Rossignol

If it is hyperpigmentation you are hoping to tackle (the dark patches of skin) then some peels may help. I would recommend having them done professionally though, if you can find a clinic that specialises in acne-related beauty treatments, as it's quite difficult to apply peels (particularly high strength ones) to your back yourself.

Alternatively, you could look into non-ablative lasers such as IPL and V-beam, which have been used with some success on hyperpigmentation.

As far as treating the actual scars themselves, there isn't a great deal you can do for body scarring, unfortunately. You might like to check out my topic for dealing with body scarring, which is pinned in the 'Body acne' forum.

Good luck with any treatments!

Hi Dazarooni,

it's interesting that you ask about Dr Patalay's training. It's been something that's been worrying me a bit since my subcision. Dr Patalay, I think, is essentially a junior doctor working under the consultants in the dermatology dept, who are Dr Chu and Dr Texera (sp?), both of whom are highly experienced and have received recommendations through this forum.

When I went for my subcision, I was under the impression that it would be one of them performing the treatment, and was still under this impression right up until the anaesthetic had been administered. I was thinking that they would perhaps have a junior administer the anaesthetic before they performed the actual treatment. However, having the anaesthetic applied was so unpleasant that I was feeling a little woozy when the treatment started, and so didn't question the fact that Dr Patalay went ahead and performed it.

Now, I'm not suggesting that Dr Patalay isn't highly qualified in the procedure, but I always think it's best to have the most experienced person possible performing treatment that can potentially go wrong, particularly on your face. Dr Patalay, who looks 30 at most, is clearly not as experienced as Drs Chu and Texera (both of whom look about 50), and I am quite annoyed at myself for not piping up and asking to have it done by one of them.

At the moment, there don't look to be any complications from the subcision, and I seem to be healing quite reasonably, but I do think that for my next treatment I am going to request that I see either Dr Chu or Texera. I would just feel more comfortable knowing that they have come recommended.


In response to your questions about fillers, as far as I'm aware the only filler the dermatology dept at the Hammersmith (led by Chu and Texera) offer in conjunction with subcision is Isolagen. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you're aware, Isolagen is extremely expensive, and at around £3000, I just can't afford it. The subcision I'm getting is free on the NHS (hence the probable reason I was operated on by a junior!), but Isolagen isn't available on the NHS at the moment.

I'm hoping to get around 20-30% improvement from this subcision purely through the collagen production, and hope to build on this with subsequent treatments of subcision and needling (I think needling really helped last year, but again, its a monetary issue that is stopping me from getting more at the moment!).

I hope this answers some of your questions anyway, thanks for your interest and good luck with any treatments you decide to undergo.

Paul.

Improvement after 10 days is almost certainly down the post-operative swelling, and is not a clear indication of permanent results.

As Denise2 said, please see the main Needling thread (which is around 75 pgs long) for much more information on this.

Still quite bruised and swollen today, but most of the redness has gone down. I'm hoping that by this time tomorrow most of the swelling will have subsided, as it has been going down quite significantly over the course of the day.

I'm continuing with the regimen of vitamins/supplements (particularly Arnica Montana, Bromelain, and Vit C) and applying amino plex and copper peptides.

Will upload pictures soon hopefully.

Those pictures are of Tamara (Oursfan) - she has written extensively about her experiences in the thread "Had Subcision Today" (9 pages long) - there are also pictures of her results from a later needling procedure in that thread.