Acne.org Products
Wow, Winnie. Thanks for sharing. In the past I have been pretty much equally upset because of my scarring. What really helped me was getting treated by lasers which I've mentioned before. After that I felt like myself again in the sense that when I looked in the mirror I thought I looked normal again. So that was a big help. I helped me to let it go for the most part.
I've gotten used to having imperfect skin. Before I got treated it was different. It was like trying to get used to walking around with a sign that said "There's something to see here". You don't ever totally get used to that. Partly though, that was a mental thing. I was truly distraught at the time.
But at a certain point my scarring became acceptable in my mind after I got lasered. Plus I had done everything I could to improve it; it was either live with it or be a recluse and I didn't choose the latter.
It's tremendously difficult to deal with something like this and I really recognize quite a bit from your post. I think I've described it before as being traumatizing. And I think that's truly the case in some cases. And dealing with a thing like that is quite difficult indeed.
I think that's really well put where you said that because of your inner restlessness, if you will, it makes people see you differently as you're acting differently. That's how it went with me too in the past. I was this quiet, moody guy. While I'm actually not really like that. I mean sure I get moody and quiet sometimes but not every day, you know? haha So that was pretty terrible and unfortunate. It really had a very negative impact on my life for quite some time.
Just make sure you don't end up like this guy out there who is in his mid fourties and is still deeply upset by his physical imperfections. He says he's "just not equipped to deal with it" and he basically has been struggling with dealing with things since he was in his early twenties. You know, you can't let life slip through your fingers. You are well aware of this of course... I guess what I'm trying to say is that perhaps trying to see things in perspective can help? I don't know... It's hard to give any advice really as everyone is different and how one person gets through is probably different than how someone else gets through. 
Anyway, I think the key is accepting your new self, so to speak. Your new self who has scarring. And letting go of your old self. Which is quite something when you think about it. Like I think Alonso said namely that "something has changed forever". That's the thing one has to accept. To embrace your new self, so to speak. It's difficult but I think relief from all the stress can only really come once you have (embraced your new self). I'm not claiming to re-invent the wheel by saying that I'm just typing as I'm thinking. I'm typing out loud. haha
@ winnie
What you wrote was so authentically real and true, at least for myself. I deal with the pain of this everyday and it's literally taken ove rmy whole life. 6 years ago I was "normal" and 6 years later I have finally gotten rid of acne and am left with the aftermath. I too literally feel like I lost my identity, and the life that I loved. I guess I was so attached to the way my face looked, it was like a necessity as is eating and drinking. I still give life my all, aced this year in college, but really don't even know if I can continue due to the horrible panic attack/stress I went through. I cannot continue that way for another few years. I know I have to fix myself, physically as much as I can and emotionally (and at the moment it just doesn't seem possible).
like lapis lazuli said, the only way to be okay is to know that something changed forever, and that you have to accept the new person, new life, which includes scars. This for me is not an option right now. I don't know how long it'll take me... but I am doing all the best treatments there are to try to fix it before I give into this "new" face. I know it would be easier if I could embrace my new self, while working on it to change it but can someone tell me how?? How do you do this when it jsut isn't real and authentic. I feel like if i said I embraced the "new me", I'd be lying and still suffering. How do you become "evolved" enough to truely accept a bad deal that affects your past present and future in a negative way.
On a better note just keep doing treatments and don't give up so you feel more and more confident. I think the confidence part is crucial to healing emotionally, and it's hard to heal the confidence without at least seeing some postive improvements.
Hey guys you often mention re-cell and dr Khan and his Harley Street Skin Clinic, so what do you say about PRP treatment? Is it an effective treatment for scars or not? I've just found this pictures in the section 'PRP Therapy':
In this picture I can notice 'Stem Cells-Scar repair' - so I don't know if PRP treatment has anything to do with stem cells? It could be that thing that I've mentioned earlier - stem cells derived from the blood - the treatment that can reduce the scar by 60-70% - is it possible or not? Are there any experiences with PRP treatments? 
Thanks for the insight Lapis and Nightlily.
You are both right, the best thing to do is embrace what I have become and adept. There is no other way to tackle this until I get some of the scarring treated. In september I am going for the recell treatment and I hope that makes a difference that I can be more at ease with myself like Lapis has achieved. I shouldn't be so hard on myself and stop acting like it is the end of the world.
A lot of people are longing for a person they can't be anymore, it causes a form of cognitive dissonance. Like hitting your foot against the same stone over and over for years. It causes stress, anxiety and after some time emotional trauma. The thing to do is to adept and accept the new person with all flaws and qualities.
This is the idealistic me talking, it's still going to be hard.
Like Nightlilly said a lot of us could use some positive results and a shot of confidence to get over the trauma. I think insight in the problem and compensation in the form of playing a instrument or another hobby, an active sport, nice clothes or something else. In the meantime we will have to play with the deck of cards we are holding and make life as pleasant as we can.
@winnie, did you ever try subcision? I've had some decent results from it and actually just got another one today. recell seems like it would help epidermal problems like uneven texture/pigment problems. Not sure what type of scarring you have but lifting it as well might help.
@winnie, did you ever try subcision? I've had some decent results from it and actually just got another one today. recell seems like it would help epidermal problems like uneven texture/pigment problems. Not sure what type of scarring you have but lifting it as well might help.
No I don't think I am a candidate for subcision. The scars on my face are more of uneven skin, texture and a few ice picks. I never had severe cystic acne.
On my body I have a lot of small white scarring. Also very much on the surface of the skin. With some scarring more severe.
In september I think the treatment will make a huge difference in texture and boxscar, few icepicks. I am also hoping to do something about the body scars, I gave myself up as a test person for Recell in Netherlands and hope to get rid of a few body scars. (not sure if this is going to work, will know in august)
BTW good luck with your studies.
For those of us born in the late 80's and early 90's there is a hope that we will get scar free skin after we turn 30 or 35 years of age, I have the greatest hopes in the future of science and technology, actually a REAL CHALLENGE for future regenerative medicine is the regeneration of the entire limb, it is known that it exists in the nature - salamanders can regenerate their amputated legs that are 4cm long - the problem is that the regeneration of the limbs in salamanders is regulated by a few hundreds or even by few thousands genes, but the regeneration of the skin is not so problematic - in salamanders it is regulated by not more than a few dozens of genes and - most of them have been identified already - salamanders have a very specific gene expression pattern that is significantly different from all other vertebrates in nature like mammals (and only 1 out of 27 genes cannot be found in human DNA, all other 26 genes can be found in humans), and that specific gene expression pattern allows them to have reduced hemostatic response after injury, reduced inflammatory response after injury (lower number of white blood cells and lower number of neutrophiles), accelerated re-epithelialization and delayed&reduced ECM deposition along with it's unique molecular composition, so it allows them to regenerate skin wounds completely, 100% without scars, and it is the newest research that was announced in april 2012 by a group of scientists from two universities from the US - their research is funded by US Army, NSF and NIH, so they say that their ultimate goal would be discovery and implementation of new regenerative medicine therapies for the limbs, spinal cord, heart, liver and, of course, skin, it is known that salamanders can regenerate limbs, spinal cord, heart, liver and skin, and I am convinced that their researches will sooner or later become a scientific platform for some effective scar free skin healing treatments.
And they have pretty convincing explanations for Renovo's failure, they think that Renovo's approach was wrong from the beginning because their drug development program was based on the wrong observation model - mammalian embryo - it is not possible to develop the anti-scarring drug based on the mammalian embryo because mammalian embryo has no developed immune system and endocrine system, it is contained in the moist and sterile environment and it has no oxygen supply when it heals scar-free - adult has everything that opposite, so that is a problem, and they have a few comments about other possible observation models for scar free healing like MRL mouse that can regenerate only ear wounds and not the skin wounds, so their conclusion is that the best possible observation model for scar-free healing is the skin of the adult salamander that can regenerate skin wounds completely, 100%.
Now it's the time to write something interesting - I'm very surpriced that no one haven't mentioned yet here on this forum a group of scientists from the University of Kentucky and University of Florida that are in regenerative medicine for a long time, here are some of their web sites:
Ashley W. Seifert's site:
James R. Monaghan's site:
http://www.james-monaghan.com/
Here is an interesting interview with one of them (his name is Randal Voss):
They have released a lot of publications in the field of regenerative medicine recently but I think that this one is the most important and the most interesting so far (it was published in april 2012)
===================================================================
Skin Regeneration in Adult Axolotls: A Blueprint for Scar-Free Healing in Vertebrates
http://www.plosone.o...al.pone.0032875
===================================================================
(you can save it as a PDF document -12,6Mb, and it has a lot of high-resoultion pictures, tables, etc.)
Here you can learn a lot about scar free healing in salamanders, I advice you to read it carefully, several times. They try to understang cellural and molecular mechanisms that regulate scar free healing in salamaders (axolotls) but their concept is not some simplified Renovo's 'upregulate TGFb3, downregulate TGFb1, 2'-like crap, this is something that is much more complex and much more serious.
This is a picture of aquatic axolotl - beatufil little creature with incredible regenerative abilities:
I guess that their ultimate goal would be replicating those incredible regenerative abilities from salamanders on mammals (and humans), so this study is for now only a 'blueprint' for something like that, just a first step toward that.
And the other very interesting project that they are working on is the Salamander Genome Project (SGP) - they're working on mapping the genome of salamanders (it is similar to the Human Genome Project - human genome was mapped in the period between 1990 and 2003 but the problem is that salamander genome is about 10 times larger in size that human genome by a number of base pairs - A, G, C, T - but with today's advanced DNA sequencing techology it won't last for 130 years, of course, with today's level of techology it would be possible to map the human genome again in only a few weeks of few months, and in the few years with even more advanced DNA sequencing techonolgy it would be possible to map your own genome with only $1,000 budget - for comparison HGP 1990-2003 budget was $3,000,000,000)
http://www.ambystoma...-genome-project
So this is a story about scar free healing, not scarless healing, and seems to me that these people are very serious and that they are determined to create a research platform for some future solution for the problem of scarring in humans, I hope they will solve the problem of scarring once and for all in some foreseeable future.
And it is worth to mention that their research projects are funded by National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and U.S. Army.
They say that they think that salamanders are the best model for observation of perfect, scar free regeneration of the skin because they have absolute power of regenerations as adults and that other models for observation like mammalian embryo (Renovo's concept) and the MRL mouse (Wistar's concept) are not appropriate and explain the reasons why they believe that these models are not appropriate.
Here is a picture of salamander™s (axolotl's) skin regeneration after injury:
In this research they analyze every process of wound healing in axolotl “ these processes are:
-Hemostasis,
-Inflammation,
-Re-epithelialization,
-ECM Production and New Tissue Formation,
-Tissue Remodeling and Regeneration.
They compare differences between wound healing processes in salamanders (axolotls) and mammals (mice) - conclusions are that hemostasis and inflammation in mammals should be significantly reduced, re-epithelialization should be drastically accelerated and ECM production should be delayed. And the other thing they compare are differences between wound healing processes in aquatic and terrestrial axolotls and conclude that both axolotls regenerate skin perfectly without scarring but aquatic axolotls heal faster than terrestrial axolotls (they need 3 compared to 6 months for complete skin regeneration) but I think that it is not so important - I don't care whether my wound will be regenerated in 3 or 6 months.
Here on this picture you can see differences in intensity and duration of each of the process of wound healing in aquatic axolotls, terrestrial axolotls and mammals:
Here is a table with 26 different genes / proteins that were identified to have significantly different expressions/levels when comparing the wound healing in salamanders and in mammals (mice).
http://www.plosone.o...ne.0032875.s007
(it is interesting to note that only 1 of these 26 genes can be found only in salamanders and not in humans, and all other 25 genes can be found in humans and salamanders, so I think that is very good news)
Important genes/proteins that they mention are fibronectin, tenascin-C, PLATs (˜plasminogen tissue activator™ or ˜tissue plasminogen activator™), MMPs (˜matrix metalloproteinase™), TIMPs (˜tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase™), collagen type IV (alpha 1, 2, 5 and 6), laminin-111s (and its subunits Lama1-˜laminin alpha 1™, Lamb1-˜laminin beta 1™, Lamc1-˜laminin gamma 1™) and ADAM9 - some of these proteins should be increased in the site of the injury and the others should be decreased - some 'upregulators' and 'downregulators' of these genes/proteins are good candidates for consideration for some future anti-scarring drug development programs.
MMPs (along with TIMPs and PLATs) are important for accelerated re-epithelialization and delayed ECM deposition - MMPs have two patterns of expressions:
1. a strong upregulation at the 1st day after injury followed by an equally strong decrease at the 3th and a continued decrease or leveling off at the 7th day
2. a strong upregulation at the 1st day which remained higher than baseline at the 3th and then was downregulated at the 7th day
(MMP2 is the one exception to the generally observed patterns, MMP2 was effectively turned off at the 1st day, remained off at the 3th day and then was upregulated again)
For example MMP1 is increased by 500-fold at the 1st day after injury and than it is decreased to 61-fold at the 7th day (pattern 1).
Here on this picture you can see differnet levels of expression of each of MMPs - they are considered to be very important for faster re-epithelialization and delayed ECM production:
And, for example, for the creation of regenerative ECM very important proteins are fibronectin and tenascin-C - the level of fibronectin should be decreased and tenascin-C sholuld be increased.
And there is one more gene/protein that is called 'ADAM9' (it is the 27th gene) that can accelerate re-epithelialization (it was demonstrated earlier that ADAM9 knock-out mouse can re-epithelizate wound faster than the 'normal' mouse) but they don't consider it so important.
And laminin-111s are also imporant and etc, etc, etc,... I don't want to write about each of these gene, if you are interested you can read everyting about it in that table and in the document.
Furthermore, they have a few conclusions about the immune response to injury in axolotls and mammals, they analyse how different levels of leukocytes affect the rate of re-epithelialization, they conclude that the higher level of leukocytes affects the rate of re-epithelialization - higher level of leukocytes coincide with the slower re-epithelialization
Neutrophils (type of white blood cells or leukocytes) are present in low numbers following injury in axolotls compared to mammals and are not significantly different between terrestrial axolotls and aquatic axolotls - compared to mammals, which maintain 60% of their circulating leukocytes as neutrophils, they found axolotls maintain only 21% of their circulating leukocytes as neutrophils.
And as long as conditions remain sterile in mammalian wounds, neutrophils are not required during wound healing (if there is no bacteria, of course), and their loss may increase the rate of re-epithelialization.
And finally they say that scar-free healing of the mammalian embryo is possible thanks to a reduced imflamation because of a lack of a mature immune system but the reduced inflamation response alone will not induce a regenerative response.
Here in this document you can see different levels of leukocytes on the site of the injury in axolotl:
http://www.plosone.o...ne.0032875.s008
So all in all they say this is the first study of SKIN WOUND REPAIR in salamanders so far (the other studies were directed at regeneration of their limbs and tails and things like that and not the skin).
And they say that scar-free healing of the skin has a great market potential and whoever successfully solve the problem of human scarring can earn $4 billion annually in U.S. market alone - that is a serious money, even for the largest pharmaceutical multinational companies.
All in all I personally think that this publication could be one of the most important scientific publications in the field of scar free wound repair so far and I hope it would lead to scar free healing in humans at some point in the future. 
For those of us born in the late 80's and early 90's there is a hope that we will get scar free skin after we turn 30 or 35 years of age
LOL..... scar free healing is here
and it is the newest research that was announced in april 2012 by a group of scientists from two universities from the US
these investigations have already begun several years ago, and that will take 25 years calculated, funded by The Healing Foundation
in 2005
Here are the checkmate facts:
-If a wound reepithilizes in under 3 weeks there will be no scar.
-If a wound regenerates with hair and sweat glands there is absolutely no scar. Hair and sweat glands do not regenerate in scar.
-Scaffolds are ate by the white blood cell response, and degrade at a similar rate in all mammals.
-Scaffolds are degraded by the neutrophils and the white blood cells in a mammal. Then after they have been degraded the body does the rest.
-If the neutrophils cannot eat through a scaffold the healing will have a scar response (the body will then try to reject the scaffold). If the scaffolds are digested fast by the white blood cells, you will get a scar free healing response.
-A hydrogel was digested with ease by the neutrophils in a 3rd degree burn, in fact through the ease of the degrading of the simple 8020 hydrogel, after 2weeks the wound had been reepithilized. After three weeks hair follicles and sweat glands were observed on all the treated area, completely proving scar free healing. Also in the experiment the control this scaffold was still reepithilizing like it usually does after 30+ days.
hey vladislav, thanks for your post! as opposed to seabs and alonso, i, unfortunately, am not 100% convinced about the hydrogel (see below), so it's always great to hear about other appoaches as well, especially when they are based on very thorough research (in contrast to the hydrogel's "hey, what do u know, it seems it healed w/o any scarring for some reason.") I've actually seen that paper before, newts are quite amazing creatures that we'll prob learn a lot from in the coming years. And the axolotl is so damn cute as well 
Here are the checkmate facts:
-If a wound reepithilizes in under 3 weeks there will be no scar.
To actually prove this in any type of wound, you'll already have to have a method that heals wounds scarlessly by faster reep. while all other factors are held fixed. I think this simpy is an observation in second degree burns or similar mid-depth wounds where there already are remnants of adnexa left. hair follicles and sebaceous glands have long been known to speed up reepithelialization, so this is probably only an observation of a correlation.
-If a wound regenerates with hair and sweat glands there is absolutely no scar. Hair and sweat glands do not regenerate in scar.
i'm not sure this is 100 % true. the ecm may still be fucked up as far as i know, and the density of hair follicles may not correspond to native tissue. Also hair follicles and sebaceous glands originate from the same stem cell niche, but what about other appendages like eccrine glands and arrector pili muscles that don't? And even if this were true, there would imo at least probably still be the "scarred margin" problem that we discussed before.
don't get me wrong, I sure as fcking hell would like this hydrogel to eradicate my scars forever, but I'm just not seeing it happen that easy.
hey vladislav, thanks for your post! as opposed to seabs and alonso, i, unfortunately, am not 100% convinced about the hydrogel (see below), so it's always great to hear about other appoaches as well, especially when they are based on very thorough research (in contrast to the hydrogel's "hey, what do u know, it seems it healed w/o any scarring for some reason.") I've actually seen that paper before, newts are quite amazing creatures that we'll prob learn a lot from in the coming years. And the axolotl is so damn cute as well
Here are the checkmate facts:
-If a wound reepithilizes in under 3 weeks there will be no scar.
To actually prove this in any type of wound, you'll already have to have a method that heals wounds scarlessly by faster reep. while all other factors are held fixed. I think this simpy is an observation in second degree burns or similar mid-depth wounds where there already are remnants of adnexa left. hair follicles and sebaceous glands have long been known to speed up reepithelialization, so this is probably only an observation of a correlation.
-If a wound regenerates with hair and sweat glands there is absolutely no scar. Hair and sweat glands do not regenerate in scar.i'm not sure this is 100 % true. the ecm may still be fucked up as far as i know, and the density of hair follicles may not correspond to native tissue. Also hair follicles and sebaceous glands originate from the same stem cell niche, but what about other appendages like eccrine glands and arrector pili muscles that don't? And even if this were true, there would imo at least probably still be the "scarred margin" problem that we discussed before.
don't get me wrong, I sure as fcking hell would like this hydrogel to eradicate my scars forever, but I'm just not seeing it happen that easy.
BTW what Vlad is talking about is limb regeneration, (before he was trying to talk about the regeneration of an internal organ). Limb regeneration which according to Helber Katz in 2006 was 10years off. We are interested in scar and its inverse, regeneration.
He is trying to talk about a car engine when it is about observing a potato, which I repeat has been observed.
Also does Vlad actually believe that anyone in his life will understand the migrating scarring matrix mechanism and the migrating regeneration matrix in minute detail? It is absolute horseshit they will. Do they understand in overkill why the bladder regenerated? No, but the fact is, in 1999 it was regenerated and put inside 10 humans. By using the overkill detail bs, he is using fallacy and the smoke and mirrors bs that $$%^&$( (not mention any names publically) used to sell a certain product that was worse than piss water and saline. Again what he is doing is dishonest. IMO if he is deliberate in this he could be bordering on trolling IMO
Anyway on to what you have said.
Fact it is clinically observed that if a wound reepithilizes in under 3 weeks from an injury there will be no scar.
In history no 3rd degree burn in a mammal has reepithilized in under 21 days. This scaffold degraded in under 5 to 7 days and the third degree burn reepithilized in under 14. On the other hand the control scaffold (a benchmark standard used in a certain hospital) was harder for the neutophils to degrade and as such the full thickness third degree burn behaved exactly like it usually does and scarred. Also the non treated section behaved like they usually do.
No one understands or will ever understand in your lifetime what happened after the 8020 hydrogel degraded, were it brought about regeneration but regeneration was observed quite clearly.
Fact if anything is regenerated, by logical default there can be no scar. Scarring and regeneration are inversely related, scarring blocks off cell communication and regeneration. Therefor if a sweat gland, or any other gland is regenerated there is no scar blocking off regeneration by logical default.
In that paper the full thickness section that recieved the hydrogel regenerated fully. In that paper a well used standard scaffold behaved like it usually does in mammal tissue, i.e it was hard for the neutrophils to degrade it and therefore after 30 days it was still reepithilizing.
Regarding the margin. I actually have not discussed this with you, without sounding like a xyz, I only pointed out something to you, nothing from my point of view needed discussed. There is no problem with the margin.
Anyway if you look at the paper, 1. they created a burn, 2. then cut out the middle core of the burn, they left a burned margin (a 2mm rim of untreated burned tissue) <<< this margin section (you are wrongly assuming was treated with the hydrogel), down to experimental design, was deliberately untreated as it was not cut out and thus, it behaved like it would when non treated.
The core in the middle of the margin, on the other hand had the burned tissue completely cut out. It was then treated with the hydrogel and completely soaked up the blood, digested the scaffold within 5 to 7 days, revascularized, reepithilized in under 14days and regenerated with absolutely no scar wall blocking off regeneration.
In summary as the margin was not debrided of the burned tissue, the margin as expected did not behave like the treated central core as it was not dissected like the core. There was nothing that stood out about the margin you claimed, there was no scarred margin problem you claim, the scarring on the burned tissue margin was expected. The margin you go on about and think was treated, was actually not treated with the hydrogel; it was left burned.
and it is the newest research that was announced in april 2012 by a group of scientists from two universities from the US
these investigations have already begun several years ago, and that will take 25 years calculated, funded by The Healing Foundation
in 2005
That research paper is not funded by The Healing Foundation, it is funded by US Army (Army Research Office), NIH, NSF, University of Florida, Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden.
Received: September 15, 2011; Accepted: February 3, 2012; Published: April 2, 2012
Funding: The Ambystoma Affymetrix Genechips were designed from a transcript assembly funded by NIH-NCRR (R24-RR016344). Most of the transcripts were generated under the NIH-NCRR grant and an Army Research Office grant (MURI: W911NF-09-1-0305) to Ken Muneoka, David Gardiner, and SRV. Additional transcripts were provided by Elly Tanaka through funding from the DFG Center for Regenerative Therapies, and Bernd Fritsch through funding from NIH-NIDCD (R01-DC005590-07S1). The axolotls were obtained from the Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center at the University of Kentucky, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (DBI-0951484). This study was supported by NIH 5RC2NS069480 to MM and AWS is funded by NIH-NIDDK 5T32DK074367. Publication of this article was funded in part by the University of Florida Open-Access Publishing Fund. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Honestly you could put something right in front of someones eyes and they'd ignore it..
If a wound reepithilizes in under 21 days you get scar free healing.
If anything is regenerated you get scar free healing.
If follicles and gland are grown you get scar free healing.
And on and on...
Seabs what do you say about this research paper?
Skin Regeneration in Adult Axolotls: A Blueprint for Scar-Free Healing in Vertebrates
http://www.plosone.o...al.pone.0032875
And what do you say about Salamander Genome Project?
http://www.ambystoma...-genome-project
And about those guys from the UoK and UoF?
http://www.james-monaghan.com/
So they have a few conclusions about scar-free healing of the skin in axolotls, those are:
-regeneration of their skin is possible because of reduced hemostasis and inflammation, accelerated re-epithelialization, delayed&reduced ECM production
-MMPs are very important genes for faster re-epithelialization and delayed ECM production (some of MMPs are increased by 500-fold during re-epithelialization and then drastically decreased right after re-epithelialization)
-fibronectin and tenascin-C are important for the creation of the regenerative ECM
and so on.
And I've just read a few words about that hydrogel, it can heal 3rd degree burn wounds completely without scars, that is impressive, I can say that is SOMETHING - but they mention only burn wounds so I don't know if that hydogel is able to cope with hypertrophic scars or keloids!??? If it can, that it is great news but somehow it sounds too simple... and too good to be true... but I hope it will work 
I have come across most of what you have posted on google alerts over time. Also the salamander stuff has been talked about on this thread before. I think the salamander project will play a part in limb regeneration.
Regarding scars, imo people tend to catergorise to much, stressing about labels, but they are all the same. They are bundled collagen that blocks regeneration. Burns = collagen, acne = collagen, knife wound scar = collagen, hypertrophic scar = collagen, keliod = over production of collagen. Scarring is the inverse of regeneration. Regeneration is if you like the finger print of scar free healing. If something brings about scar free healing it will reepithilize a wound before a keloid can happen
the hydrogel was digested by the white blood cells within 7 days, then the wound reepithilized the 3rd degree burn in under 14 days (under 21 days), whilst the standard control had the white blood cells struggling to digest the periphery after 7 days, and the control scarred after 30 days etc.
Anyway on to what you have said.
Fact it is clinically observed that if a wound reepithilizes in under 3 weeks from an injury there will be no scar.
In history no 3rd degree burn in a mammal has reepithilized in under 21 days. This scaffold degraded in under 5 to 7 days and the third degree burn reepithilized in under 14. On the other hand the control scaffold (a benchmark standard used in a certain hospital) was harder for the neutophils to degrade and as such the full thickness third degree burn behaved exactly like it usually does and scarred. Also the non treated section behaved like they usually do.
No one understands or will ever understand in your lifetime what happened after the 8020 hydrogel degraded, were it brought about regeneration but regeneration was observed quite clearly.
Fact if anything is regenerated, by logical default there can be no scar. Scarring and regeneration are inversely related, scarring blocks off cell communication and regeneration. Therefor if a sweat gland, or any other gland is regenerated there is no scar blocking off regeneration by logical default.
In that paper the full thickness section that recieved the hydrogel regenerated fully. In that paper a well used standard scaffold behaved like it usually does in mammal tissue, i.e it was hard for the neutrophils to degrade it and therefore after 30 days it was still reepithilizing.
Regarding the margin. I actually have not discussed this with you, without sounding like a xyz, I only pointed out something to you, nothing from my point of view needed discussed. There is no problem with the margin.
Anyway if you look at the paper, 1. they created a burn, 2. then cut out the middle core of the burn, they left a burned margin (a 2mm rim of untreated burned tissue) <<< this margin section (you are wrongly assuming was treated with the hydrogel), down to experimental design, was deliberately untreated as it was not cut out and thus, it behaved like it would when non treated.
The core in the middle of the margin, on the other hand had the burned tissue completely cut out. It was then treated with the hydrogel and completely soaked up the blood, digested the scaffold within 5 to 7 days, revascularized, reepithilized in under 14days and regenerated with absolutely no scar wall blocking off regeneration.
In summary as the margin was not debrided of the burned tissue, the margin as expected did not behave like the treated central core as it was not dissected like the core. There was nothing that stood out about the margin you claimed, there was no scarred margin problem you claim, the scarring on the burned tissue margin was expected. The margin you go on about and think was treated, was actually not treated with the hydrogel; it was left burned.
Sorry, but there is such a thing as over-simplifying matters as well. I have not seen anything proving that reepithelialization under 21 days means scarless healing. As you say, it may be a clinical observation, but that also means that there was no control of other correlated factors (i.e. that adnexa are probably still intact in the wound bed and that epithelial stem cells will migrate directly from these instead of the wound margins (meaning faster reep and practically no scar, since these structures are still intact).) Also, I don't think the hydrogel paper mentioned the regeneration of any sweat glands? If it did, that would obviously be great, have only heard of hair follicles and their associated sebaceous glands being able to regenerate at this point.
I never said that they treated the margin, only that it is an observed fact in previous wounding induced hair follicle neogenesis studies that there will be a border of scarred skin circumventing the area of neogenesis. From chuckstonchew's conversation (thanks for that, btw, if you're reading this!) it seems that the researchers themselves were unable to give any conclusive answers whether all of the excised area regenerated or not. Anyway, time will tell if this was the case or not.
I'm happy that you're so optimistic, though, gives me some hope too
Optimism! 
Anyway on to what you have said.
Fact it is clinically observed that if a wound reepithilizes in under 3 weeks from an injury there will be no scar.
In history no 3rd degree burn in a mammal has reepithilized in under 21 days. This scaffold degraded in under 5 to 7 days and the third degree burn reepithilized in under 14. On the other hand the control scaffold (a benchmark standard used in a certain hospital) was harder for the neutophils to degrade and as such the full thickness third degree burn behaved exactly like it usually does and scarred. Also the non treated section behaved like they usually do.
No one understands or will ever understand in your lifetime what happened after the 8020 hydrogel degraded, were it brought about regeneration but regeneration was observed quite clearly.
Fact if anything is regenerated, by logical default there can be no scar. Scarring and regeneration are inversely related, scarring blocks off cell communication and regeneration. Therefor if a sweat gland, or any other gland is regenerated there is no scar blocking off regeneration by logical default.
In that paper the full thickness section that recieved the hydrogel regenerated fully. In that paper a well used standard scaffold behaved like it usually does in mammal tissue, i.e it was hard for the neutrophils to degrade it and therefore after 30 days it was still reepithilizing.
Regarding the margin. I actually have not discussed this with you, without sounding like a xyz, I only pointed out something to you, nothing from my point of view needed discussed. There is no problem with the margin.
Anyway if you look at the paper, 1. they created a burn, 2. then cut out the middle core of the burn, they left a burned margin (a 2mm rim of untreated burned tissue) <<< this margin section (you are wrongly assuming was treated with the hydrogel), down to experimental design, was deliberately untreated as it was not cut out and thus, it behaved like it would when non treated.
The core in the middle of the margin, on the other hand had the burned tissue completely cut out. It was then treated with the hydrogel and completely soaked up the blood, digested the scaffold within 5 to 7 days, revascularized, reepithilized in under 14days and regenerated with absolutely no scar wall blocking off regeneration.
In summary as the margin was not debrided of the burned tissue, the margin as expected did not behave like the treated central core as it was not dissected like the core. There was nothing that stood out about the margin you claimed, there was no scarred margin problem you claim, the scarring on the burned tissue margin was expected. The margin you go on about and think was treated, was actually not treated with the hydrogel; it was left burned.
Sorry, but there is such a thing as over-simplifying matters as well. I have not seen anything proving that reepithelialization under 21 days means scarless healing. As you say, it may be a clinical observation, but that also means that there was no control of other correlated factors (i.e. that adnexa are probably still intact in the wound bed and that epithelial stem cells will migrate directly from these instead of the wound margins (meaning faster reep and practically no scar, since these structures are still intact).) Also, I don't think the hydrogel paper mentioned the regeneration of any sweat glands? If it did, that would obviously be great, have only heard of hair follicles and their associated sebaceous glands being able to regenerate at this point.
I never said that they treated the margin, only that it is an observed fact in previous wounding induced hair follicle neogenesis studies that there will be a border of scarred skin circumventing the area of neogenesis. From chuckstonchew's conversation (thanks for that, btw, if you're reading this!) it seems that the researchers themselves were unable to give any conclusive answers whether all of the excised area regenerated or not. Anyway, time will tell if this was the case or not.
I'm happy that you're so optimistic, though, gives me some hope too
Simplifying?? I'm repeating clearly observed facts! E.g. if you see a potato in the garden, you see a potato in the garden. In no way do I have to explain why that potato is a potato at the nano level or the nanoXnano level. And in no way is it possible to explain at the nano level why that potato is a potato. In no way is it possible to observe the migrating nano matrix of how that potato grew into a potato in the soil. <<<<< please tell me you can see your fallacy with the magnifying glass? What you are suggesting you have to do is the equivilent of following one water molecule by microscope all the way along the flowing river nile to the nile mouth.
If you read the paper they said clearly they got "complete regeneration". On top of this, if you follow logic, and you regenerate "anything," then by logical default that is "scar free healing" anyway. Scars block off regeneration. E.g. in your tissues on your left leg now, lets say you had a scar on that leg, well were there is that scar there is no communication between the regneerated parts of tissue either side of the scar. If the scar was not there the two sides would be able to meet and regenerate the area blocked.
Regarding 21 days it has been clinically observed over the past centuary if a wound reepithilizes in under 21 days there will be no scar. And if a wound regenerates sweat glands and hair follicles there will be no scar.
This is all basic fact based logic.
The hair and the sebcacous glands proved regeneration. The fact that the wound reepithilized in 14 days proved there was no scar. (Wereas the control scaffold took way longer to be digested)
All I'm doing is observing facts, sticking to clear logic.
Regarding scars, imo people tend to catergorise to much, stressing about labels, but they are all the same. They are bundled collagen that blocks regeneration. Burns = collagen, acne = collagen, knife wound scar = collagen, hypertrophic scar = collagen, keliod = over production of collagen. Scarring is the inverse of regeneration. Regeneration is if you like the finger print of scar free healing. If something brings about scar free healing it will reepithilize a wound before a keloid can happen
the hydrogel was digested by the white blood cells within 7 days, then the wound reepithilized the 3rd degree burn in under 14 days (under 21 days), whilst the standard control had the white blood cells struggling to digest the periphery after 7 days, and the control scarred after 30 days etc.
Well I hope you're right, it would be wonderful... 
maybe that hydrogel is somehow able to reduce hemostasis&inflamation and accelerate re-epithelialization... and maybe even create regenerative ECM... that would be SOMETHING... and 3 years of waiting for FDA approval is totally acceptable for me.
I have come across most of what you have posted on google alerts over time. Also the salamander stuff has been talked about on this thread before. I think the salamander project will play a part in limb regeneration.
I think that the limb regeneration in humnas will be the last thing we will see, it is very complex and it will be possible maybe in 20 or 30 years or something like that, before that they will achieve regeneration of the skin, spinal cord, heart, liver, etc - because it is much more simple than the regeneration of the whole limbs, of course.
Here are some other interesting research papers that they have published recently or they will publish very soon:
Seifert, A.W., Kiama, S.G., Seifert, M.G., Goheen J., Palmer, T. M., and Maden, M. Skin shedding and
tissue regeneration in African spiny mice (Acomys). (in revision, Nature)
Monaghan, J. R., Athippozhy, A., Seifert, A.W., Putta, S., Stromberg, A., Maden, M., Gardiner, D. M.,
and Voss, S. R. Denervation Quantitatively and Systemically Alters Transcription within the
Wound Epithelium of a Regeneration-Competent Salamander Limb. (in review, Open Biology)
Monaghan, J. R.*, Seifert, A. W.*, Michoneau, F.*, Pasch, B.*, Smith, M.D.*, Stier, A.C.*, and Maden,
M. Metamorphosis impedes limb regeneration in salamanders. (submitting to PNAS, May 18th)
Seifert, A. W., and Maden, M. The MRL mouse closes ear holes through hyperplastic growth, not
regeneration (in prep)
Monaghan JR and Maden M. (In Press) Visualization of retinoic acid signaling in transgenic axolotls during limb development and regeneration. Dev Biol.
Seifert AW, Monaghan JR, Smith DM, Pasch B, Stier AC, Michonneau F, Maden M. (In Press) The influence of fundamental traits on mechanisms controlling limb regeneration. Biological Reviews.
And here is a list of grants they're expecting right now:
2012 NIH K99/R00 Pathways to Independence Award “ (PI) (submitted March 2012)
Submitted to NIAMS
(First impact score =34, resubmitted March) --Translating perfect repair: skin
regeneration in lieu of scarring
2012 NIH R21 “ (Co-PI) (submitted Feb. 2012)
Submitted to NICDR
Deciphering the molecular regulation of mammalian blastema formation
2012 NSF IOS Preliminary Proposal “ (PI) (requested to submit full proposal, due Aug. 2nd)
Submitted to IOS, Developmental Systems
Immune tradeoffs during tissue regeneration in mammals
2012 NSF IOS Preliminary Proposal “ (Co-PI) (awaiting decision to submit full proposal)
Submitted to IOS, Developmental Systems
Developmental mechanisms driving regenerative decline at metamorphosis
You have not cross referenced anything for or against what I've said in my post above.
BTW my last word on the salamander and limb regeneration it may, play a role in regenerating a digit in the next 5 or so years (heber katz 2006), they are getting close. BTW I was reading recently how a Dr saved a diseased diabetic foot, but a bone and joints are harder to regenerate than soft tissues.
http://www.scielo.br...ipt=sci_arttext
Impressive results in scar healing with stem cells. (not scar free)
I hadn't seen these yet.
