Hiya Sunblock

The only discomfort I felt afterwards was from the swelling, no pain.. I swelled a lot the first two days.. I swelled to the point where I could hardly open my eyes.. I'm just telling you guys just so you won't be surprised when it happens.. Don't worry though cuz the swelling went away real fast for me.. by the time they took off the mask completely, it wasn't too noticable anymore...

The only things I've tried for my scars are... Microdermabrasion(set of 6-didn't help any with scars).. I did an obagi blue peel(4 layers-didn't help either).. That's basically it really.. cuz every derm I went to turned me down for any invasive procedures cuz of my skin type.. I just read up on Dr. Y and he sounded amazing so I decided to just go straight to him instead of wasting money on other shit.. which I'm so glad I did...

When you buy the shaving cream, make sure to buy the non-menthol, non-medicated one cuz it will burn your skin if you do.. I just bought one that says for "sensitive skin" from Wal-Mart..

I have been taking progress pictures everyday since the day before the procedure so when I heal up completely, I'm going to be posting almost all the pictures up..

Hope this helps.. anymore questions, I'll be happy to answer them... Take care

Poe

I was wondering if you can tell me what week you can go back do your normal thing. I'm planning to go back to school soon.

Poe you said you tried obagi blue peel for the face. did you notice any difference on hypertrophic scarring??? I am asian and they said I am a good candidate for it. I won't do it on the face though. I will probably do it on my back to even out the color and with the hypertrophic scarring.

Do u think Dr. Y will excise some skin out and stitch it back it so you will have optimum improvement after dermabrasion. even though your scarring is not severe but they are clustered around the cheeks to the base of the nose. because I don't want anymore invasive procedure after the dermabrasion. I want the optimum results because the price is pretty steep. I rather spend $200 more for excision than paying another $1500-4500 for a touchup. Plus it takes time to heal. I have gone through a lot. Like chemical peels. It hurts a lot emotionally and physically. NO PAIN NO GAIN!!!!

(I removed the photos)

Your skin looks gorgeous Kiki! With makeup, it's flawless (just a tiny little pinkness)...I'm loving it! (I'm sure you're loving it more.) Congrats again!

kiki your skin looks awesome!!!! i was just curious, the punch floated areas look 100% improved, but in real life, does it look 100% improved? and can you see any demarcation?

Monsoon-

How are you doing? I am really interested in your progress because from looking at your pics, my scarring I think is similar to yours - especially those that you have along the jaw line, in the region where facial hair grows. Have you been able to see any results there yet? If so, what is the improvement like? Were there any complications with your facial hair growing while you are still healing? Does your facial hair grow differently in that area than it did before the procedure? Any information or experiences that you think would be relevant to somebody who is considering a similar treatment would be welcomed and appreciated. Thanks, and I wish you all good healing. It's really exciting to see people getting real results from a procedure. I finally read this entire thread today, and it was well worth the time. You guys are wonderful. It seems like the kindness of Dr. Y. permeates this entire discussion. Isn't it amazing how one person can make such an impact in the lives of so many!?!

Kiki, I'm sure all the guys have been wanting to say you have beautiful lips.. Hey, did you have scarring in areas other than your cheeks, ie. temples, forehead, jawline, etc.? How deep, and are they completely gone?

-Nic

johnchlebeck,

Im doing well. Thanks for asking

Yes I have seen alot of result for hypertrophics scar. The improvement I get from dermabrasion is that they are much flatter. They are still hard when touch (probably due to overproduction of collagen) compare to the normal skin, and is also darker compare to the rest of the skin. In a show I saw, Extreme Makeover, they show a guy with excess skin and w/ scars as a result of previous suturing. The color of his scars are similiar to that of my hypertrophic and they were able to bring the scar to a closer color of his normal skin with a laser. I think it was candelence (sp?). I will do some research about this and see if this will cure my pigment problem.

I didnt have any problem while I was healing. In many of my other posts, I have mentioned that I let my facial hair grow even though Dr. Y OK me to shave. I do this partly because my parent think I should and also, I have nothing to do all the summer and wanted to see how long I can grow. I didnt notice it grow any different than before nor has anyone brought it to my attention.

One thing I've regret is not having my forehead scars excise leaving it a fine suture line and have it dermabraded. Since they are icepick, I think it's good option.

Thanks Monsoon,

Actually, I was referring to the more atrophic areas. It looked like you had some of these in the photos. Maybe I am mistaken. I have these like atrophic regions (sort of linear looking) that are pretty deep along my chin. Did you have anything like that? If so, have you seen any improvement? Thanks again.

johnchlebeck,

you got PM

First of all, let me let this out before I begin.. HOLY MOLEY KIKI!! Your skin looks awesome!!.. hehe, I'm SOO happy for you! Congratulations

I started wearing makeup today(12 days post-op now), it hides the pinkness pretty well.. I used a green concealer, blended that in and then used regular foundation followed by pressed powder where I needed it.. My face looked a bit pink still but I was so comfortable.. I went to Taco Bell, got my hair cut.. shop for things for the house.. did everything normally and had no weird stares! hehe... I still have some scars but they are smooth and even as opposed to depressed.. ’‚­t hides pretty well under makeup though.. One more dermabrasion with Dr. Y next year and I'll be good to go..

Powerpooch,

I didn't have any hypertrophic scarring on my face.. But in my opinion, the blue peel was a waste of time and money.. it also hurted like a biotchhhh! I spent $600 for it and they also make you buy all the Obagi products before you do the blue peel which was an extra $150, and you need to do a couple glycolic acid peels before the blue peel which was $95 each. I was so desperate, I didn't know they were ripping me off... Anyway, my face was blue for a week.. I remember when the color faded all away, being SOO disappointed because it did NOTHING for my scars.. ZERO, ZILTCH, NADA.. About your other questions, you'll just have to take really good, clear pictures of your scars and send them to Dr. Y... he will call you personally and you can just ask him anything you want.. He is such a sweet man, you'll feel comfortable right away... How would you classify your scarring? Mild, moderate, severe..? I mean, you saw how bad my scarring was and I AM very happy with how improved my scarring is after just ONE dermabrasion.. but like I said before, I ONLY want Dr. Y to touch my face.. so my plan is to get one more done next year.. I just want to get it done before he even decides to retire..

I will be posting more pictures up soon, you'll see that I still have some scarring though but it's not as bad as it used to be.. Take care all.. Again, you look beautiful Kiki.. >~-^<

Poe

Falnhart...

I did not have scarring on my forehead or jawline. My cheeks were the predominantly affected area.

This thread has the makings of one of the all-time greats - like the needling and smoothbeam ones. There is already so much fantastic information contained here.

Keep updating, people.

Poe and Kiki - FANTASTIC progress! I am so happy for you, ladies.

SadCaroline,

Yes, the punch floated areas do, in all actuality appear improved, but I only had 5 of them done.

kiki- did your face get slimmy and blotchy like pink and red days before?? or at any point?

I just got Poe's pics wich i must say are a testament to this Dr's work and she is greatly improved but her tone is not as yours almost pink all around, are you like that now Poe?

more pics! more pics!

Love great skin. Dr Y must be a very good doctor indeed. Poe, your skin also seems much better now.

I know POE. I am asian and i have been to the derm and told me I am the best candidate for the peel. I feel bad it did nothing for you. I had a different peel b4 and it hurt. I went to have laser done and it didn't do a damn thing for $300 bucks. I am in Houston TX and live pretty close to LA. I am a bit reluctant to make an appointment now because I have to go to school january (Nursing). I have to have an interview and all of that crap. Take the entrance test and other stuff. Take CPR class and I don't know the exact dates for these. What makes u think you need another dermabrasion??? I am interested in asian pt.'s of Dr. Y. Did u see any pics of the asian pt. before and after. I am planning to have dr. Y excise the skin where the scars are even though they are shallow so i can get optimum results. Or does Dr. Y make the decision whether to have them excised. I just wanna get them out because during my clinicals as a nursing student I want them gone because I have to be up close to people. The lighting at the hospital makes my scarring look worse. I am a student and $4500 is a lot. I just want the best result after my first dermabrasion. Poe do you still have any visible scars??? how come you didn't opt to have dr. Y punch them out and do dermabrasion??? what kind of scars do you still have??? were your scars that deep??? sorry i have a hard time seeing the pics

(I removed photos)

Fantastic post, Kiki-- day 7 is extremely useful, because I think I can detect where some of your scarring was. Nevertheless, at 13, it looks gone.

Kiki, your pictures are really dramatic! You must be thrilled! I just got back from a consult with Dr. Y today for spot dermabrasion. He is going to do one spot at a time for me. I live in New Orleans so I will just keep going back. He says some of my spots need time before dermabrasion because they are still fairly new and still have an enzyme calle collanase (sp ?) I think being produced which looks hypertrophic but does get better in time. He is just charging me $75 for each area which is a real deal for me because I know I could spend much more on multiple treatments of microdermabrasion or chemical peels, yet get permanent results with one session of dermabrasion from him. He actually recommended Maderma too because it helps turn off the scar producing enzyme in my skin.

I have poc type scars and lumpy tissue and there is no filler needed like punch float for these when a dermabrasion is done. He said punch float is only needed for ice pick scars. He said I would only need one dermabrasion to fix my scars, which I was happy, I though they would need more! I guess scars always look worse to the person who has them.

Hey Tricia,

I'm from New Orleans, as well, and intend on scheduling an appointment with Dr. Y in a couple of months. My skin is still breaking out a little, and some of my scars haven't fully healed. Do you think this'll pose a problem - i.e. still breaking out? Since you're from NOLA, did you write a letter to Dr. Y providing your history, or did you simply discuss it with him during your consultation? How quickly were you able to schedule an appointment? I apologize for the barrage of questions, but did Dr. Y mention having preliminary bloodwork? Thank you sincerely for your time.

Hi, I didn't send a letter just called and scheduled an appointment, it will probably take 3-4 weeks to get in for the consult, depends on his schedule I guess. He didn't ask for any bloodwork from me, he sounds like the spot treatment he will be giving me will be safer and not as traumatic as a full face. There is a paper they gave me to read on surgical planing aka dermabrasion while waiting for the doctor and it said dermabrasion can actually be used on active acne. It states "In many cases planing has been found to be beneficial to certain types of active acne. When it is performed primarily for active lesions, however, a second planing is usually mandatory for correction of scars."

The consult cost me $105 since I my insurance doesn't cover it and he knows my husband is army overseas in Kuwait so I'm not rich. Once you pay the consult fee there is no more office fees just the procedure fee. I think he also just wants to start off with a small area of one scar to see how it responds before doing the others to make sure it does heal properly instead of puffed up. He probably will need to give you individual advice on your situation, I would definitely just see him and not write a letter since you are close and he will want the consult fee either way at some point- the ones that write letters from out of town just pay it on the surgery date.

Hey Tricia - Thank you very much for your reply. I'll schedule an appointment with Dr. Y soon then. I have my acne more or less under control via a whole foods diet and Retin A Micro, though I recently experienced a moderate breakout. I only hope that, should I require more than one dermabrasion, Dr. Y will not have retired! That, more than anything, has me terribly concerned. I feel like I'm pressed for time. Anyhow, I wish you all the best with your procedure, and I look forward to reading about your progress. Thanks again.