I have researched acne scar treatments for many years now and find it a daunting task trying to find genuine reviews on professionals who perform such treatments.
I recently came across a Dr Tapan Patel based in London who sounds very promising. I aslo heard that Dr Patel was involved in the care of Katie Piper (the burns victim), but cannot find any documented evidence to support this.
Despite a lot of positives, the following statements on the Viva Clinic website (founded by Dr Patel) have made me very wary:
'The help of a dermatologist is necessary to get rid of acne. The scarring can be removed completely with the help of a cosmetic doctor who uses Laser therapy'
'This is one of the best methods in which the scar tissue can be made to completely disappear'
'Dr Tapan Patel who is an acne scaring specialist will initially provide you with a plan of treatment based on the severity of scarring that is present. Over a period of several weeks or months, the scars will be made to disappear completely.'
How can a professional with such respect in the medical field make statements such as these.
Has anyone had any experience with Dr Patel?
I have researched acne scar treatments for many years now and find it a daunting task trying to find genuine reviews on professionals who perform such treatments.
I recently came across a Dr Tapan Patel based in London who sounds very promising. I aslo heard that Dr Patel was involved in the care of Katie Piper (the burns victim), but cannot find any documented evidence to support this.
Despite a lot of positives, the following statements on the Viva Clinic website (founded by Dr Patel) have made me very wary:
'The help of a dermatologist is necessary to get rid of acne. The scarring can be removed completely with the help of a cosmetic doctor who uses Laser therapy'
'This is one of the best methods in which the scar tissue can be made to completely disappear'
'Dr Tapan Patel who is an acne scaring specialist will initially provide you with a plan of treatment based on the severity of scarring that is present. Over a period of several weeks or months, the scars will be made to disappear completely.'
How can a professional with such respect in the medical field make statements such as these.
Has anyone had any experience with Dr Patel?
its currently not possible to make scars dissapear with laser especially deep scars. its all hype to bring in clients if anything.
its currently not possible to make scars dissapear with laser especially deep scars. its all hype to bring in clients if anything.
I agree. I don't believe there is any treatment at present that can. What angers me is apparantly well respected medical professionals making these claims. Gullible, desperate people believe them.
There is only Dr. Lam that I know of that says it how it is - his posts are a really depressing read! lol
I would be wary of Dr Patel, he is a nice guy and I think he does have intentions to help but I think inevitably he upsells to get you to a laser. For instance you may start with a subcision, then a pixel laser then full face co2
There are others who have had treatments from him who may be able to comment
I would go see him for a consult at least and just bombard him with questions and make your own mind up, its free so no loss there!!
Thanks for the advice Pumpkin, appreciated. It would be useful to hear from others that have seen him personally yes.
I would not have a laser treatment regardless as there are just too many bad results. I was looking for a different treatment entirely when I came across that on his clinic's site.
You are right though - a consultation doesn't hurt.
its currently not possible to make scars dissapear with laser especially deep scars. its all hype to bring in clients if anything.
I agree. I don't believe there is any treatment at present that can. What angers me is apparantly well respected medical professionals making these claims. Gullible, desperate people believe them.
There is only Dr. Lam that I know of that says it how it is - his posts are a really depressing read! lol
the reality is the majority of people with acne scars are not properly educated on it so they are really gullible and valnaruble to money hungry surgeons who are looking for profits and know themselves that laser wont do anything for real acne scaras
Dr. Patel did treat Katie Piper. Her foundation also recommends his clinic for burn scar treatment:
http://www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk/laser-treatments/
I think it is wrong of him to claim he can erase acne scars, as if a laser is some kind of magical wand. I do however believe some scars can be improved to a point of being unnoticeable. For example, bound down rolling scars that have no real texture issues can be almost erased with subcision, plus a filler if there is also tissue loss.
There are a few members who have been treated by him. Although, I think some of the posters on this forum are really here just to promote Viva Clinic, so I wouldn't trust all the posts you see here. Try searching the forum and post to their threads.
I think what they mean by "erasing" scars is actually reducing the scars's appearance to the point it is almost unnoticable. That's as good as "erased" for me.
Idk about you guys but, sometimes when i know a surgeon is really good and he/she claims that he/she can erase scars, that means he/she is so confident on his/her own skills and is 100% sure there will be an improvement. But ofcourse, there will always be scammers and money hungry doctors or surgeons out there so be careful.
rolling scars is your best bet on getting them to be almost unoticable. boxcars and ice picks however is a whole different story
Hve you tried dermarolling and tca cross?
Im curious. You seem like a good candidate for those.
no i havent. i dont think dermarolling will help at all. maybe the dermastamp but either away im afraid of the risks. tca cross im considering in the future if necessary
rolling scars is your best bet on getting them to be almost unoticable. boxcars and ice picks however is a whole different story
Hve you tried dermarolling and tca cross?
Im curious. You seem like a good candidate for those.
no i havent. i dont think dermarolling will help at all. maybe the dermastamp but either away im afraid of the risks. tca cross im considering in the future if necessary
From what ive read dermastamps are less riskier and more efficient than dermarollers.
I really think you can benefit from dermastamps.
Im afraid of risks too that's why i chose dermastamps instead of dermarollers.
Also, isnt dermastamps less riskier than tca cross?
I've seen Dr Patel a number of times but didn't get any improvements. He is pleasant enough and very cheap but ultimately once you've had your treatment that's it and getting hold of him with any problems is a nightmare as he doesn't reply to emails. I do think the false promises on the website are appalling - had i seen that before it would have put me off of seeing him as it just makes him sound like a charlatan
Load of bull.
laser will do nothing to help acne scarring so don't waste your money.Dr's claiming that laser will get rid of acne scars is bull s**t just to get hold of your hard earned money to pay for the expencsive laser they bought.
I had Co2 laser done way back in 2001 and it did f**k all,it did not improve my sever acne scars at all even though i stated i may have see a 10% improvement.Keep away from lasers and spend your money on needling which does work.
There was an Article i read on the net (can't think where i found it) where a Dr claims that any kind of lasers will do nothing to improve acne scarring bc they can't go deeper than is nessesery without futher damaging you face.
Hi all,
I had a couple of treatments with Dr Patel for the past year, which combined of subcision, TCA, infini and active FX - so my Skin got a really good bashing! Overall I'm really happy with the results so far and I will look into another laser treatment followed by juvederm filler.
My scaring was pretty bad and Dr. Patel did say that its impossible to make them disappear, however he can improve my skin - so I never felt I was over sold, plus his consultation is free which is something that doesn't happen with most clinics in London.
I agree it can be difficult to receive a follow up email or to schedule an appointment, however Dr Patel is effectively a sole trader so he can't offer the same customer care, which i think is reflective in his reasonable treatment rates.
Everyone's scars are different which means we all have a different outcome from our treatment, its a matter of finding out what works and sharing our experiences on this forum so we can help eachother in making the right choice.
Those articles are just a bunch of crap to bump up his page rank. People generally type in things like 'how to get rid of scars completely' vs realistic searches like 'scar reduction', and that's why he's doing it. It's basic SEO. Scummy? Kinda, but it might not even be him doing it, generally this stuff is outsourced, don't be so quick to jump on his head.
@Nope.avi - I think your analogy on Dr. Patel's SEO's make sense. My business is a very competitive market and I spend a lot on Google SEO's - so its made me query this as I don't want to come across as a Delboy!!