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I've had what I'd call moderate but prevalent acne scarring covering both cheeks and temples from 10 years of acne. I was able to finally get my acne under control about 3 years ago after a course of Accutane and was left with scarring mostly in the form of boxscars and rolling scars.
Prior to my mixto treatment, I've had approximately 10 treatments with various non-ablative lasers, 3 subcisions, a few tca peels at 12.5%, and a few needling and dermarolling sessions (self-administered).
While these treatments had improved some scarring, for the most part the results were not that impressive. I'd say the subcisions helped the most. I think my primary problem is the doctor who was treating me, while good intentioned, his methodology for treating scars just didn't work for my face. I think his philosophy was more along the lines of several mild/moderate treatments are better than aggressive treatments.
Anyways, I decided to give a fractional co2 laser a shot after becoming frustrated with my progress over the past 5 years of treating my scars. I didn't chose the mixto for any particular reason. It was more a matter of convenience in that based on the doctors I could find performing laser treatments in my area, this one worked out well with my work schedule and seemed competent enough (I really don't know how you measure a doctor's competency with a laser anyway). She also was willing to do a very aggressive treatment as I was upfront about not being satisfied with my past, less aggressive treatments.
As far as my mixto experience, well the treatment was definitely aggressive. It was a whole different beast compared to my previous treatments. After the treatment, my face was not really bloody but it was oozing,red, swollen and crusty. I crusted up for a few days and mostly peeled by the 5th day. I still have a few patches of fairly thick skin that is getting ready to peel.
My face is still a variety of colors ranging from pink to red to purplish but other than the few spots that are still peeling, I'd feel fairly comfortable out in public. I'd say the swelling has mostly gone down as of yesterday so it took about a week. I didn't really have too much of an acne problem from the aquafor other than a spot or two that I was able to treat pretty quickly.
As far as results, well it's probably too early to judge as my skin is still healing and I know the collagen growth process takes some time. Based on initial judgement though, I'd say both temples look like they are going to see some nice results. As far as my cheeks, it looks like it's going to be a tale of two sides. My right side is coming along nicely but my left side looks like it will probably need an additional treatment. I saw my doctor today for a follow-up and she remarked that the right side looked great and the left side looked like it might need additional treatment as well before I gave her my own opinion.
I can't really say why one side seems to be doing so much better other than I think my doctor was just more consistent/did a better job at treating the right side. I say this because my right cheek has pretty much the same consistency in color right now where my left cheek has more inconsistency (there are patches that are pink and patches where my normal skin tone has returned).
I have taken some before pictures and immediate after pictures but I'll wait until a month has passed to take any more pictures. I do plan to have one more treatment which will focus heavily on my left cheek and probably touch up the right side as well in about 3 months.
I paid $1000 for my treatment which included just about my entire face excluding the forehead which didn't need any treatment. I'd say thus far that it was the best treatment I've done for my acne scarring.
Edited by jbird12, 31 August 2012 - 06:43 PM.
