No one knows?

Never heard of a TCA cross. What's that?

it's like TCA peel except you use a toothpick to inject it deeper into skin for depressed scar.

Google "TCA Cross", I was able to find some valuable information that way, not about usage internal, layers, and etc though.

I don't recommend cross at home, because it can cause worsening of scars or new scars if something goes wrong, so it's better to leave the treatments for experienced professionals in my opinion. It's too risky if you don't know what you're doing.

What you saw with your initial result was due to swelling and possibly scabbing. You can't fully assess the results of any treatment for at least a couple of months because transient microswelling after lasers, cross, or dermarolling can make the scarring look much better to begin with, and collagen remodeling takes several weeks.

If you want improvement with cross, you'd need several treatments spaced around 2-4 months (or longer) from each other, so there's enough time for the skin to recover and collagen to form before the next treatment. I personally didn't see a lot of improvement for my chicken pox scars and acne box scars with cross, but I do think it can be effective for ice picks.

^^true .you may risk chemical burn..

Use iodine which causes the same effect as TCA but at constant rate and slowly with no risk of chemical burn.

http://www.realself.com/question/convenient-laser-treatment-after-45-days-tca-cross

This one woman had it one by a doctor and still came out with alarming results. The tca cross-ed areas look widened, and deepened. I believe it can work, but can also be unpredictable for others. I had one session of TCA Cross and I was initially frightened by the aftermath. Just the sheer number of deep red, widened, and deeper ice pick scars on my face horrified me. I was sure something had gone horribly wrong. Ultimately though, I didn't see lasting damage or results, which I consider a good thing. Losing a couple hundred bucks is a lot better than coming out worse.

The smart thing to do would be only test treat some inconspicuous scars and see how they heal. Tread lightly and don't go in with the mindset of doing everything at once.

Oh wow. I don't know what on earth the doctor did to manage that! It looks like he's put acid on a much wider area than the original scars, which has resulted in large hyperpigmentations that might also be indented. That's really scary. I wonder if this was due to the doctor's lack of knowledge and experience, or just something that is an actual risk with Cross treatments.

I wouldn't recommend cross for most larger-diameter ice-picks. I think it would only work with very narrow ice-picks (which I don't actually have, so no experience if it does help those). I do think cross if a fairly high-risk treatment, although most scar treatments are. I had only a couple of scars that seemed to get better, but a couple of them also seemed to get worse. So zero improvement.

Yep, if I've learned anything, it's to ALWAYS insist on test spots and doing a smaller, inconspicuous area first if heaven forbid something goes very wrong. The procedure itself may be sound, but it comes down a lot to personal physiology. How your body heals is a huge factor in how things turn out.

It's hard to tell in that picture if it's just hyperpigmentation or if there are actual indentations. That doctor clearly used it on scars that are way too wide. They must be pin prick sized scars that are deep.

When I had my first and only session so far, the doctor hit every single ice pick on my face, which is to say ALOT. It looked pretty horrific. If I attempted this again, I would only do my worst scars, or specific areas. The recovery is pretty tough.