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Wow, thank you for the imformative posts Moonsoon and Leopolda! I'm so glad I found this site. I have been visiting this site for over a year now(joined under a different nic but forgot the password) and it has been so sooo very helpful. I never thought of dermabrasion as an option until I read of Dr. Yarborough on here. Many other doctors have turned me away for any ablative procedure because of my Asian skin. I thought I had no more hope left but now, I know not to give up.. I AM nervous but I'm also really excited and happy that I'm going to get this done. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I promise I will keep everyone updated when I get it done and I will try to keep a picture diary as well and post that up too.. Take care!
Poe
Thank Leopoda for your kind words and ann_a_bell for the supplement suggestion. Im taking the same supplements you are taking now.
Here are some pix before and after. I hope this doesnt get share on kazza or that would deter piracy. muhahaha
The before pictures is at least 6 months old. The after pictures is day 5 or 6. The forehead picuture is taken 2 hours, 16mins, and 22 sec wait 25 sec from now....
I use to have craters, rolling scars, lots of grin lines on my forehead. To me, this is a huge improvement and I can live with sexy instead of ultra uber hot. (just messing)
My jaw and if you head radially from the nose, it looks bad because I use to have hypertrophic scar there so he has to go deeper. As a result, crust and redness is still presence. To make it worse, I grow beard. It's kinda against the norm since I'm Asian. Like I mention before in the thread, I cant really tell how much improvement I have gotten from that area.
I hope this pictures give you, poe, or anyone considering doing this procedure by Dr Y some comfort. You are in skillful hand. Good luck!
&caption=before2&id=4156861522" rel="external nofollow">Before2
&caption=before1&id=4156861526" rel="external nofollow">Before1
&caption=forehead&id=4156861523" rel="external nofollow">Forehead
&caption=after1&id=4156860397" rel="external nofollow">After1
Oh and Poe, I was just really pink around day 10, but I couldn't take it anymore so I put on sunscreen and make-up so I could do a little shopping for myself, and so I could get out of the house. You could still see a lot of red under the make-up. I didn't want to use the green concealer b/c I had a full facial also and I didn't want to pile a bunch of stuff on. I did notice that the makeup seemed to make the itchy phase, well a little more itchy. I washed the makeup off a lot (that helps w/the itching) and either reapply if I was @ work or just moisturize while I was @ home. I did however buy some green concealer, later on when it started to fade b/c I was very blotchy and still am. I don't mind the redness or blotchyness (is that a word) though.
Keep in mind that the healing times do vary for each individual. I think Leo also said that she was able to put on make-up also after 10 days, I could be wrong though. Cassandra told me that it usually takes anywhere from 10 to 14 days for the new pink skin to come in. At that time you can put on your suncreen and cosmetics (chose them wisely though).
hehe, went out and bought me some Vit C, Zinc and ALA last night.. I had a hugeeeee ass headache today and all I had was Bayer(pure aspirin) and Ibuprofin.. had to run to the store to get some aspirin-free medicine. Damn headaches, I wish I didn't get them all the time ... Sometimes I think I'm gonna go crazy one day.. lol..
AHHH! It's freakin' raining so loud right now and I'm home alone.. power went out once already.. getting a bit scurred here... hehehe(nervous laugh)..... sorry to get off the subject.
Poe
Howdy AnN-A-BeLL
’?'m leaving Monday, August 2nd.. getting it done Aug 3rd and flying back to Indy Sat. Aug 7th.. hehe.. I'm glad you mentioned the vitamins because I haven't taken it yet tonight!.. EEEeeiikk! gonna go take it now!.. Adios
Oh yeah, thanks for the thought!
Poe
I was hoping to hear from leo or ann or moonsoon on how your healings are going. I got a phonecall from Dr. Y. I could possibly be getting my dermabrasion done this winter unless I chicken out. I am a little skeptical on the plane ride home. I mean, I need a full face for overall skin color but I just imagine a slimy face on an airplane. Will they even let me on like that bc a mask sounds fishy. Plus another issue was the fact that the rooms across the way are not available anymore. He said after all these years they let his patients use them that rooms are needed for cancer victims. I am sure he will have something by winter though. When does the slimy looking phase go away? Do you have update photos moonsoon? I am asking questions in regards to deciding to go or not. Plus I have to save a lot more than I have by then. It is $4,500 for the procedure not including the airfare and hotel. I would say over $5000. Is the improvement good? I understand he is a safe doc.
Hi sunblock101.
Right now Im getting less acne lession. I sprouted out alot but I guess the moisturizer broke me out. I stop using any moisturizer as I only stay indoor. My forehead is healing nicely. I see alot of the crater is filling in. My rolling scars on both cheeks is GREATLY filled in. I can live with that result and I'm almost at my 3rd wk mark. I heard filling will continue more up to 3rd month and slowly till a year. My only complain so far is im still red. All my surrounding skin is redder compare to those around my eyes. I think it's because of my ethnicity (Asian).
I haven't shave just because I've decided to wait till 4-5th week to do so. So I cant comment on my hypertrophic scars just yet.
I didnt have problem boarding on plane. I had to take two planes to get home. I just gave the security my doctor note, my driver license along with anything she ask for. There was no hassle.
Sorry to hear about the room isnt available. It's not too bad. I stay there for 4 days at a rate $40/day w/ 7 free meal tickets (up to $5 in value).
Slimy phase ends in about a week if I remember correctly.
I took my picture to send to Dr Y to take a look at my healing progess. I will probably take it every 2 weeks.
To leo or ann, can you tell me when I can use regular facial cleanser like Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash w/ 2.5% salicic acid and when I can use BP 5%. How is your healing going?
Does Dr. Y perform other procedure to reduce scarring besides dermabrasion??? I want that for my face but I also have scarring on my back (small raised white circular scars). I don't think dermabrasion is good around the shoulder area. I do not trust lasers because I had it done once without any improvement . I might be able to tolerate a Chemical peel. I had it done once and it hurts . If i could get my school schedule down i would make an appointment. Consultation in November (Thnx giving Break) then have the procedure done December (Christmas break). I am starting nursing school (Spring 2005) and I just want to look my best . My dad and bro will be driving me to New Orleans from Houston. By the way I am asian.
HI Sunblock. Sorry I missed your post. I am doing very well. This past MOnday marked the 6 week mark for me. I still have some lingering pinkness and splotchiness, but very little, and make-up covers it completely. I imagine if you had a full face dermabrasion it would be even easierto cover because you wouldn't be trying to blend demarcation lines. Overall, I am still very pleased. It didn't make my scars disappear, but it did improve them tremendously. I am still expecting further improvement as, from what I'm told, the real collagen build-up (as opposed to the surface smoothing effects), really takes place b/t 3 and 6 months. I continue to believe that this was the best thing I have ever done for my skin. I am disappointed to hear the MacFarland center is no longer available and I hope that they can change that down the road.
Monsoon--I began using my regular cleanser (I use Sage), probably around 4 weeks, but I may could have used it even earlier I think. Not sure. I would say try it out once and observe how it goes and then if your skin feels fine, go for it.
Powerpooch--I do think that Dr. Y performs other scar revision procedures (such as punch excisions, punch floats, etc), but I think the things he does are mainly to prime the face for dermabrasion. So I don't think he'd do subcision, or fillers, and I know he doesn't do laser. The other procedures he does do are probably somewhat limited. Hope this helps.
best of luck,
-leo
So, it didn't actually erase any of your scars Leo? I have a lot of shallow small ones.. more than deeper bigger ones so I figured they would be gone if I get this done. I have a cluster of them on my inner cheeks. Right now I am doing tca 100% slowly and will do more smoothbeams before doing the dermabrasion so the scars can get even more shallower. Does this make sense? Thanks for your inputs. Now, I have figured out that DR Y would be the only doc to be considered for this big procedure. Did you end up with any extra scars??
HI Sunblock.
No, it didn't erase any scars, but I had two very large scars on my forehead (as opposed to lots of smaller scars). Actually, the scar that was very fresh (5 weeks at the time), if invisible with make-up on, but I wouldn't say it is gone. It is neither sunken nor raised, so it is easily hide-able. I expect it to continue to improve. My other very big scar (about 2 inches, long excision scar across the center of my forehead) is much improved. I imagine if you have lots of shallow scars, you may well think that some might disappear. Unfortnuately, mine were big enough that I could only hope for improvement (which I certainly got). I did not sustain any further scarring from the procedure, though I do think that that should be a concern when going into dermabrasion. Having said that, I would feel 100% confidence in going to Dr. Y in this respect. In fact, I personally would not allow anyone else to perform dermabrasion on me for exactly that reason.
Good luck.
--leo
Hi all,
As MoonSoon said, Leopolda did a beautiful job with this thread so I figured I'll just add on to this instead of creating a new one.
I just got back from New Orleans a couple of hours ago. Everyone was right about Dr. Y and his staff.. He is like a teddy bear always giving nice warm bear hugs and he always has a smile on his face! His staff was great also, the only thing that disappointed me a lil was not being able to meet Cassandra(she was on vacation this week) but a nurse named Sandra changed my dressings and all and she was extremely nice to me too, she kept saying it was a pleasure to work for Dr. Y and that he is genuine in everything he does..
Since Cassandra wasn't there, Dr. Meyer assisted Dr. Yarborough in dermabrading my skin. She asked Dr. Y a lot of questions while he was doing it(Sandra told me so then when he DOES retire, she can take over). Now now people, don't be alarmed.. I asked him about retirement and he said he has no desire to retire right now, he said maybe he would cut back on his regular patients because he was just having a tiring week but he would still be doing dermabrasions. He asked for me to tell all of you thinking of getting dermabrasion done to not call his office about questions on retirement because he has no plans for it yet. I commented on how young he looked for his age and he said he'll be turning 70 next week.. I replied with a "Happy Early Birthday!" and he smiled really big, gave me a bear hug and a peck on the cheek.. hehe... Anyway, don't want to write a book.. just wanted to tell you all that I had a really great experience with him.. if any of you are considering dermbrasion, he is the man to do it...
Oh yeah, I've been taking pics everyday since the day before surgery... in a couple of weeks, I will be posting some of them up... Right now, my face is about 90 % bright pink, there's still some bright red spots though.. it's only been four days so I expect the rest of the scabs to fall off in no more than 3 days... Yesterday, he said that I was healing fabulously which made me SOOO happy to hear.. hehe.. ’?ll I can say is that I am extremely happy that I got this done... AHH, my face itches a lil right now, but I'm resisting the urge to scratch it.. lol.. Well, take care all... feel free to ask me any questions..
P.S.~ English was my least favorite subject so please forgive my writing and grammar
Poe
Thanks for the run down Poe and congrats. Glad it was a good experience for you. Where about's did you stay when you were there (if I may ask)?
How much hybernation time did you plan to have at home, 2-3 weeks? I mean before you go back to work, school, normal life, ect? Thanks!
Well, I was fortunate enough to stay at the McFarland Inn (I booked a room before they changed their policy).. I'm hearing now that the office is collaborating with the Hampton Inn(which is a few blocks away) to give their patients a discount but I think it has to be booked by their office like how the McFarland Inn was..
I plan to sit back and relax for... yeah.. about 3 weeks.. the mask they give you is pretty handy so I figured if I really want to go out, I'll just put it on(that's what I put on for my flight back from N.O.) I get some stares but, I'm like.. who cares... hehe..
Hope I answered your Q's! Ask me more if you want
Poe
HI everyone. Poe, I'm so happy to hear how well your trip to Dr. Y went. I'm eager to hear how you progress in the coming weeks!
I just had to report something that happened to me to everyone. Well, it has been about 6.5 weeks now since I've had my dermabrasion and, as I've said, I am just so happy with the way my skin looks. And my husband, who is the only other person (besides you all) who knows I've had this done, keeps telling my how amazing it looks, so I've definitely been feeling good about my skin lately.
Well, today is our 1 year anniversary! And yesterday, we went into DT SF to do a little shopping for a "gift to ourselves" and also for a wedding present for a soon-to-be-sister-in-law. It was a glorious day here and we sort of dressed up (I'm normally, a jeans and converse sort of girl). So I fixed my hair and took a little time putting on my make-up, etc.
So we had a great time and a nice lunch and then split up to do a few errands down there on our own and I accidentally got trapped into a conversation with a cosmetics lady in a depratment store. I was actually looking at body lotions for a friend and so she came over to try to talk me into buying some sort of foot scrub or something (not interested). But I didn't want to be rude, so I just humored her by listening and then as I was politely extracting myself from the conversation, she said, completely appropos of nothing, "Oh, by the way. You have beautiful skin." !!!!!!!!!! I had noticed that she was looking at me a bit strange and that part of what i hope is my old self thought just for a moment "she's looking at my scars". I have to tell you guys, this almost floored me. I almost didn't believe her. I have been complemented on my skin exactly 1 time before when I just started college (before the scarring). It absolutely made my day/week/much longer than that. What an unbelievable boost to my self-esteem! And a wonderful, if unknowing, anniversary gift to me. I almost bought a case of that foot scrub after that =) BTW, I absolutely credit Dr. Y here. Unbvelievable. Anyway, just thought I'd share.
--leo
I'm so glad you're healing so wonderfully Leo!! And congrats on your anniversary and the compliment!
I'm healing good, I think..? My whole t-zone area is new pink skin but my cheeks still has some scabs on it, especially near my jaw line, it's extremely red.. It is so darn tender!, I didn't realize it was this tender until I was cleaning it with shaving foam and I pressed the gauze just a teeny bit harder and it started bleeding.. Have you experienced that? I hope I didn't cause any scarring or permanant damage... Anyway, I can't wait til ALL the scabs from my cheeks fall off, they are not too nice to look at, ya know? lol.. Also, I'm starting to break out(mostly around chin and upper lip area)... When did you say this phase ended for you? Also, when did the itchiness end? Thanks in advance!
Poe