Thanks..I was definately thinking about going to a plastic surgeon to have this done. An indented linear scar would not bother me..but I have heard that excision scars are suppost to be a flat, thin, white line? Hmm maybe that's only if you get a small peice taken out.

How much skin did you have taken out? And it's hard to tell where your linear scar is on that pic..can you point it out?

Hi Suhail.

I am sorry to hear things didn't go well for you. I wish you all the best to overcome this situation.

Thanks for sharing such information on the forum. It's important for other people who are considering these and other procedures to be fully aware of both the potential negatives and positives.

Good luck and stay strong!

I am sorry to hear this happened to you..., and thank you for sharing your experience to the board members....

I hope your next excisions will be successful and it will be a great result for you!

@Jenny See the biggest indention on that picture? It's like a wide indention and a little long.. that's the failed excision. It completely failed basically. That indention should have been just a line and not what it is. It looks pretty bad at the moment. I don't even think I can cover it with makeup to hide it. I just have to wait for a new excision which kind of sucks.. I was hoping there was something I could do for the next 3 months.

Suhail, I agree with you that a plastic surgeon will be much more qualified to handle an excision. I do not know how the scar looked before, but if it was depressed as in the picture you posted it may be due to the scar being tethered to subcutaneous tissue underneath. In that case, even with a perfect excision there would still be a significant depression. You may want to consider getting a subcision done to ensure that the scar is not being tethered down before you perform another excision.

I agree a PS is best at excision. They are really trained to cut and stitch while leaving the smallest scar possible.

I hope it works out for you this time coming up! Thoughts and prayers.

That is interesting that you say I would need subcision possibly... but why would the doctor do a subcision on the linear scar if the old scar tissue has already been removed? I don't quite understand what you mean when you say It could still be depressed even with a perfect excision. The scar previously was a midish deep rolling scar and a ice pick quite close to it.. the length of excision was slightly longer because I had them both excised. I figured it would be a linear line that would fade over time but nope. This is truly a hellish ordeal as I wear a small steristrip to hide the scar. I was better off before because I could have just used a filler for the rest of my life and now I can't take back the hands of time.. it's truly a regretful depressing situation. I should have done more research. There is nothing more frightening then the thought of it failing again.

And I can't figure out why it failed in the first place. The area is pretty small I'd say. I just have to say or assume that a determatoligist is not that great at cutting like I reiterated. I do not think there is much tension in that area anyway.

June 15th is my re-excision date. Cost $400 so it is not that bad.

I was considering using a filler but I doubt that work on the scar I have now.

Hi Suhail, Hope ur re-excision gone well and everything is fine now... Any updates? BTW i had my first by PS last week in Germany... The Second week looks really be the worst like lots of ppl say here... Will Keep updating... Best, Reza

First of all, if your considering excision for an acne scar DO NOT go to a dermatologist. I repeat.. DO NOT go to a determatolgist. It will be the biggest mistake of your life. Dermatologists do not do excisions as much as a plastic surgeon. Their skill/experience in cutting is not going to be as good and you will more than likely end up with a failed excision. I was very ignorant and jumped the boat when a dermatologist offered $175 to excise an acne scar. The excision failed and now I have to wait another three months to have it re-excised. The results weren't terribly bad becase the line is fairly small but it is wide and indented. Plastic surgeons are also quite much more expensive but you're more or less going to get a better result and have a much higher chance of a successful excision.

Another thing to remember is that an excision WILL not completely remove your scarring. Depending on the depth of your scar, acne scarring also takes away fat in your face. You will still have some indention even with a linear scar which means you'll probably have to use a filler for a near perfect result.

I wish I educated myself much more and I think I would have just sticked with fillers until something better came a long as I only had one deep acne scar that bothered me. I just wanted to advise anyone considering excision that it's not some miracle cure for acne scarring even with a perfect linear/flat scar. I just hope my next excision coming up in June does not fail again. It's truly a terrible and depressing experience when you have high expectations and are anticipating stitches coming out only to find that your excision failed.

The good news is that my scar is only 10 CM long or half an inch.. and new excision won't be much longer. I just pray the next one doesn't fail and if anyone has any opinions regarding excisions please feel free to share.

Anyway just wanted to post my experience. I'll upload a picture so you can guys can see.

Hi, I had a failed excision too and the PS I went to see about it said I had to wait 6 months before I could get it redone so I'm interested to hear who told you only 3 months. Was that the PS or the dermatologist?

Also, dying to hear if you were able to fix your excision?

Mine is much much worse and bigger so count your blessings.

Thanks so much