4 replies to this topic

[ausername]

I first had acne when I was 15. I am now 21, and after a long battle through trial and error, and probably just genetics, my severe acne has disapeared. I'm left with a sensitive and damaged skin, (over applied retin-a for over a year- wasn't thinking straight because of the hysteria severe acne can have on someones physche).

I am now only using very minimalistic methods of skin care. Gentle milk cleanser in the shower, rosewater toner and a homemade moisturizer. I just recently switched to a new moisturizer recipe (jojoba, hemp oil, tamanu oil and a few essential oils) and stopped using glycerin with the rosewater because I saw articles saying that glycerin may actually dry the skin from the inside(not to sure about it though- I'm just really paranoid on doing anymore permanent longterm damage).

So anyway, today I had a freakout that reminded me of my teenage years For awhile now I have felt great and free from all of this bull, but I just moved into a place that has nothing but fluroescent lighting. When I look in the mirror I feel pretty damn bad. I used to have lighting that made my skin seem fine, which helped me break my obsession with the mirror. But now I look like a monster up close, and somewhat decent 5 feet away.

 

 I feel as if Im back to square one. I have scattered enlarged pores all over my cheeks and ice pick scars on my right cheek. Its really depressing to think I'm only 21 and my skin looks this bad.

 

I'm pretty sure my misuse of retin-a contributed to my current situation. Its just so demoralizing, as I have literally spent hours and hours working towards this problem.

[Acnepolis]

Hey!

Your scars arent bad and seem very shallow.

Personally I'd treat those with a mix of dermarolling/needling and tca peels. From my experience lasers etc are far too overpriced for the tiny results they give so in your case I'd stick with at home treatments. You can find a lot information on both tca peels and dermarolling from these forums. And I doubt retin-a could have caused much damage to your skin. I'd actually continue using tretinoin but in a manner that doesn't irritate skin so much. Once you start doing treatments give the skin time to recover between treatments and be patient with results as they come slowly but they will come.

[acnescar123]

The skin on the left side and forehead seems fine based on the pics (just large pores). The *best* thing for that is actually retin - a, but use it properly or even start with a milder version (differin).

 

The right cheek does have some scarring however (mix of box car/ice picks) - your best mainstream options for that are probably fillers/needling/fractional co2/subcision. Another option since you dont have "many" deep scars is excision - but make sure to read up on the risks of this.

 

Personally since you don't really have that many actual deep scars, I would use retin a properly and then focus on the scars on the right side with either subcision/fillers or doing a fractional co2 targeted specifically on the scars.

[Rob_X_22]

how were you misusing retin a ?

[likecake]

cheer up, is not only you have a bad acne scar, i have it too, i already try laser fraxel repair for 3 times, but i didn't see a good improvement for my scar, my pores still big, im feel so bad, im 22 yo but my skin so horrible