it took a long time for me... probably closer to the better part of a year. the tissue at where the excision was performed will also be hard to the touch for the longest of times but don't fret it will eventually go away...
Can you give us an estimate of the length of time?
Sorry was just browsing my profile and saw that there were some responses, They are actually still a little indented but for sure look better than before and its only been about a month since the procedure was performed. Still red as expected but they derm I went to yesterday that who was not the person who performed it, said that they were healing nicely and I like him so its good to hear. Thank you for the responses. I might leave a monthly progress of how they are healing in case anyone else decides to get this done and can hear from a reliable source what to expect.
I feel for people with minimal scars like myself, excision is the way to go. Any other treatment such as lasers are usually meant for those who have a wider area of scarring that can be swept. Sadly, whoever would be doing the laser on me wouldn't be making much money since it would only take under a minute to zap my spots. My excisions are still looking better each day although I have not been looking at them lately as to not obsess over them. The bigger one is also covered with a band-aid which makes me more comfortable in public while they are healing and leaves less visibility on the redness in that area. Once these reach a point where ive seen 75% recovery i will be looking into working on what i presume to be a decent sized ice pick on my other cheek. I almost gave up a couple weeks ago when i was very depressed about all that's been going on, I never thought I would have acne scars for some reason. I'm now starting to realize that there may be a small chance of getting all my indents taken care of to where i could have about a 50%-75% improvement depending on how I decide to approach them next. I have stated before that scars to not bother me if they can be laid out in linear form as a small, flat, thin white line (I think a couple would actually add a little character to my face or make me look mysterious) So for all those out there with only 3-5 scars keep your head up and keep researching on what can be done to raise them. At this point the other treatments I am looking into are dermapen, dermarolling, dermastamp, TCA cross, possibly another excision since its small, and maybe some spot laser treatment to fill out what is leftover. This is a long drawn out process that is very mentally demanding but I would really like to get rid of these and resume my normal life back to when I was happy and not scarred, anxious, and depressed. I am also still dealing with some breakouts but not of the deep scarring type, on a new round of keflex and washing with Nizoral shampoo on hair and beard area as well for my seb derm.
Just an update here on my excisions in case anyone here is thinking about the procedure,
The spots seem to be healing quite nicely and have filled in as well, there are still reddish pink but that is to be expected. It is now close to 2 months since the operation and at first i was not happy, but since being patient and seeing the body work its wonders I am happy with the results so far and expecting some more within the next sequence of healing. They do still bother me but now that I have my indents somewhat level I can look into fraxel spot treatments and dermarolling to give me even more improvement. I think im going to test them out on another small scar on the other cheek first and let my excisions heal some more before hitting them again with anything. This acne ordeal has been such a roller coaster and I am ready to be done with it and its scars. I decided to ask my derm for accutane when I go into my next appointment and hope to god it works, I have tried EVERYTHING else. Four months ago I was ready to off myself, and now I am getting to maybe, JUST maybe, reclaim my life and get back to the wonderful life I had before this skin condition. I took a little break from this site because I was obsessing over it and I had to just occupy myself in other ways. Right now I am on Keflex and it is slightly helping keep the acne at bay while i try to get an isotrention prescription.
So heres my plan:
-Dermaroller treatments while im waiting on accutane (It has put a lot of my family members into remission so I have high hopes I will fall into the same category).
-Go through a course of accutane and see where my situation ends up
-After i'm all clear I can then look into more aggressive scarring treatments (pretty minor compared to others but still noticeable, I think i can get a good 80% improvement to where only people will notice my excisions sites but would have look very keenly to see them)
-Get back to normal living! oh man this is a big one. I can not wait to get back to what I was doing before all this acne bullshit. It has tested me greatly and I have learned some good lessons along the way actually. I'm on Effexor xr for depression and anxiety caused by it so I will be looking forward to not taking any medications and just being me again. Going out on dates, going out with friends, just being comfortable in my own body again. I get so excited that maybe one day I can rejoin the world I was participating in before this ordeal. Basically i'm not going to fight acne with riot gear anymore, I'm going full nuclear war on it and taking back my life!