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most of the questions you have are all answered in this post, I can't believe how long it is but it really contains a lot of information. In any case I'll try some brief answers to the best of my ability.
1. For the guys, in regards to post-procedure care, did any of you wear makeup to cover the redness in the months that followed dermabrasion? Does this look natural? Was it noticeable? I am asian, and have medium brown skin and am worried about being "pink" for so many months.
Portlandboy,
I remember 17 years ago Dr. Y telling me to expect needing another dermabrasion. Dermabrasion will improve acne scars but depending on how bad they are (like mine or your rolling scars on your left side) I was told to expect a 10% to 30% improvement with just one dermabrasion. Hard to tell, but I think I got a 10 to 20% improvement with just that one dermabrasion. At first, it did look great (like 80%) but over the following months the scars gradually came back but they were somewhat shallowed out. I do not want to discourage you here and I hope you and others the best of luck because we all heal differently. Doing a dermabrasion with Dr. Y should yield long term improvements. It was an expensive procedure for me back then and I just lived with my scars for all these years. I haven't really let them hold me back. It would be nice to look in the mirror in the morning and rid myself of the constant reminder of the horrible disfiguring acne I had.
The punch floats that Dr. Y is now doing is great news. I think I could really benefit from that. I have realistic goals for improvement knowing that 100% improvement is practically impossible without having like 5 or 6 dermabrasions.
Even 17 years ago, Dr. Yarborough was well known as being one of the very best at dermabrasion and I am happy to hear that he is doing well and continues to help people with his skills. He was recommended by several dermatologists that I had consulted with.
I wonder if he still has my pictures from 17 years ago? I think I will call his office next week and find out. Maybe set up a consultation with him again. I'm sure that there have been some improvements that he has made to the procedure over the years like all of this post care that I read about here and the punch floats.
I had a 14 day downtime. I went back to work after 15 days and nobody really noticed or told me anything. Maybe they were just being nice?
6 day update
From my posts I'm sure you all know I'm very honest and up front about my expectations. I am also a VERY fast healer, according to pics posted my users such as leafsfan I am almost 3-4 days ahead in terms of how much I have healed.
Sadly, I can already see scarring returning as my skin heals itself. I guess you can say my "peak" day was day 4, the day the bandages came off for the final time and I was allowed to take care of post-op cleansing at home. With each cleaning, I notice my skin returning to its post-punch float appearance. While this is quite an improvement from pre-punch days, it helps me prepare for long term changes expected from the dermabrasion.
Looking at my face from various angle, I can start to see the return of the shallow scarring that bothered me in various lighting situations. It's the kind that is tough to capture in pictures but is obvious in person. My once smooth (for about 2 days ) temples are returning to a wavy texture, as are my upper cheeks.
When I first read Kiki's updated results about a 10% overall improvement, I was skeptical but now I can imagine this is what I can expect months from now. I can't speak for tone because I am still extremely pink but I'm sure once things get back to normal it shouldn't be too different from what I used to look like before.
Don't get me wrong, I was/am happy even with a 10% improvement as stated before. I would just like other people to realistically think about the amount of improvement they expect, because like most of us have said, this is by no means a miracle treatment. I clearly remember someone mentioning complete "eradication," I assure you this is impossible. For people who are taking out loans and traveling here from other countries, be very educated about this procedure because it is absolutely no joke. It is intense, both physically and mentally, not to mention the expense.
All that aside, it's good to be in the final healing phase. I am not dripping vaseline like others have, I only need to clean my face twice a day. I am going in for a follow up on Tuesday so I'll have some more to talk about after I see the good doctor again. Will I need another dermabrasion for better results? Hell I could use a dozen more for that "flawless" face, but that just isn't realistic nor does it sound possible.
Full face derm w/ Dr. Y on Dec. 28....came home last night. I have just a couple of comments, and hope to expand my post in the coming days as I have a lot to take care of at the time being.
Dr. Y is a very compassionate caring person, Cassandra as well (both wonderful people). I have what I would consider "rolling" type scars... Dr. Y calls them hills and valleys. According to Dr. Y the best candidates for derm are fair complexioned, light eyed, and hills/valleys type scarring. He told me that there is swelling for a time being (up to 3 weeks) then I will become disheartened seeing some of the scars returning, but not to the depth they were before. He told me to expect very noticable collagen enhancement at 6 months, and possibly up to a year. He does not give %'s of improvement because it is so subjective. I asked if I'd need a 2nd derm...he thought I'd be happy with the improvement from this derm, but said he'd leave the decision up to me whether I decide to return. He would not want to see me again before 1 years time. I saw before and after photos of a guy that had severe scarring (all hills and valleys)...he had 3 derms and truly remarkable improvement (98% by my assessment).
So, I'm on day 5, still swollen a bit, not really dripping any vaseline, never had a lot of drainage, pink face, and will try and post some photos soon.
MISS SHADY: Have you considered having Dr. Y get the prescriptions for you in the US, then overnighting them to you in Scotland? I'm certain he has access to the meds you need. You need and anti-cold sore (herpes), prednisone (for swelling), and sleeping pills (which I didn't need).
Well, being away from my 2 babies for 5 days has left a lot of cuddling to catch up on, and plenty of housework. I will update soon, hopefully can get back online this evening....good luck and healing to all of ya
most of the questions you have are all answered in this post, I can't believe how long it is but it really contains a lot of information. In any case I'll try some brief answers to the best of my ability.I have medium brown skin but don't plan on wearing any makeup. Even now just 6 days after the procedure it looks like I spent a vacation skiing. It's really not that bad and I'm sure in another couple weeks it will be less obvious.
Unfortunately you and I are PERFECT candidates for hyperpigmentation, that is just something that will have to be dealt with when it comes up. If you are very careful you can apply triluma cream to the brown streaks that develop and they will subside within two to three weeks.
Check out the post man, this is covered extensively.
There is no phone consultation. Your best bet is to send him a letter along with very good pictures of your scarring. He will write back as soon as he can and I can tell you unless there is some serious problem, he will not turn you down as a candidate. In that past before they didn't know how to deal with hyperpigmentation this may have been a problem but it isn't anymore.
Good luck to you, just keep your expectations realistic, that is actually harder than going through with the procedure. Well, that and the ridiculous downtime!
Hi Miss Shady,
In Terms of getting the scripts from Australia I got my local derm to get me the Cold Sore script (because you have to start that one two days before) and filled that here. I just took the print off of Doctor Y's scheduled surgery date and required medications to him. The other two aren't available here so I couldn't get them filled.
However, if you request, Cassandra ships them in to WallGreens across the road from the hospital and I just went to the counter and said I believe I have some scripts here for me and low and behold there they were. It is open twenty four hours so I picked them up Sunday evening and started taking them early on the Monday morning - Day of my derm.
Thanks Wildcard. Dr. Yarborough said the same thing to me. I forgot most of what he said until you wrote them up. It is encouraging to remind myself of things to expect. Yeah a lot of my scars do come back but they are shallower. I'm hoping for the best in the next 6 months to 1 year. Darn, that's a long time. I might not do another dermabrasion right away in December because the down time is very long. I don't have that much time off and I can't stand having a shiny face (from the moisturizer-sunscreen + make up) for 2+ months. Heal well Wildcard.
I agree with what Shade said earlier. If you have to take out a loan for this, you should seriously reconsider doing a dermabrasion.
John Sydney, how are your results today? Are you thinking of doing another?
to all that have done dermabrasion and have received minimal improvement, in what type of scarring had this been?
I would see how rolling scars would be hard to smooth out
But what about icepicks and boxcars that are floated??
Reports from Misty and Love have said that the floated areas have eliminated almost the scars they had there, is this the case for those who have punch floated areas??
I just want to be sure as to what type of scarring is the one returning after dermabrasion.
Wow, with all the people having dermabrasion with dr. Y, it's like a little fraternity here. I was in the class of November 2004 for my dermabrasion...Nov.2 to be exact. Good luck to those getting it done soon, and happy healing to everyone whose had it done recently, hang in there!
Hi guys,
I read this thread with a great deal of interest everyday. I have a question that I would like to ask all those who have undergone dermabrasion with Dr. Y. Before I proceed, I should mention that my scarring is most like Portland boy's, and I that I have tried various modalities of scar minimization. I have had Erbium laser and Collagen injections, and also permanent filler, and all of this has yielded not much improvement. I should mention that in my subjective opinion scarring changes a great deal with the passing of time, and a seemingly modest 20% improvement in scarring wanes and effectively dwindles away in 10 years. Unfortunately, scarring just tends to get worse as we age. The scarring that I had at 19 years of age, although new then, was much gentler in appearance than it is now as I fast approach 30. Please note that I take very good care of myself. I would like to have my scarring treated by Dr. Y as a last ditch attempt to improve things despite my pessimistic outlook; however, I live in Australia, and it would cost me somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000-22,000AUS to make the trek over to New Orleans (this includes motel, car rental, etc.). Anyway, my question to all those who have undergone the procedure is: do you think it would be worth all the expense? I know this is a question that you cannot answer for me, but, rather answer it for yourself: would you have gone through it all if you had to go to another country, and spend the figure I mentioned? Thanks for reading!
Amnesiac,
Dr. Y told me that dermabrasion is most effective on rolling type scars. He also told me that he's a little concerned about mis-information spreading about punch floats. FYI Dr. Y said that punch floats are for ice pick scars and scars with a very distinct border to them, not for rolling scars.
to all that have done dermabrasion and have received minimal improvement, in what type of scarring had this been?I would see how rolling scars would be hard to smooth out
But what about icepicks and boxcars that are floated??
Reports from Misty and Love have said that the floated areas have eliminated almost the scars they had there, is this the case for those who have punch floated areas??
I just want to be sure as to what type of scarring is the one returning after dermabrasion.
Ive also decided not to go ahead with dermabrasion, my scars were quite improved after Bio-Alcamid anyway and i only paid $500 i would say an overall improvement of 40% (mostly for loss of volume rather than individial ice-pick improvement)
Now if everyone was reporting 40%-50% improvement I would do it in a heartbeat, but 10%? how can one even say 10% that sounds to me like, no improvement but this makes me feel better %- correct if i'm wrong, but it really doesn't seem worth the downtime and cost at this point.
Leafsfan, glad you're healing and I hope you see enhancement in the coming months!
Ravenblack - I think you should consider speaking with Dr. Y directly. He has 30 years experience and could provide the best information. Many of the people, including myself, sent Dr. Y a letter and photographs detailing our scars and hopes of improvement. He calls potential patients back and will answer all your questions. I sent Dr. Y photos that revealed my scars in the worst possible lighting...He was honest about what I could expect, and I decided to go through with the procedure. You may even ask him for a recommendation for a great surgeon in Australia so you wouldn't have to travel so far. Just take the first step and send him some info, then you can make decisions from there.
I can tell you that I'm 6 days post derm and extremely happy I went through with it. But I know that my results will diminish with the swelling, I do however expect improvement to continue over the coming months. I never expected perfection, only improvement. I hope I'm not speaking pre-maturely, but this is the only procedure that has substantially reduced my scarring (rolling scars). Right now they are not visible at all, but Dr. Y said I will begin to see them returning around the 3 week mark, but they will return to a good improvement within 6 months. So of course I'll be updating over time. I've wanted to do dermabrasion for years, and finally my opportunity came! Keep in mind that there are many people who have done dermabrasion with Dr. Y that are very pleased with their results. They haven't necessarily posted here, and some aren't even aware of this board. Get the most information you can, talk with the Dr., and make an instinct decision. Instinct is always right Good luck to you.
I'm not trying to be rude when I say this but I think too many of you are hopping on the 10% improvment bandwagon. Each individual's results will be different then the others. I myself have seen over an 85% improvment in my scarring. On one side of my face I dont see any scarring even in the worst lighting, not a trace! On the right side of my cheek, where I had my worst scarring, I see some scarring, but not NEAR as bad as it used to be.
I am 20 days post dermabrasion and beleive I am past the swelling stage. I will get some pics in a few days and show you guys the improvment I've seen, although I dont have before pics of my scarring to show you guys.
Best of Luck to all of you!
I agree with Drewboy.
My improvement is substantially more than 10%.
It's hard to classify improvement as a whole. There are so many different areas that could be improved, for me I had ice picks, boxcars, rolling, flat mole growth, beauty mark type mole growth, chicken pox scar, bad skin texture, color and tone problems.
Each of these areas saw improvement, some substantially more than others. My deeper scars have been softened over 50%. My chicken pox scar is likely 65% less deep. I used to be able to find it easily with my finger without looking in a mirror and now I can't. My tone and color is now even, pink, but even. My color improves daily. I am still pretty pink allover. My flat mole growth saw 100% improvement - its completely gone without a trace. My other mole saw 80% improvement as only a small indention is left that is hardly noticable. Skin texture is good, not awesome like I might have expected the most out of this. For me that means genetics, not sun damage or accutane or any of that. (maybe it could still be accutane, but who knows - I have not taken it for over 5 years but it may have reprogrammed the way my skin grows). My rolling scars and/or saggy skin has seen tremendous improvement, close to 80%. Best I can describe it, I received a mini-facelift that I was not expecting. The boxcars and ice picks saw most improvement from the punch floats prior to dermabrasion, not the dermabrasion itself. They have healed over nicely and I can't even find most of them. I have two new small ice picks from two active acne cysts that I had at the time of dermabrasion. I had some depressions which some may classify as a combo of rolling/ice pick type scarring. Those are the ones that saw the least amount of improvement but are still softened substantially. It's hard to explain what these actually are, if they were not so big/oddly shaped, maybe they could have been punch floated. Nevertheless everything I mentioned has seen improvement.
It is important for people to have the right mindset going into this procedure. The Dr. does state this, but in our wishful thinking we don't always hear it. Dermabrasion will not provide perfection. It likely never could even if multiple dermabrasions were performed. You should go into this procedure expecting improvement, improvement like nothing else has ever given you. That is what you are going to receive. Accept it prior to the surgery. Anything else and you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
I think its also equally important to take many before and after pictures to compare. It becomes really difficult to judge improvement as you forget what you looked like prior to dermabrasion.
Hey everyone.. I am too considering dermabrasion. I am first going to consult with a doctor about some iminal invasive techniques such as soomthbeam etc. I just feel I would rather do something that is really going to help..and I don't know if smooth will do anything for my scarring.
I have a few questions. I mainly have small boxscars about 1mm maybe the biggest is 2mm. I have shallow scarring but my overall texture is smooth other than that..meaning I don't really have any high low rolling areas. DO u guys think dermabrasion is alittle to harsh.? I mean I think I am a good candidate for punch floats. SO my question is if you get punch floated do u have to have dermabrasion?
The situation is my scars are on the side of my face and they kinda go down in a line to mid level. The rest ie cheeks, jaw and lower sides are not scarred.
I would just be worried to do a full face when the scars are in just a certain area.
Does anyone know how spot treatments would blend into the un dermabraded skin?
I am going to send Dr Y letters and pictures as he would be the best to answer..but the more knowledge I have the better questions i can ask him..
thanks for the reply ...guess I wrote more than I was. I just wish I knew what to do
Hey everyone.. I am too considering dermabrasion. I am first going to consult with a doctorAA about some iminal invasive techniques such as soomthbeam etc. I just feel I would rather do something that is really going to help..and I don't know if smooth will do anything for my scarring.
I have a few questions. I mainly have small boxscars about 1mm maybe the biggest is 2mm. I have shallow scarring but my overall texture is smooth other than that..meaning I don't really have any high low rolling areas. DO u guys think dermabrasion is alittle to harsh.? I mean I think I am a good candidate for punch floats. SO my question is if you get punch floated do u have to have dermabrasion?
The situation is my scars are on the side of my face and they kinda go down in a line to mid level. The rest ie cheeks, jaw and lower sides are not scarred.
I would just be worried to do a full face when the scars are in just a certain area.
Does anyone know how spot treatments would blend into the un dermabraded skin?
I am going to send Dr Y letters and pictures as he would be the best to answer..but the more knowledge I have the better questions i can ask him..
thanks for the reply ...guess I wrote more than I was. I just wish I knew what to do
