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Hey guys! I really apologize for not updating this thread sooner. My computer died and I decided not to fix it because I have a brand new one at home in Japan. I am headed to Hawaii and then Japan tomorrow. I will update this thread once I am settled back at home in another week. In the meantime, I will say I am still scarred but my skin is greatly improved. Hyperpigmentation is 90% faded at this point. Posting from my phone is difficult, so I will add more detail later. As of now,I have no regrets over my second laser treatment but I am definitely not done with treating my scars. There's still work to be done. My confidence is up 80% though and it feels awesome. Hope you all are well. I look forward to providing a more detailed update soon. Btw, I am approximately 3.5 months post-op.
Have a safe flight, *Inspired* 
Hey guys! I really apologize for not updating this thread sooner. My computer died and I decided not to fix it because I have a brand new one at home in Japan. I am headed to Hawaii and then Japan tomorrow. I will update this thread once I am settled back at home in another week. In the meantime, I will say I am still scarred but my skin is greatly improved. Hyperpigmentation is 90% faded at this point. Posting from my phone is difficult, so I will add more detail later. As of now,I have no regrets over my second laser treatment but I am definitely not done with treating my scars. There's still work to be done. My confidence is up 80% though and it feels awesome. Hope you all are well. I look forward to providing a more detailed update soon. Btw, I am approximately 3.5 months post-op.
Nice to hear. How's the hyperpigmentation now? You say that while you're still scarred, your skin has improved dramatically. In what way? Have your scars filled in or some more than other?
Glad to know that your confidence is back.
Hey guys,
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I needed to take a break from this board and got busy with life. I have to say, I am extremely disappointed with the new forum format. The scar board has become a home remedy, holistic healing board. It's extremely frustrating to see, and I honestly have little interest in participating with any discussions here going forward. We had an awesome group of knowledgeable members here who have pretty much vanished. It's highly unfortunate that acne.org didn't see the value in the "scar" community and the contributions they made to this site. <Rant over>
I am pleased with my first Total FX results, and am going for a second treatment in exactly 5 days. Unfortunately, like my first Deep FX treatment, I didn't see much improvement to the wider, bound down scars on my left cheek. My right cheek looks amazingly improved. I am no longer wearing mineral powder or foundation when I go out. I feel that much more comfortable in my own skin. I would put the improvement on my left cheek around 80% from my worst point. I also had some very shallow scarring between my eyebrows and on my temples. These particular scars are almost unnoticeable now, especially the ones between my eyebrows. I never really worried about these areas as my cheeks have always been my main concern but I am very happy to say the scars have diminished to a point that I actually have to look for them. Previously, I always noticed them in the mirror but they never bothered me like my cheeks. The scars on left cheek appear to be the most resistant to treatment. They are wider and tethered. As a result, my doctor is going to do Dr. Matteo Tretti Clementoni's 4-pass technique on these scars during my second treatment. Dr. Matteo's 4-pass technique is shown in the linked webinar, http://www.lumenis.com/webinar_archive/videoplayer.php?id=1602390770001. The technique portion starts at the 25:25 mark. It is case 6, the first acne scar case shown. I am hopeful this will provide me the improvement I'm after on my wider scars. I will likely settle on a filler after this treatment to simply smooth things out. Hoping for the best!
For those of you who have private messaged me, I am sorry for not replying. I simply don't have the time. For those of you who have asked for my doctor's name, my doctor is Edmund Fisher. Awesome guy. I highly recommend him for Total FX.
Thanks for the update! I'm considering getting Total FX next Christmas, although possibly just as a spot treatment (recovery should be fun with my face full of all the treated spots, heh). I'm going to have a consultation about it soon. I'm so glad this worked for you!!! And good luck with the next treatment. I'd love it if you could let us know how it goes, even if you post only once several months or a year later. It's still very valuable for anyone considering this treatment.
And yes, the forum update blows. Me and justmeuk did complain about it in the discussion area dedicated to the new forum format, but I guess it wasn't enough negative feedback for the mods to take notice. They did recreate Oily skin forum when they got an uproar about deleting/merging it, so there's still a chance they could reconsider this change. But yeah, it sucks.
Hi Austra!
I will definitely stop by and update this thread in the future. I just can't tolerate weeding through threads about massaging my scars and how manuka honey, oils, lemon juice, diet & my own urine will fix all my problems to 100%. Shoot -- if that's true, I am an idiot because I've thrown $1000s away to more sophisticated treatments with the hope of "improvement". Silly me! Haha
You definitely need to be in the right frame of mind to deal with the hyperpigmentation from co2 laser. Deep FX will likely leave dark blocks over your scars for a few months. I would only try it if you can deal with this temporary phase. I actually didn't think I'd put myself through it again, but I am! The things we do to improve our scars!
I added my 2 cents to the forum structure thread. I tried to remain civil and held back on what I really wanted to say. The new format angers me. I really don't see how acne scars are not related to acne, like Real Maverick mentioned in one of his posts. Of course, the admins of acne.org might not see how it's related to acne.org because there's no real benefit for them to host a scar board.
Thank you for the well wishes with my next treatment. I will return and update this thread again. I just don't know when. Hopefully, I can post more pictures at that time.
Only 5 more days until I get my face vaporized again! As always, I'm hoping for the best.
Congratulation *Inspired* and thank you for your update. No more makeup sounds amazing 
I am seriously thinking about getting laser, maybe repair. My subcision and filler treatment failed on me. My scars are shallow and subcision didn't work, and I ended up getting lumps from the treatments.
I can't believe you are going to another one in 5 days...Good luck with your next treatment, I am also hoping for the best for you!
Congratulation *Inspired* and thank you for your update. No more makeup sounds amazing
I am seriously thinking about getting laser, maybe repair. My subcision and filler treatment failed on me. My scars are shallow and subcision didn't work, and I ended up getting lumps from the treatments.
I can't believe you are going to another one in 5 days...Good luck with your next treatment, I am also hoping for the best for you!
Thank you, FruitBiscuits!
I'm really sorry to hear your subcision and filler treatment failed. Do you think the scars were too shallow for subcision? I have been wanting to try subcision on my wider scars but I'm scared. A couple doctors told me I could end up with raised scars, as they felt they were too shallow for subcision. I was really hoping your treatment would go well. 
It's been 7 months since my Total FX procedure. My hyperpigmentation faded by the 4th month. I'm actually still noticing improvement to my overall skin texture at this point. I don't know if that's related to improvement from my laser treatment or Retin-a helping to smooth out my skin since treatment.
It's hard to believe but I do think some of my shallow scars have completely vanished. I checked earlier today and can't seem to find the ones that were between my eyebrows. Some of the shallow boxcar scars on my temples seem to have vanished as well. I wish I could say I saw similar improvement to my deeper scars on my left cheek. The indents are still very noticeable. The scars have shallowed a bit and are much softer, but the results are not nearly as impressive as what I've seen on my other cheek. They are soft enough now though that they don't really look like boxcar scars. They're just wider indents on my left cheek. Hoping that a high jolt of energy to the base of those scars will break up the tethered down fibers and produce some real collagen remodeling this time around.
I've considered Repair but it's a little too scary for me. I'm down to about 7-8 scars that truly bother me. I don't see any reason to ablate to the depth of those scars on healthy skin and don't see how Repair's rolling method can be used to aggressively spot treat like Deep FX. If you do try Repair, please let us know how it goes for you. For me, I'll be sticking to Total FX as it allows a doctor to tailor treatment settings to each individual scar. Once the deeper treatment is applied to each scar, the doctor can then use Active FX to resurface the epidermis. While this can lead to an unusual pattern of hyperpigmention in some skin types, I believe there's less risk of damage to healthy skin.
Honestly, I think makeup only accentuates my scars at this point. I feel so much more confident without layering my skin in powder or some kind of concealer. Perhaps I'm just more accepting of my scars at this point. I am not sure but my skin definitely looks the healthiest it's been in nearly a decade. The improvement was definitely worth the pain of the procedure, money and nearly 4 months of hyperpigmentation.
Thank you for the luck. I'm really hoping this will be my last laser treatment. I am not expecting a miracle but am hoping it will shallow & smooth my remaining scars to a level that I can accept. If this leaves me with a couple scars that can be improved with a filler, I will be more than satisfied.
Yes, other doctors are so right, my scars are visible but shallow, so my skin ended up with lumps(maybe it's called raised scars). My ex-surgeon didn't explain to me clearly about risks of getting lumps. He warned me that subcision won't really work on shallow scars, but I didn't know there is a risk of raised scars. I must say I regret my decision to go for it...
I am thinking about repair because many doctors in my area offer repair. I haven't been able to find a good doctor who offers Total FX. I am happy for you found a good doctor for it , and you are seeing improvement! I hope to find one soon, and yes I'll keep you posted!
Yes, other doctors are so right, my scars are visible but shallow, so my skin ended up with lumps(maybe it's called raised scars). My ex-surgeon didn't explain to me clearly about risks of getting lumps. He warned me that subcision won't really work on shallow scars, but I didn't know there is a risk of raised scars. I must say I regret my decision to go for it...
I am thinking about repair because many doctors in my area offer repair. I haven't been able to find a good doctor who offers Total FX. I am happy for you found a good doctor for it , and you are seeing improvement! I hope to find one soon, and yes I'll keep you posted!
I actually think the doctors were referring to hypertrophic scars when they said my scars could over-correct and end up raised. I didn't actually ask any specific questions about what they meant, so I may have assumed hypertrophic scarring because I have read about that happening from subcision. Were your treated scars rolling or boxcar scars? Also, did your doctor say the lumps were permanent? Is there a chance they'll smooth out over time? I'm really sorry this happened to you!
austra
i don't think it'll disappear over time. i noticed a big lump a month after my first treatment. i bruised up a lot. maybe filler might helped a little to build up unnecessary collagen underneath of my skin, i am not sure. my plastic surgeon thought it was filler at first, but later on confirmed me it is a lump. he told me i should keep massaging it and it should get better, but it still stays the same and i really don't know when it'll go away...might take years...the surgeon told me the sub is best for deep rolling scars, and not effective for shallow scars. i have shallow rolling, boxcar and icepick, and my skin texture got worsen instead of improving those scars appearance. it really did nothing to my shallow boxcar or icepick, but for rolling , i can't really tell because of lumps. but sub won't correct skin texture anyways, i am hoping laser will help.
*Inspired*
yea i don't think i can call these lumps as raised scars, because they feel very soft and empty, almost look like mosquito bites. my biggest lump is obvious and visible in any lighting. smaller lumps are visible only in certain lighting. i am hoping maybe laser can correct these damages and improve my shallow scars even a little. i know laser treatment is not a easy thing to do, and you are very tough to go through that!
I am really sorry for not replying to individual questions. I will try to do that now. I am on my iPad, so please excuse any typos...
@Inspired: I know you've discussed this on the board, but what led you to decide your course of treatment? How did you treat the acne and how long was the wait to start scar treatments? What types of scars did you have?