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It has been an extremely long time since I've updated anything on this site...needless to say, I did a terrible job at keeping fellow sufferers up to date with any progress I had or had not made. I will attempt to do that in writing because I didn't have any pics (other than the ones taken at offices) that directly addressed my scars, however I will try and put some current ones up even though there will be no baseline pics.
I believe that the last time I had spoke upon this topic (TCA) I had just had a second round of 100% done. To my recollection, I did a third at 100% and that's about all my skin could take. After the second round, the redness stayed longer and longer. The redness was expected as the aggressiveness heightened but not as prolonged as it turned out to be. I eventually did two more of 50% and called it quits. During this time, I also had some subcisions performed on some of the deeper scars along with filler. I was not thrilled about the filler idea but he believed in that combo method to help keep the scar raised during the healing process which made sense in theory. Due to the redness caused by the TCA, I took major breaks between treatments. Sometimes 6 months or more. This fact might be the reason why my posted went by the wayside and was forgotten. Because I am impatient when it comes to my skin, during these "waiting" periods, I had a few Fraxel Duals performed which I must say helped a great deal with the contour of my skin as well as pigment issues that had been caused by the TCA. Basically, I was having a lot of SHIT done to my face at once! Not that it's necessarily a bad thing but obviously, it makes it hard to decide what treatment to attribute to any improvement I have had.
I'll tell you, in short, my experience with each:
TCA: May have helped some of the more shallow scars I had on my cheeks. I must say I was a bit disappointed having read so many positive things about the treatment. I'm sure that I would've received more improvement had my skin been able to tolerate the chemical for a longer duration but I just couldn't keep walking around with red dots on my skin for extended periods of time and causing prolonged pigmentation problems that are just now beginning to even out.
Subcision: The doctor performed the treatment on different spots at different times so it became hard to know what had already been treated and with the added filler, true results are really hard to see until that DAMN filler dissolves and he would purposely over-correct the scars with the filler as to not UNDER correct them. Leaving a bumpy feeling which I hated. I would say subcision does and did help some. I would do more WITHOUT any filler for deep scarring.
Filler: He injected filler after subcision like 3 times. The 1st time was fine and uniform. The other times he over-corrected leaving the area bumpy and weird looking in certain light. It takes way to long to go away. If done right, longer lasting would be a good thing otherwise...you want it out, which I did and still do but I am just letting it dissolve. One time he hit a blood vessel in my forehead causing it to become dark and bleed under the skin leaving a scab for a few days and a dark mark that didn't resolve until a few fraxel duals were done. SAY NO TO NEEDLES IN FOREHEAD.
Fraxel Dual: Surprisingly, I was pretty impressed with what I noticed the Dual did to my skin. The dual has a way of effecting the deeper layers of the skin while at the same time, addressing more superficial, pigment issues on the upper layers. It evened my skin out and smoothed things a good deal. I had 4 treatments, the first being very light. As they became more aggressive, once again redness persisted, so I took more time off in between them. I am still considering getting a final one done.
If you guys have any questions about the above treatments, I'm sure I could provide you with some answers. Feel free to ask anything and I'll make it a point to check this often as I know this stuff can be hard to deal with and any information can be beneficial. I'd like to help.
Take care,
Leo LP
While it's a little tough to say due to the fact that I've been going through these treatments off and on for about 5 years and don't even remember what they looked like in the first place, I would say at least 50% It really depends on the scars. Certain scars respond better based on not only the type of scar, but location as well. I have a a few stubborn ones on my forehead that don't seem to respond to anything.
Hey Leo thanks so much for coming back here! You've definitely been very very helpful. Regarding TCA Cross, would you say it worked on box scars at well? If yes, how large were the box scars? If not, did it make it worse? Thanks so much in advance!
I believe I have one boxcar scar, maybe two. I would say it helped a little bit in stimulating some collagen, thus filling it in some. It was kinda hard for me to gauge because of the redness at the time. I became more focused on the pigment being different than everything else so the scar stood out more. I also must say this, plus the fraxel dual, helped the boxscar(s) a lot. I can't understate how much I feel the dual improved the overall condition of my skin. I think the combo of all the treatments played a role but what really makes me want to attribute a lot of improvement to the dual is that after taking a bit of time off from the TCA/Subcision, I had one fraxel dual done (pretty low settings), went back to Chicago and Dr. Shah was talking about all the improvement he was seeing. I didn't mention I had the fraxel done until a few appt. later.
Hey Leo thanks so much for coming back here! You've definitely been very very helpful. Regarding TCA Cross, would you say it worked on box scars at well? If yes, how large were the box scars? If not, did it make it worse? Thanks so much in advance!
I believe I have one boxcar scar, maybe two. I would say it helped a little bit in stimulating some collagen, thus filling it in some. It was kinda hard for me to gauge because of the redness at the time. I became more focused on the pigment being different than everything else so the scar stood out more. I also must say this, plus the fraxel dual, helped the boxscar(s) a lot. I can't understate how much I feel the dual improved the overall condition of my skin. I think the combo of all the treatments played a role but what really makes me want to attribute a lot of improvement to the dual is that after taking a bit of time off from the TCA/Subcision, I had one fraxel dual done (pretty low settings), went back to Chicago and Dr. Shah was talking about all the improvement he was seeing. I didn't mention I had the fraxel done until a few appt. later.
Hey Leo I just had a derma rolling session and also TCA Cross on one ice pick scar. However, the now that the white frosting has disappeared the ice pick seems to be larger. Is this normal? When would it become a scab? When do you think it will heal and improve? Thank you so much! I'm so worried now.
Hey Leo thanks so much for coming back here! You've definitely been very very helpful. Regarding TCA Cross, would you say it worked on box scars at well? If yes, how large were the box scars? If not, did it make it worse? Thanks so much in advance!
I believe I have one boxcar scar, maybe two. I would say it helped a little bit in stimulating some collagen, thus filling it in some. It was kinda hard for me to gauge because of the redness at the time. I became more focused on the pigment being different than everything else so the scar stood out more. I also must say this, plus the fraxel dual, helped the boxscar(s) a lot. I can't understate how much I feel the dual improved the overall condition of my skin. I think the combo of all the treatments played a role but what really makes me want to attribute a lot of improvement to the dual is that after taking a bit of time off from the TCA/Subcision, I had one fraxel dual done (pretty low settings), went back to Chicago and Dr. Shah was talking about all the improvement he was seeing. I didn't mention I had the fraxel done until a few appt. later.
Hey Leo I just had a derma rolling session and also TCA Cross on one ice pick scar. However, the now that the white frosting has disappeared the ice pick seems to be larger. Is this normal? When would it become a scab? When do you think it will heal and improve? Thank you so much! I'm so worried now.
Hey there! Have you been keeping it moisturized with aquaphor or vaseline? Usually it forms a scab between 2-5 days, will come off, and the skin will be pink and in healing mode. They can look worse for a bit following because it's a new injury to the skin that needs to heal. Collagen takes a while to form so it will be 6 weeks at least, I would say until you see improvement in the actual scar. As far as it looking worse, once the surface skin heals, it should look how it did before the procedure and start to improve deeper within the skin.
Hey Leo thanks so much for coming back here! You've definitely been very very helpful. Regarding TCA Cross, would you say it worked on box scars at well? If yes, how large were the box scars? If not, did it make it worse? Thanks so much in advance!
I believe I have one boxcar scar, maybe two. I would say it helped a little bit in stimulating some collagen, thus filling it in some. It was kinda hard for me to gauge because of the redness at the time. I became more focused on the pigment being different than everything else so the scar stood out more. I also must say this, plus the fraxel dual, helped the boxscar(s) a lot. I can't understate how much I feel the dual improved the overall condition of my skin. I think the combo of all the treatments played a role but what really makes me want to attribute a lot of improvement to the dual is that after taking a bit of time off from the TCA/Subcision, I had one fraxel dual done (pretty low settings), went back to Chicago and Dr. Shah was talking about all the improvement he was seeing. I didn't mention I had the fraxel done until a few appt. later.
Hey Leo I just had a derma rolling session and also TCA Cross on one ice pick scar. However, the now that the white frosting has disappeared the ice pick seems to be larger. Is this normal? When would it become a scab? When do you think it will heal and improve? Thank you so much! I'm so worried now.
Hey there! Have you been keeping it moisturized with aquaphor or vaseline? Usually it forms a scab between 2-5 days, will come off, and the skin will be pink and in healing mode. They can look worse for a bit following because it's a new injury to the skin that needs to heal. Collagen takes a while to form so it will be 6 weeks at least, I would say until you see improvement in the actual scar. As far as it looking worse, once the surface skin heals, it should look how it did before the procedure and start to improve deeper within the skin.
Hey Leo thanks so much!!! You're amazing! Haha will avoid mirrors for a while 