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freak,
Im aware of the possible long term side effects of GA. I don't plan to perform many more peels. I only use a 35% peel along with Dan's AHA. I just really hate my red marks. With the help of AHA it takes 8+ months for it to fade away, it could possibly take over a year without the help of AHA.
Thanks for your concern though. I noticed that within the past 18 months, I have eaten more fish and increased my omega 3 intake(including supplements) about 50% more than I used to. Even though I was eaten much more healthily within the last 18 months, my skin has been more fragile. I really don't know what to believe anymore. The better I try to take care of my skin and body, the worse it becomes.
I do not have AMVC scarring but I've been following this thread to try to determine why my existing acne scars so badly now even though the acne itself is less severe than it was when I didn't scar.
Freedom's post is very interesting to me as I've always had terrible reactions to fish and cod liver oil supplements- hive-like acne bumps and rashes a few days after I start supplementation which stop forming as soon as I stop taking the pills. Because of this, I've never taken fish oil for an extended period of time, as I could never understand why it affected me so negatively.
I had some definite clearance of my skin with low doses of evening primrose oil but I don't think the scarring stopped; I could only take it for about two weeks though because I suddenly started getting GI distress and my hormones went wacky. I take hemp oil (has GLA and omega 3s) every day now and it helps my skin a bit, but I'm still scarring from everything. I eat a ton of kale and veggies and drink 3 cups of rooibos tea a day, and have chia seeds with breakfast and salmon for dinner 2-3x/week.
Is it possible that omega 3s and anti-inflammatory foods could be a cause for my scarring even though I've never supplemented with fish oil or Vitamin A for long periods of time, or taken Accutane? I just can't figure out why my skin is suddenly so fragile...
You sound just like me. My acne is less severe than it used to be, yet my skin is very very fragile. Nearly every zit leaves me a scar now. I've never taken accutane either but I've been scarring very very easily the last 18 months or so. I've gotten most of my scars during this time.
I started scarring from every pimple a couple months into BP. I've NEVER used accutane or retin-a, but I have used many glycolic acid products including peels but im certain that it is not making me prone to scarring.
I'm sorry but I think you should rethink the glycolic acid peels and the long term effect they can have on the skin. Even if it's not immediate visible damage, Long term use of harsh exfoliant peels that destroy the basal layer of epidermis and cause permanent impairment or thinning of the papillary dermis, making your skin react and appear similar in texture to a 60 year old. The long term use of BP/AHA/BHA/TCA's can change your skins ability to heal correctly and in most cases (like mine) it appears to be permanent. I do get spontaneous scarring now, and I can literally get a crater from a blackhead the width of a pin. I had very resilient skin that would only scar if I literally dug a hole in my face, I had small pores, I had even texture and I healed from pimples well. Years on BP, mandelic acid, salicylic acid, and recently 1 WEAK TCA peel put me over the edge permanently. I will probably spend the rest of my life looking for ways to FIX the damage these chemicals have caused. I've also never been on accutane or retin-a. I'm not trying to scare you but these are the facts that manufacturers will never mention. . . Please focus on dropping the peels/strong topicals and give your skin a chance to regenerate and maybe things will heal themselves overtime. I'm following this advice aswell but I think my skins a lost cause now... but at least I know I'm not making anything worse. I'm considering needling + LED light + Vitamins/Supplements in awhile . . Only reason I could even consider this on such fragile skin is because the damage to the already weakened epidermis is very minimal..and as ironic as it sounds, Poking tiny holes into your face with needles is actually one of the safest procedures with the least amount of risk. . and above all, RESULTS =D
interesting post. ive been using strong BP for about 7 years now and my skin is pretty wrinkly for someone my age. I also scar very easilly. the removal of any pimple will cause a scar. I dont really see how i can stop using it though, there doesnt appear to be any product out there without some form of issue associated with it. Another kick in the teeth if you ask me.
Cartwheel - If BP works for you why don't you try the oral antibiotic route? The benefits of BP, without the skin changes.
See for me, trading acne for crappy textured/damaged skin just isn't worth it... Like yeah you have no pimples on your face but congratulations you look like your 50. All these chemicals and acids just aren't natural.. it's not what our skin was built to deal with on a daily basis. I'm taking the more internal route to fix my acne now, I'm a girl so it's probably easier to blame all my acne on hormones. (which it is in 99% of us anyway) So I'm treating it at the route of the problem instead of trying to mask the inevitable with damaging topicals. I just started on the meds so ofcourse not there yet but I have no doubt in a couple months Ill be clear, and it won't be because I put anything on my face...
My husband is 2 years older than me, he has the most gorgeous beautiful skin I've ever seen in my life and he barely even washes his face.. infact, He told me while growing up he never had facewash and he would just wash his face with CONDITIONER.. he gets a tiny pimple maybe once every 6 months, and it's gone a few hours after I even notice it with not so much as a red mark left over. Point is, sometimes less is more...Genes play a part yes but not completely..(Noone in my family has acne) There is no way his skin would be so nice and heal so great if he was doing all the shit we are. . He's not the only one, The prettier someones skin, the less they probably do to maintain..... I had gorgeous skin too once before I discovered topicals.
Cartwheel - If BP works for you why don't you try the oral antibiotic route? The benefits of BP, without the skin changes.
See for me, trading acne for crappy textured/damaged skin just isn't worth it... Like yeah you have no pimples on your face but congratulations you look like your 50. All these chemicals and acids just aren't natural.. it's not what our skin was built to deal with on a daily basis. I'm taking the more internal route to fix my acne now, I'm a girl so it's probably easier to blame all my acne on hormones. (which it is in 99% of us anyway) So I'm treating it at the route of the problem instead of trying to mask the inevitable with damaging topicals. I just started on the meds so ofcourse not there yet but I have no doubt in a couple months Ill be clear, and it won't be because I put anything on my face...
My husband is 2 years older than me, he has the most gorgeous beautiful skin I've ever seen in my life and he barely even washes his face.. infact, He told me while growing up he never had facewash and he would just wash his face with CONDITIONER.. he gets a tiny pimple maybe once every 6 months, and it's gone a few hours after I even notice it with not so much as a red mark left over. Point is, sometimes less is more...Genes play a part yes but not completely..(Noone in my family has acne) There is no way his skin would be so nice and heal so great if he was doing all the shit we are. . He's not the only one, The prettier someones skin, the less they probably do to maintain..... I had gorgeous skin too once before I discovered topicals.
ive tried oral antibiotics but they dont seem to do too much. some doctors say just leave it, cause its mild/moderate. the dermatologists though are determined to go down the accutane route since its the next step up. seeing most people get most their scars from that, theres no way in hell im touching it, especially since my scars are bad already, even before ive taken it. its funny cause the doctors look at me like im irrational and forceful and just seem to refuse to believe accutane could do anything bad at all. if i took it without needing it and developed any more scarring, i swear id probably go mad. im barely coping as it is, given all the scarring mistakes ive made in the past. what medicaton are u on out of curosity? i only took minomycin and some topical antibiotic. id be happy to try another antibiotic, but each time ive asked, they say its just not an option. so its either minomycin or accutane as its presented to me.
the BP seems to keep mine at bay and i just get around 2-3 pimples a week. ive started adding some goat milk soap into the mix and its made my face look a bit better. i tried blue light therapy for the first time ever last night on one big pimple and it seems to have gone down quite a bit. perhaps this is something to use starting forward. also have some silver cream coming. its a natural one and said to work 1000 times better than normal antibiotics. will only use a small portion as they say you can go blue using too much. im using nixoderm as well which seems to be filling in the holes temporarilly since its a thick mixture. people are going, oh the skins nice, even though the issues are still there, just hidden. jesus it sounds like a lot, im just testng a new regeme at the moment and will pick and choose which products i think are best.
about the skin aging, ah well we dont really have a choice. everything out there seems to have its problems and theres no amazing cure yet. a bit of aging skin is a hell of a lot better than more acne and more serious scarring in my view. kinda under the belief now its about lifestyle choices too as many mates who go to the beach (salt water and sun) have a lot less acne and scarring than me, who stays out of it. almost tempted to give this a go. its autumn now so the sun will be less harsh.
as for you poor poor people who have spontaneous scarring, i recommend you do everything in your power to stop taking the fish oil supplements and multivitamins. i know i scarred more whilst on them, so ive dropped them completely. im only taking vitamin c now, in amongst my normal diet. def look into these antihistamines too.
OK, so I re-read Freedom's posts, and after going over my log from when I started scarring, I've concluded that I may have inadvertently caused myself a GLA and calcium deficiency, which can, if Freedom is correct, lead to scarring. How did this happen? By doing things I thought were healthy, such as:
-eating salmon 2-4x/week
-big scoops of chia seeds and hemp protein with breakfast every day, sometimes walnuts and hemp milk (all have O3) and omega-3 scrambled eggs
-getting a TON of Vitamin A from kale, collards, broccoli, carrots, and sweet potatoes
-taking hemp oil (very very high in LA and ALA; 14x as much LA and 5x as much ALA as GLA per serving)
-taking lecithin (may deplete calcium)
-removing all dairy and fortified cereals from my diet (less calcium)
-supplementing with Magnesium and Zinc (although they help with GLA conversion, both compete with calcium for absorption)
-super high fat and protein meals (decrease calcium absorption)
-taking large doses of Niacinamide without a B-Complex (may deplete other B vitamins and in turn lead to GLA deficiency)
Along with:
-getting barely any Vitamin D due to lack of sun (needed for calcium absorption)
-huge amounts of STRESS (may effect delta-6-desaturase (D6D) enzyme needed for GLA conversion)
I also have digestive issues (leaky gut?) that might make absorption of EFAs difficult. PMS is apparently a symptom of deficiency, and boy oh boy do I have that. 
Along with random rashes/eczema, slow wound healing (even cuts or minor scrapes anywhere on my body can take up to a month to heal), thin papery skin, dry eyes, thirst, poor attention...There is also a history of Type II diabetes and hypoglycemia in the women in my family, though I do not know if I am insulin resistant or hypoglycemic.
I may be over-analyzing things and jumping to conclusions, but thank you Freedom for giving me some hope! Calcium and GLA supplementation may solve my scarring problem, and may help the others who find themselves breaking out and scarring despite doing "healthy" things like eating lots of 03-containing foods and taking fish oils.
It sounds like if AMVC scarring is indeed caused by GLA and calcium deficiency, then sufferers need to be very careful when using any supplement, as it may have an indirect effect on GLA conversion or calcium absorption.
I'll be a guinea pig with calcium and GLA and let you guys know if the scarring stops!
OK, so I re-read Freedom's posts, and after going over my log from when I started scarring, I've concluded that I may have inadvertently caused myself a GLA and calcium deficiency, which can, if Freedom is correct, lead to scarring. How did this happen? By doing things I thought were healthy, such as:
-eating salmon 2-4x/week
-big scoops of chia seeds and hemp protein with breakfast every day, sometimes walnuts and hemp milk (all have O3) and omega-3 scrambled eggs
-getting a TON of Vitamin A from kale, collards, broccoli, carrots, and sweet potatoes
-taking hemp oil (very very high in LA and ALA; 14x as much LA and 5x as much ALA as GLA per serving)
-taking lecithin (may deplete calcium)
-removing all dairy and fortified cereals from my diet (less calcium)
-supplementing with Magnesium and Zinc (although they help with GLA conversion, both compete with calcium for absorption)
-super high fat and protein meals (decrease calcium absorption)
-taking large doses of Niacinamide without a B-Complex (may deplete other B vitamins and in turn lead to GLA deficiency)
Along with:
-getting barely any Vitamin D due to lack of sun (needed for calcium absorption)
-huge amounts of STRESS (may effect delta-6-desaturase (D6D) enzyme needed for GLA conversion)
I also have digestive issues (leaky gut?) that might make absorption of EFAs difficult. PMS is apparently a symptom of deficiency, and boy oh boy do I have that.
I may be over-analyzing things and jumping to conclusions, but thank you Freedom for giving me some hope! Calcium and GLA supplementation may solve my scarring problem, and may help the others who find themselves breaking out and scarring despite doing "healthy" things like eating lots of 03-containing foods and taking fish oils.
It sounds like if AMVC scarring is indeed caused by GLA and calcium deficiency, then sufferers need to be very careful when using any supplement, as it may have an indirect effect on GLA conversion or calcium absorption.
I'll be a guinea pig with calcium and GLA and let you guys know if the scarring stops!
YOur diet is similar to the one I had when I started to scar. I wanted to get super healthy. Started eating salmon three times a week, took fish oil, flax seeds, walnuts. I cut out 06 oils because they were deemed to be "evil" compared to 03 source fats. I took large doses of magnesium to help with the insomnia these 03 fats were causing, all the while taking large amounts of zinc too. High protein meals-yep me too. No sunshine and no vit D for me. Bone density tests shows osteopenia.
Grrr fucking more scars popping up by the day... I don't know how to deal with this anymore it's so fucking frustrating to not be getting pimples in these areas, to not be touching my skin AT all, and wake up with slits in my fucking cheeks. 
Praisethelord, my spontaneous scars look just like yours but less n length, I keep getting this crazy ass parallel line scars, like 2 scared lines next to each other like railroad tracks. This shit is ridiculous, How is it even possible?!?! It looks like my scarred pores somehow merge overnight into one large line of scars and this is happening everywhere on my cheeks. I don't take any Vitamin A, flax seed oil, fish oil ect.. I don't eat seafood, it's gross. I do drink alot of milk, always have though. Since these scars literally appeared over night, maybe if I cut the triggers completely, maybe they can disappear overnight? Because how much tissue damage could have really occurred if nothing was physically done?
Then again a chemical peel did this to my skin, and overtime I just continue to scar worse. . Whats so insane to me is that the reason people scar is ultimately from DERMAL inflammation, which is the exact mechanism of a chemical peel and other skin resurfacing treatments, So basically it's scarred skin in a bottle. FUN 
.. How the fuck is this crap even legal?
cartwheel - Your doing the blue light? I'm doing the red light, I've only started it a couple weeks ago but I haven't seen ANY benefit whatsoever which is sad but...whatever, it was only 37$ bucks and its only 10 minutes out of my day so I'll continue for at least a couple months.. Right now I'm taking 100mg SPironolactone which is a antiandrogen and I was also put on Birth control but that broke me out in cystic acne so it's cut. I'm also on a million vitamins + supplements aswell because I figure they can only help.. even though nothing really has. .I guess I'll add evening primrose oil + Alpha R-Lipoic Acid to the regimen aswell.... I should also probably quit smoking for good.
Freakb1hh I developed my amvc I believe after my third dermarolling session, didn't get those amvc scars after the first 2 sessions but guess something happened the 3rd time.... 
...It sucks big time. I got another scar by the temple the other day. Sometimes I wonder If im crazy, but I know I'm not, I have picture evidence....I feel like shit at the moment.
When did you have you latest treatment?
I'm also on a million vitamins + supplements aswell because I figure they can only help.. even though nothing really has. ..
Be careful with taking so many supplements! I went crazy with supplements too and that's when my skin and digestive system really started freaking out. Some supplements can cause imbalances in other vitamins and minerals, leading to health problems.
Freakb1hh I developed my amvc I believe after my third dermarolling session, didn't get those amvc scars after the first 2 sessions but guess something happened the 3rd time....
When did you have you latest treatment?
I had 2 light tca peels spread months apart.. Only 11-12% TCA I believe but my skin reacted to it like a DEEP peel. . the common denominator for both of us was that we didn't individualize our scars when we did treatments. We went over our whole face, previous unscarred areas with chemicals and needles in places where the skin should have been left alone because there was no scar tissue to breakdown. This is why I don't like treatments that treat the whole face... its unnecessary to mess with good skin, and only scars us in new places.. If this is due to a temporary dermal inflammation, the skin should eventually bounce back to where it's not as fragile & scar prone.. and people with 'orange peel' effect say it can take years for this to happen. On the other end if it's THINNING of papillary dermis, I think we're fucked =/ but that might also improve with time... I'm not a derm, although I think when it comes to our skin, you have to be your own advocate.. a derm is not going to give a fuck what happens to your face as long as he/she gets paid. We have no choice but to wait and see what happens...
I'm also on a million vitamins + supplements aswell because I figure they can only help.. even though nothing really has. ..Be careful with taking so many supplements! I went crazy with supplements too and that's when my skin and digestive system really started freaking out. Some supplements can cause imbalances in other vitamins and minerals, leading to health problems.
Hmmm.. I'd really hate to think anything I'm takings making things worse... I just started taking Super Vitamin B complex in addition to everything below - Before a couple days ago I never supplemented with B vitamins in my life and I just learned its basically essential to take if you want to absorb other vitamins efficiently... So I've been on all the other crap for months and months, with little effect...Doh!... I'm hoping that might have been why...
This is what I've been on..
royal jelly (taking for other reasons)
hyaluronic acid capsules 150mg
vitamin c (1000mg -1500mg daily)
vitamin e (400mg)
folic acid 800mg
biotin 2000mgs
CoQ10 200mg
& Just started Grape seed extract + Evening Primrose oil.. and I've heard good things about Alpha R-Lipoic Acid for scars so I might add that too..
Yeahhh... our kitchen looks like GNC. 
Okey I think I know why Im scarring, but not 100% sure thou. I have been using this beard dye color latly because my beard doesnt have the same color around my mouth as on my cheek/neck. I have a theory that the dying chemicals does something to my skin, which makes it scar! Could this be possible?? Any input? I havent gotten any major amvc scars this week, but today I got 2 scars the day after I did the dying....
Ok. It is not the beard color. It is definnetly high doses of vitamin A. Yesterday I ate a meal with carrots and brocolli and today I got a new scar!(I realized what I just ate after)..Stupid..Ok here is the new scar:
Scar I got last week:
I'm so pissed of at this condition...so fucking unfair...Like I dont have enought scars already???
Edit: Another one I have forgotten to upload:
Ok. It is not the beard color. It is definnetly high doses of vitamin A. Yesterday I ate a meal with carrots and brocolli and today I got a new scar!(I realized what I just ate after)..Stupid..Ok here is the new scar:
Scar I got last week:
I'm so pissed of at this condition...so fucking unfair...Like I dont have enought scars already???
Edit: Another one I have forgotten to upload:
Have you tried taking a GLA and calcium supplement like freedom suggested? It probably wouldn't hurt...