I waited maybe a year after a peel? I'm a student, and have a pretty busy schedule, and will be doing my externships and all of that good stuff over the next year, so I can definitely forsee that I will have to wait a whole year in between a peel, and any lasering that I may have done in the future.

[DudleyDoRight]

I believe ablative fractionalized CO2 would work wonders for you. You could get by with as few as 2 lasers treatments, but choose your doctor carefully. I, of course, advocate Re:pair as you can tell by my signature. The headpiece of the laser is rolled across the skin, while other lasers are delivered in a more pick up and move system.
http://www.acne.org/...er-link-o-rama/

I appreciate your advice, DudleyDoRight! I really am excited about the idea of one day having laser treatments done, and I wonder, can you have lasering done AFTER a chemical peel?

Also, do you mind telling me a little bit about your experience with the Fraxel Re:pair? As in, why did you choose Fraxel over Deep FX, for example? What made you choose ablative fractionalized C02, as opposed to the other types of lasers out there? Any experience or advice you give me would be so, so appreciated.

Thanks,

H

I never refer to it as just Fraxel, because there is too much confusion. I always say Re:pair. It was acutally a Plastic Surgeon who told me not to bother with non-ablative lasers, and that was before the release of Re:pair. I was actually in the process of scheduling Re:store (what most people are talking about when they say Fraxel) when he came back in the room and told me not to bother. A little over a year later Re:pair was released, and I was flipping between Re:pair and Deep FX. I liked the delivery method of Re:pair better than Deep FX, and at the time there were only 35 Re:pair lasers in the whole country, but lucky for me I found one 3 miles away. My first reaction to Re:pair was very intense, with a lot of swelling and redness. I was put totally under. Despite the similarity between lasers the Re:pair seems more intense, and just numbing cream will not do the job. Each subsequent treatment has been easier than the previous. I have always been treated at 70mj-60%. Too low mj setting will give inferior results. I see no reason for having a chemical peel if you are getting ablative fractionalized CO2. Matter of fact I see no reason to ever get a chemical peel. I had dermabrasion and full laser resurfacing with the old CO2, and saw no results. If you are dead set on that course of action I would wait several months before doing Re:pair.

[tonyocr]

Done by the right doctor, fillers are a great temporary solution. You can see improvement for 6-12 months.

I don't believe in peels for treating acne scars. Did your derm say how many peels would be required to reach your goal? I don't think one peel will provide much improvement. However, I have never done a Blue peel.

Hey TokyoGirl,

Thanks for your input! I have to say that I am certainly appreciative of the respectful, informed responses of those who replied to my original post here on acne.org.

To answer your question; my cosmetic derm seems to think that only one Obagi mid-level Blue peel will do it for me.

Please keep in mind that I have already had about 4 sessions of punch excisions, and one session of punch grafts. Those sessions of punch exisions involved me getting, goodness, literally dozens of those little excisions. I probably have had, gosh, 40 on each cheek total. And my derm really did do a marvelous job on some of them. On some places on my face, you would not be able to tell that there was ever a scar.

When my cosmetic derm smooths back the skin on my cheeks, the scars get noticeably smoother, and from what she tells me, that is how my face will look after having this one peel done. To begin with, my right cheek was the one with the least amount of scarring. It definitely was scarred, of course, but the boxcars on it and ice picks were much more shallow. So, now when she smooths it out in the office, or when I do at home in front of the mirror, you can hardly see any scarring. It just looks like I have large pores now. Which is fine. I was never going to have small pores, anyway. I'm an oily-skinned girl, and I can deal with the big pores that go along with that.

Oh, and about the silicone injections, I just learned about them for the first time the other day. I didn't know if they were suitable for my type of scarring or not. To be honest, I just saw those pictures, and was extremely, extremely impressed.

If you have any contributing thoughts, I would certainly appreciate it.

I don't really consider my scarring to be that bad. Kind of moderate. But yes, I will definitely keep you updated.

My scarring is very similar to you only that I never had cystic acne and I caused the scarring myself by squeezing whiteheads.Imagine how bad that makes me feel.

Anyway I was also planning on doing punch excisions followd by some kind of laser. I'm very skeptical of going for a laser treatment though since it often seems to cause additional damage or not help at all. I thinkin of the mixto laser. My initial plan was to go for at home dermarolling but I'm scared of not doing it properly + I don't think I'l be patient enough for it.

Ah fuck scarring why can't there be some fairy dust that fills in those damn holes with normal tissue or even scar tissue. Holes are unsightly.
Maybe nanotechnology in a few years.....

Are you kidding me? In the other thread you sound like your scars are extremely bad and like this is the end of the world for you. And this is all you've got.
Those are mild acne scars. If you do punch excision on them, you have a good change that they will look worse than before. TCA cross might be a better option and less risky. And fillers usually don't work for that type of scars.

Ok that saddens me because punch excision is my only way out. My scars are deep. I can't do tca cross because of my skiin color. I'v asked docter Lam if you are familiar with him.

I don't care if it leaves a linear scar, anythin is better than thsoe goddam pits.

I was planning on doing one fist and then see how it goes.

Tonyocr,

Have you ever visited a derm, or cosmetic derm to see what his or her opinion might be in regard to your scarring?

Ok wait so you'v ALREADY have had many excisions? Are you sure you had excisions or did you have punch floats? Excision means cutting out scar and stitching it back together.
And did it end up well?

[CherrySoda08]

Done by the right doctor, fillers are a great temporary solution. You can see improvement for 6-12 months.

I don't believe in peels for treating acne scars. Did your derm say how many peels would be required to reach your goal? I don't think one peel will provide much improvement. However, I have never done a Blue peel.

Hey TokyoGirl,

Thanks for your input! I have to say that I am certainly appreciative of the respectful, informed responses of those who replied to my original post here on acne.org.

To answer your question; my cosmetic derm seems to think that only one Obagi mid-level Blue peel will do it for me.

Please keep in mind that I have already had about 4 sessions of punch excisions, and one session of punch grafts. Those sessions of punch exisions involved me getting, goodness, literally dozens of those little excisions. I probably have had, gosh, 40 on each cheek total. And my derm really did do a marvelous job on some of them. On some places on my face, you would not be able to tell that there was ever a scar.

When my cosmetic derm smooths back the skin on my cheeks, the scars get noticeably smoother, and from what she tells me, that is how my face will look after having this one peel done. To begin with, my right cheek was the one with the least amount of scarring. It definitely was scarred, of course, but the boxcars on it and ice picks were much more shallow. So, now when she smooths it out in the office, or when I do at home in front of the mirror, you can hardly see any scarring. It just looks like I have large pores now. Which is fine. I was never going to have small pores, anyway. I'm an oily-skinned girl, and I can deal with the big pores that go along with that.

Oh, and about the silicone injections, I just learned about them for the first time the other day. I didn't know if they were suitable for my type of scarring or not. To be honest, I just saw those pictures, and was extremely, extremely impressed.

If you have any contributing thoughts, I would certainly appreciate it.

I don't really consider my scarring to be that bad. Kind of moderate. But yes, I will definitely keep you updated.

My scarring is very similar to you only that I never had cystic acne and I caused the scarring myself by squeezing whiteheads.Imagine how bad that makes me feel.

Anyway I was also planning on doing punch excisions followd by some kind of laser. I'm very skeptical of going for a laser treatment though since it often seems to cause additional damage or not help at all. I thinkin of the mixto laser. My initial plan was to go for at home dermarolling but I'm scared of not doing it properly + I don't think I'l be patient enough for it.

Ah fuck scarring why can't there be some fairy dust that fills in those damn holes with normal tissue or even scar tissue. Holes are unsightly.
Maybe nanotechnology in a few years.....

Are you kidding me? In the other thread you sound like your scars are extremely bad and like this is the end of the world for you. And this is all you've got.
Those are mild acne scars. If you do punch excision on them, you have a good change that they will look worse than before. TCA cross might be a better option and less risky. And fillers usually don't work for that type of scars.

Ok that saddens me because punch excision is my only way out. My scars are deep. I can't do tca cross because of my skiin color. I'v asked docter Lam if you are familiar with him.

I don't care if it leaves a linear scar, anythin is better than thsoe goddam pits.

I was planning on doing one fist and then see how it goes.

Tonyocr,

Have you ever visited a derm, or cosmetic derm to see what his or her opinion might be in regard to your scarring?

Ok wait so you'v ALREADY have had many excisions? Are you sure you had excisions or did you have punch floats? Excision means cutting out scar and stitching it back together.
And did it end up well?

Okay, the term my cosmetic derm used to describe my procedures was "punch floats". That's what she called them. I probably used the wrong terminology. And I'm sorry about that, because I mistakenly thought those procedures were the same thing. But what my cosmetic derm called them were "punch floats". And afterward, I had three tiny little punch grafts done on the biggest scars I had, and they are now covered very nicely.

So, you're question is "did it end up well?". Well, I think so. Compared to the scarring I had before, yes, I think it did. But you can be the judge of that for yourself. In my initial post, I put up about 5 photos, and I have more in my gallery. Those are all post-punch float pictures.

But I'm not done with treating my scarring. I still am deciding whether or not I should get a chemical peel, do CO2 lasering, or both, or what. I'm at a bit of a crossroads, and that's why I came to acne.org for advice from those who I feel are more educated than I am about treatment for scarring. So far, I feel like I've had lots of respectful advice, and I am really appreciative of that.

[CherrySoda08]

I believe ablative fractionalized CO2 would work wonders for you. You could get by with as few as 2 lasers treatments, but choose your doctor carefully. I, of course, advocate Re:pair as you can tell by my signature. The headpiece of the laser is rolled across the skin, while other lasers are delivered in a more pick up and move system.
http://www.acne.org/...er-link-o-rama/

I appreciate your advice, DudleyDoRight! I really am excited about the idea of one day having laser treatments done, and I wonder, can you have lasering done AFTER a chemical peel?

Also, do you mind telling me a little bit about your experience with the Fraxel Re:pair? As in, why did you choose Fraxel over Deep FX, for example? What made you choose ablative fractionalized C02, as opposed to the other types of lasers out there? Any experience or advice you give me would be so, so appreciated.

Thanks,

H

I never refer to it as just Fraxel, because there is too much confusion. I always say Re:pair. It was acutally a Plastic Surgeon who told me not to bother with non-ablative lasers, and that was before the release of Re:pair. I was actually in the process of scheduling Re:store (what most people are talking about when they say Fraxel) when he came back in the room and told me not to bother. A little over a year later Re:pair was released, and I was flipping between Re:pair and Deep FX. I liked the delivery method of Re:pair better than Deep FX, and at the time there were only 35 Re:pair lasers in the whole country, but lucky for me I found one 3 miles away. My first reaction to Re:pair was very intense, with a lot of swelling and redness. I was put totally under. Despite the similarity between lasers the Re:pair seems more intense, and just numbing cream will not do the job. Each subsequent treatment has been easier than the previous. I have always been treated at 70mj-60%. Too low mj setting will give inferior results. I see no reason for having a chemical peel if you are getting ablative fractionalized CO2. Matter of fact I see no reason to ever get a chemical peel. I had dermabrasion and full laser resurfacing with the old CO2, and saw no results. If you are dead set on that course of action I would wait several months before doing Re:pair.

Oh my goodness. So much to think about. If you don't mind my asking now, how do you feel about your results after having had Re:pair (I'll start referring to it as "Re:pair" as well, because I don't want to be confused, either )? Are you happy with them? You think it would work wonders for me, so I'm guessing that you really do think highly of the Re:pair laser treatment.

Thanks for all of your help.

[tonyocr]

Done by the right doctor, fillers are a great temporary solution. You can see improvement for 6-12 months.

I don't believe in peels for treating acne scars. Did your derm say how many peels would be required to reach your goal? I don't think one peel will provide much improvement. However, I have never done a Blue peel.

Hey TokyoGirl,

Thanks for your input! I have to say that I am certainly appreciative of the respectful, informed responses of those who replied to my original post here on acne.org.

To answer your question; my cosmetic derm seems to think that only one Obagi mid-level Blue peel will do it for me.

Please keep in mind that I have already had about 4 sessions of punch excisions, and one session of punch grafts. Those sessions of punch exisions involved me getting, goodness, literally dozens of those little excisions. I probably have had, gosh, 40 on each cheek total. And my derm really did do a marvelous job on some of them. On some places on my face, you would not be able to tell that there was ever a scar.

When my cosmetic derm smooths back the skin on my cheeks, the scars get noticeably smoother, and from what she tells me, that is how my face will look after having this one peel done. To begin with, my right cheek was the one with the least amount of scarring. It definitely was scarred, of course, but the boxcars on it and ice picks were much more shallow. So, now when she smooths it out in the office, or when I do at home in front of the mirror, you can hardly see any scarring. It just looks like I have large pores now. Which is fine. I was never going to have small pores, anyway. I'm an oily-skinned girl, and I can deal with the big pores that go along with that.

Oh, and about the silicone injections, I just learned about them for the first time the other day. I didn't know if they were suitable for my type of scarring or not. To be honest, I just saw those pictures, and was extremely, extremely impressed.

If you have any contributing thoughts, I would certainly appreciate it.

I don't really consider my scarring to be that bad. Kind of moderate. But yes, I will definitely keep you updated.

My scarring is very similar to you only that I never had cystic acne and I caused the scarring myself by squeezing whiteheads.Imagine how bad that makes me feel.

Anyway I was also planning on doing punch excisions followd by some kind of laser. I'm very skeptical of going for a laser treatment though since it often seems to cause additional damage or not help at all. I thinkin of the mixto laser. My initial plan was to go for at home dermarolling but I'm scared of not doing it properly + I don't think I'l be patient enough for it.

Ah fuck scarring why can't there be some fairy dust that fills in those damn holes with normal tissue or even scar tissue. Holes are unsightly.
Maybe nanotechnology in a few years.....

Are you kidding me? In the other thread you sound like your scars are extremely bad and like this is the end of the world for you. And this is all you've got.
Those are mild acne scars. If you do punch excision on them, you have a good change that they will look worse than before. TCA cross might be a better option and less risky. And fillers usually don't work for that type of scars.

Ok that saddens me because punch excision is my only way out. My scars are deep. I can't do tca cross because of my skiin color. I'v asked docter Lam if you are familiar with him.

I don't care if it leaves a linear scar, anythin is better than thsoe goddam pits.

I was planning on doing one fist and then see how it goes.

Tonyocr,

Have you ever visited a derm, or cosmetic derm to see what his or her opinion might be in regard to your scarring?

Ok wait so you'v ALREADY have had many excisions? Are you sure you had excisions or did you have punch floats? Excision means cutting out scar and stitching it back together.
And did it end up well?

Okay, the term my cosmetic derm used to describe my procedures was "punch floats". That's what she called them. I probably used the wrong terminology. And I'm sorry about that, because I mistakenly thought those procedures were the same thing. But what my cosmetic derm called them were "punch floats". And afterward, I had three tiny little punch grafts done on the biggest scars I had, and they are now covered very nicely.

So, you're question is "did it end up well?". Well, I think so. Compared to the scarring I had before, yes, I think it did. But you can be the judge of that for yourself. In my initial post, I put up about 5 photos, and I have more in my gallery. Those are all post-punch float pictures.

But I'm not done with treating my scarring. I still am deciding whether or not I should get a chemical peel, do CO2 lasering, or both, or what. I'm at a bit of a crossroads, and that's why I came to acne.org for advice from those who I feel are more educated than I am about treatment for scarring. So far, I feel like I've had lots of respectful advice, and I am really appreciative of that.

I thought punch floats where similar to punch excisions but since you had SO many of them I doubt that it's the case. I have no idea what punch floats are then though.. with excisions basicly the entire scar is cut out and stitched together and it leaves a hairline lineair scar. Where there stitches involved in your procedure? And what kind of scar did the punch float itself leave behind?

Punch grafts is where a piece of skin is taken from behind your ear and put into the hole. They however seem to fail often.

[CherrySoda08]

Done by the right doctor, fillers are a great temporary solution. You can see improvement for 6-12 months.

I don't believe in peels for treating acne scars. Did your derm say how many peels would be required to reach your goal? I don't think one peel will provide much improvement. However, I have never done a Blue peel.

Hey TokyoGirl,

Thanks for your input! I have to say that I am certainly appreciative of the respectful, informed responses of those who replied to my original post here on acne.org.

To answer your question; my cosmetic derm seems to think that only one Obagi mid-level Blue peel will do it for me.

Please keep in mind that I have already had about 4 sessions of punch excisions, and one session of punch grafts. Those sessions of punch exisions involved me getting, goodness, literally dozens of those little excisions. I probably have had, gosh, 40 on each cheek total. And my derm really did do a marvelous job on some of them. On some places on my face, you would not be able to tell that there was ever a scar.

When my cosmetic derm smooths back the skin on my cheeks, the scars get noticeably smoother, and from what she tells me, that is how my face will look after having this one peel done. To begin with, my right cheek was the one with the least amount of scarring. It definitely was scarred, of course, but the boxcars on it and ice picks were much more shallow. So, now when she smooths it out in the office, or when I do at home in front of the mirror, you can hardly see any scarring. It just looks like I have large pores now. Which is fine. I was never going to have small pores, anyway. I'm an oily-skinned girl, and I can deal with the big pores that go along with that.

Oh, and about the silicone injections, I just learned about them for the first time the other day. I didn't know if they were suitable for my type of scarring or not. To be honest, I just saw those pictures, and was extremely, extremely impressed.

If you have any contributing thoughts, I would certainly appreciate it.

I don't really consider my scarring to be that bad. Kind of moderate. But yes, I will definitely keep you updated.

My scarring is very similar to you only that I never had cystic acne and I caused the scarring myself by squeezing whiteheads.Imagine how bad that makes me feel.

Anyway I was also planning on doing punch excisions followd by some kind of laser. I'm very skeptical of going for a laser treatment though since it often seems to cause additional damage or not help at all. I thinkin of the mixto laser. My initial plan was to go for at home dermarolling but I'm scared of not doing it properly + I don't think I'l be patient enough for it.

Ah fuck scarring why can't there be some fairy dust that fills in those damn holes with normal tissue or even scar tissue. Holes are unsightly.
Maybe nanotechnology in a few years.....

Are you kidding me? In the other thread you sound like your scars are extremely bad and like this is the end of the world for you. And this is all you've got.
Those are mild acne scars. If you do punch excision on them, you have a good change that they will look worse than before. TCA cross might be a better option and less risky. And fillers usually don't work for that type of scars.

Ok that saddens me because punch excision is my only way out. My scars are deep. I can't do tca cross because of my skiin color. I'v asked docter Lam if you are familiar with him.

I don't care if it leaves a linear scar, anythin is better than thsoe goddam pits.

I was planning on doing one fist and then see how it goes.

Tonyocr,

Have you ever visited a derm, or cosmetic derm to see what his or her opinion might be in regard to your scarring?

Ok wait so you'v ALREADY have had many excisions? Are you sure you had excisions or did you have punch floats? Excision means cutting out scar and stitching it back together.
And did it end up well?

Okay, the term my cosmetic derm used to describe my procedures was "punch floats". That's what she called them. I probably used the wrong terminology. And I'm sorry about that, because I mistakenly thought those procedures were the same thing. But what my cosmetic derm called them were "punch floats". And afterward, I had three tiny little punch grafts done on the biggest scars I had, and they are now covered very nicely.

So, you're question is "did it end up well?". Well, I think so. Compared to the scarring I had before, yes, I think it did. But you can be the judge of that for yourself. In my initial post, I put up about 5 photos, and I have more in my gallery. Those are all post-punch float pictures.

But I'm not done with treating my scarring. I still am deciding whether or not I should get a chemical peel, do CO2 lasering, or both, or what. I'm at a bit of a crossroads, and that's why I came to acne.org for advice from those who I feel are more educated than I am about treatment for scarring. So far, I feel like I've had lots of respectful advice, and I am really appreciative of that.

I thought punch floats where similar to punch excisions but since you had SO many of them I doubt that it's the case. I have no idea what punch floats are then though.. with excisions basicly the entire scar is cut out and stitched together and it leaves a hairline lineair scar. Where there stitches involved in your procedure? And what kind of scar did the punch float itself leave behind?

Punch grafts is where a piece of skin is taken from behind your ear and put into the hole. They however seem to fail often.

My procedures did not involve stitches at all. In April, I had little pieces of skin taken from behind my ear, and put into three of the deepest ice pick scars on my face. Those scars had already had "punch floats" performed on them, but they just didn't heal as nicely as I wanted them to, so I asked my derm to work on them again, and she gave me the grafts instead. And compared to what used to be there, oh my goodness, it looks SO much better.

[DudleyDoRight]

Cherry, Re:pair is the only thing that has worked. Dermabrasion, Regular CO2 resurfacing can only go so deep, and cannot reach the bottom of the scar, and they are much more intense than any peel. I will probably go for a facelift later this year. RealSelf and MakeMeHeal have good forums. TheEssentialDaySpa, which is female oriented also has some good discussions on their forums. My greatest improvement with Re:pair was after my 2nd Re:pair.

[CherrySoda08]

Cherry, Re:pair is the only thing that has worked. Dermabrasion, Regular CO2 resurfacing can only go so deep, and cannot reach the bottom of the scar, and they are much more intense than any peel. I will probably go for a facelift later this year. RealSelf and MakeMeHeal have good forums. TheEssentialDaySpa, which is female oriented also has some good discussions on their forums. My greatest improvement with Re:pair was after my 2nd Re:pair.

Thanks again for your respectful and patient contributions to my queries, DudleyDoRight. My cosmetic derm told me that she did not feel dermabrasion would ever be an option for me, because as she put it, my scars didn't seem deep enough to need it. When she was telling me this, I was so uneducated about treatments for acne scarring that if she told me I needed to eat monkey brains for a year, then I probably would have.

I have seen alot of amazing pictures on RealSelf.com over the weekend, particularly some of the work done by Dr. Mary Lupo in New Orleans. My gosh. Just phenomenal work using the C02 lasers. I wish I could pack up, and see Dr. Lupo right now.

I will definitely have to look up TheEssentialDaySpa, thanks for pointing me in that direction.

Do you mind if I ask how many Fraxel Re:pair treatments you have had/will have? And are you now happy with the results? Meaning, you are pleased with the effect they have had on your scarring? My guess is that you are having the facelift procedure done to combat the aging process, and not acne scarring. But again, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Like I've stated plenty of times before, I am so, so new to the world of cosmetic procedures for acne scarring.

I look forward to hearing from you again. You have been a tremendous help, and from what I can tell based on your contributions to the forums in the past, you are extremely knoweldgeable. I am glad you ran across my posts online.

Cherry