I am currently into Day 3 of getting another round of CO2, Herbal and fraxel laser. He also used my own blood this time to improve my results and healing time.
Unlike last time, I was not knocked out. This time he used an anesthetic cream on my face which numbed it. This did numb it but I wouldn't say very well. The procedure was very very painful and I would recommend at least having some local anesthetic injected into your face before getting this procedure done. I did not have any. It was extremely painful but I got through it. Even my doctor was shocked at how well I was able to deal with the pain.
Like last time I got this procedure done, I was prepared for the worst. I wish I could say it wasn't that bad but it was. At the moment I'm on day 3 and my face is oozing like crazy and the smell is insane.
To make matters worse, I am currently very sick with tonsillitis (I had to call a doctor out to get antibiotics to help me with my throat as I couldnt breath) and I also have invisibility bracers on my teeth which I must remove to eat or drink anything so its been a really awful experience but I'm dealing with it.
I will be uploading more photos soon. Ask me any questions and Ill try to answer them the best I can
Hi,you mean this time you done a combination of laser,fraxel together with CO2 and herbal?
Well, the last series of pics show the amazing progress of your cheek right?Congrats......i'll continue following your updating,wish you well!!!
Sorry for my lack of updates! I have been really busy with life stuff.
Since my last update (October 2013), I let my face settle down and did nothing for about 4 months after having laser again. In that time, it gave me time to reflect on everything I have done to my face and if I think its worth to continue with all of this.
In January 2014 I was happy with my face but I felt I could be happier with it so I decided to try skin needling at home. I'm a pro active person and I feel good about myself when I'm at least doing something to achieve that. I brought a 1.5mm derma roller on ebay and started to roll my face. To be honest, I hadn't expected to see results. About 6 months later, I can see the results! Especially on my cheeks which have massively improved. My forehead had lines on it which have 80% decreased. I am now needling with a 2.0mm derma roller. I don't use numb cream because I can handle pain (just look at everything I have done! this is nothing lol)
I uploaded a photo. Sorry if its not clear. Bad camera but it shows the areas I'm trying to get results on at the moment.
Red - Scar on my forehead which grew into my foreline. a lot of my forelines are gone due to the needling but the scar remains.
Blue - Some of the rolling scars that got removed with subscision have returned. Considering getting them filled but they aren't as bad as they were. The returned ones are about 60% less deep.
Green - I HATE this scar. It's the worst scar on my face and this scar was caused from my last lazer treatment. A massive big chunk of skin got scarred. The scar would still be fresh so I hope to decrease it.
Write again soon 
WOW. This whole thread is really inspiring and let me just say you are a good looking guy! My question for you is did you see any significant improvement in overall texture and tone? I know your rolling scars have obviously improved a lot, but I've read that with very shallow scarring and texture issues, it's more difficult to get or at least notice any improvement. I have mostly shallow scarring and bad texture, however, it's all over my entire face. I have very little healthy skin except for a small area on my forehead, making my face look pretty awful especially in bad lighting. I also can't cover it up with makeup which makes it even harder for me to accept. I'm debating on the co2 fractional laser if needling doesn't give me any benefit, but the cost is putting me off. What's your input?
WOW. This whole thread is really inspiring and let me just say you are a good looking guy! My question for you is did you see any significant improvement in overall texture and tone? I know your rolling scars have obviously improved a lot, but I've read that with very shallow scarring and texture issues, it's more difficult to get or at least notice any improvement. I have mostly shallow scarring and bad texture, however, it's all over my entire face. I have very little healthy skin except for a small area on my forehead, making my face look pretty awful especially in bad lighting. I also can't cover it up with makeup which makes it even harder for me to accept. I'm debating on the co2 fractional laser if needling doesn't give me any benefit, but the cost is putting me off. What's your input?
I've gone through just as many treatments as OP have and based on my experiences, ablative laser resurfacing always comes in cost. I was on your shoe a year ago and decided to take the toughest route, Fraxel:repair. I truly believed in 'no pain, no gain' theory. However, Fraxel:repair left me with very sensitive skin and small pin holes all over my face. Overall texture improved by a little, but not as much as I expected.
One delusion everybody falls into is that strong ablative laser treatments will perform miracles in ONE or TWO treatment. The short answer is no. Even the strongest treatment like Fraxel:repair needs at least three treatments to see actual improvements. One downfall about this is that your skin becomes progressively more sensitive with each treatment, and there is always a risk of your skin reaction to the treatment (orange peel texture, hyperpigmentation, etc)
In the end, I strongly recommend surgical procedures before you opt out for ablative laser treatments. Procedures like subcision and punch grafts seem to have more immediate results with less chance of skin complexion when performed by a skilled practitioner.
WOW. This whole thread is really inspiring and let me just say you are a good looking guy! My question for you is did you see any significant improvement in overall texture and tone? I know your rolling scars have obviously improved a lot, but I've read that with very shallow scarring and texture issues, it's more difficult to get or at least notice any improvement. I have mostly shallow scarring and bad texture, however, it's all over my entire face. I have very little healthy skin except for a small area on my forehead, making my face look pretty awful especially in bad lighting. I also can't cover it up with makeup which makes it even harder for me to accept. I'm debating on the co2 fractional laser if needling doesn't give me any benefit, but the cost is putting me off. What's your input?
I saw improvement with my texture and tone from the lazer yes, but I got better results from needling as it seems to 'refresh' my skin everytime i use it. i love it. The laser made A LOT of my scars smaller and less noticeable. They are still on my face but very small. I can cover them with make up but I don't bother so I've learnt to live with my flaws.
the co2 fractional laser was worth it but you need to prepare yourself because its very brutal. it was probably one of the worst experiences of my life and i can still remember the smell of the burning flesh on my face. its not an easy thing to get over. i believe you should only get laser if your face is very scared (like i was) but you need to understand that you will not get results straight away. it will take a long time. its also very costly. in australia, if you get a referral off your doctor to see a plastic surgeon for laser then you can claim it back as a medical expense at tax time. this can only be done with a referral which i got from my doctor after explaining my situation to him and why i needed laser. he was extremely understanding and didn't hesitate to give me a referral. you can't claim all of it back, but you get a % back which is better then nothing.
my face still looks awful in bad light but i think everyone who has had scars feels the same way.
That's pretty cool that you got some money back, I'm not sure if that's an option available in the states where I live. :/
Yeah, I've heard that co2 laser is pretty awful in terms of pain and downtime, and that results take time as you said. Unfortunately even though my scars are shallow, most are an inch long or more and all over so they are still noticeable which is why I'm considering getting it done. I think I will continue with needling first and see where that gets me. Did you breakout during any of your treatments and were you allowed to use topicals or anything? I breakout if I don't use bp and tazorac so that's a big concern for me.
WOW. This whole thread is really inspiring and let me just say you are a good looking guy! My question for you is did you see any significant improvement in overall texture and tone? I know your rolling scars have obviously improved a lot, but I've read that with very shallow scarring and texture issues, it's more difficult to get or at least notice any improvement. I have mostly shallow scarring and bad texture, however, it's all over my entire face. I have very little healthy skin except for a small area on my forehead, making my face look pretty awful especially in bad lighting. I also can't cover it up with makeup which makes it even harder for me to accept. I'm debating on the co2 fractional laser if needling doesn't give me any benefit, but the cost is putting me off. What's your input?
I saw improvement with my texture and tone from the lazer yes, but I got better results from needling as it seems to 'refresh' my skin everytime i use it. i love it. The laser made A LOT of my scars smaller and less noticeable. They are still on my face but very small. I can cover them with make up but I don't bother so I've learnt to live with my flaws.
the co2 fractional laser was worth it but you need to prepare yourself because its very brutal. it was probably one of the worst experiences of my life and i can still remember the smell of the burning flesh on my face. its not an easy thing to get over. i believe you should only get laser if your face is very scared (like i was) but you need to understand that you will not get results straight away. it will take a long time. its also very costly. in australia, if you get a referral off your doctor to see a plastic surgeon for laser then you can claim it back as a medical expense at tax time. this can only be done with a referral which i got from my doctor after explaining my situation to him and why i needed laser. he was extremely understanding and didn't hesitate to give me a referral. you can't claim all of it back, but you get a % back which is better then nothing.
my face still looks awful in bad light but i think everyone who has had scars feels the same way.
That's pretty cool that you got some money back, I'm not sure if that's an option available in the states where I live. :/
Yeah, I've heard that co2 laser is pretty awful in terms of pain and downtime, and that results take time as you said. Unfortunately even though my scars are shallow, most are an inch long or more and all over so they are still noticeable which is why I'm considering getting it done. I think I will continue with needling first and see where that gets me. Did you breakout during any of your treatments and were you allowed to use topicals or anything? I breakout if I don't use bp and tazorac so that's a big concern for me.
WOW. This whole thread is really inspiring and let me just say you are a good looking guy! My question for you is did you see any significant improvement in overall texture and tone? I know your rolling scars have obviously improved a lot, but I've read that with very shallow scarring and texture issues, it's more difficult to get or at least notice any improvement. I have mostly shallow scarring and bad texture, however, it's all over my entire face. I have very little healthy skin except for a small area on my forehead, making my face look pretty awful especially in bad lighting. I also can't cover it up with makeup which makes it even harder for me to accept. I'm debating on the co2 fractional laser if needling doesn't give me any benefit, but the cost is putting me off. What's your input?
I saw improvement with my texture and tone from the lazer yes, but I got better results from needling as it seems to 'refresh' my skin everytime i use it. i love it. The laser made A LOT of my scars smaller and less noticeable. They are still on my face but very small. I can cover them with make up but I don't bother so I've learnt to live with my flaws.
the co2 fractional laser was worth it but you need to prepare yourself because its very brutal. it was probably one of the worst experiences of my life and i can still remember the smell of the burning flesh on my face. its not an easy thing to get over. i believe you should only get laser if your face is very scared (like i was) but you need to understand that you will not get results straight away. it will take a long time. its also very costly. in australia, if you get a referral off your doctor to see a plastic surgeon for laser then you can claim it back as a medical expense at tax time. this can only be done with a referral which i got from my doctor after explaining my situation to him and why i needed laser. he was extremely understanding and didn't hesitate to give me a referral. you can't claim all of it back, but you get a % back which is better then nothing.
my face still looks awful in bad light but i think everyone who has had scars feels the same way.
I derma roll every 2-4 weeks, depending on my skin. When I feel my skin looks horrible, i needle it to make myself feel better.
I broke out massively when i had the Co2 laser. My whole body got acne but it was not severe as it went away in a couple of weeks. When I had the laser, I used vaseline which i was allergic to (didnt know until i had a reaction to it) and then i started to use papaw cream which helped me massively.
Greg I've read your whole thread, a few times! I've been on a similar journey, hate to think of what I've spent but I've seen improvement too. I still use my dermastamp every few weeks...
About subscision, you say you had 5 treatments, and the 5th was the worse, probably due to the filler you used? Would you recommend it though? And would you skip the filler?
the 5th subscision was the worst due to how brutal it was. the local anaesthetic used on my face kinda knocked me around and made me shake and cry (i wasn't in pain) but i felt it was my body saying it had enough and i should stop. i left my face for about a month or 2 before i had fillers. the fillers lasted for a very long time and it wasnt until i had laser that they disappeared. the fillers did not hurt to get and they filled a lot of my uneven areas. it wasnt perfect, but it wasnt bad either. about 80-90%.
i uploaded a photo of my 5th subscision which u can see how brutal it was. my face was sooo swollen.
the other photo which has 2 photos of me in it, is the fillers straight after. the marks on my face (the red circle things) are from where the needle went into my skin. they vanished in about a week but as you can see, my rolling scars were gone a lot of my uneven areas were filled.
