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I use the ONLY pure Vitamin E I know of.
If they used a vitamin E dissolved in soy or in any other inflammatory unsaturated fatty acid I could see it causing problems. I can't use MOST of the vitamin E out there for this very reason, it's often in soybean oil.
Anyone know what vitamin E they used in the study? I'd like them to prove they used a pure one, otherwise it's a pointless study. Vitamin E dissolved in anything inflammatory negates the point of it.
Also WHO PAID for this study? Keep in mind, there's not any money to be made in vitamin E because it's cheap and no one can patent it. Sadly, there are a lot of bogus studies out there funded by the people who are using bad science for either promotion of a product or to make a natural cure look useless. They often will fund studies at colleges or universities and then only publish the results if they get the "conclusion" they desire.
All good questions, D.C. Girl. We should always be thinking critically about our scar treatments and not just accept research on face value. I tend to err on the side of caution so unless I see some independent research stating that Vitamin E DOES help I will abstain. But your point is well taken about the money to be made - and that's probably why more studies aren't out there examining the different variables.
On 1/17/2014 at 1:11 PM, DC-girl said:Hi everyone,
Here's my before and afters:
Just wanted to post my success for moral support and encouragement for anyone else like me that thought they'd NEVER make progress.
is gives me so much hope and I want to thankyou! I read this when I am feeling worst about my scarring. It helps me get back into a positive frame of mind where I can believe that I can fix my scarring too.
My scarring is still new. Most are only 1-2 months old. I have ordered some products online that are mean to help stimulate collagen production and help with scar healing-I am hoping this will make a difference. But it is good to know that there are other things that I can do which don't include insane laser!
I don't think I am ready to get into dermarolling/stamping or TCA just yet. I haven't done a whole lot of research and I think I should give topicals a try first as my scarring is so new it might respond to them quite well.
But just thankyou again, so much. Not many people stick around after they find something that works, you see so many people vanish. So thankyou for helping so many people, including myself, who are pretty stressed and lost when it comes to their scarring.
(Just a little side note: Yesterday I realised just how much my scarring effects me. I was at a function with pretty unflattering overhead lighting-which I knew was making my scarring standout! Anyway, I felt so uncomfortable there that I left early! I don't want the rest of my life to be like this! I am only young and I want to be able to be in rooms with bad lighting without worrying about my scarring. And you give me hope!)
I apologize if you've answered this previously (I read through the whole thread, but I still may have overlooked it!) but...
What was your timing when using the TCA plus the stamping? Would you stamp first, then wait two weeks and do TCA spot, then wait two more weeks to stamp again, etc? Or what was that routine like?
I know doing too much in a short timeframe can be troublesome, so I was just curious how you spaced them out when using both methods.
On 5/2/2014 at 11:44 AM, DC-girl said:I use the ONLY pure Vitamin E I know of.
If they used a vitamin E dissolved in soy or in any other inflammatory unsaturated fatty acid I could see it causing problems. I can't use MOST of the vitamin E out there for this very reason, it's often in soybean oil.
Anyone know what vitamin E they used in the study? I'd like them to prove they used a pure one, otherwise it's a pointless study. Vitamin E dissolved in anything inflammatory negates the point of it.
Also WHO PAID for this study? Keep in mind, there's not any money to be made in vitamin E because it's cheap and no one can patent it. Sadly, there are a lot of bogus studies out there funded by the people who are using bad science for either promotion of a product or to make a natural cure look useless. They often will fund studies at colleges or universities and then only publish the results if they get the "conclusion" they desire.
i haven't read all pages, just an overview
iam interested in derma stamping as i did something similar awhile back with derma rolling, but im not sure i did it long enough. I also hated it.
TCA scares me because every damn time i use an acid like bha/aha i end up burning my skin either the first time or the following times- i do not want to do this again.. ugh.
Any tid bits of info is great.
What is a good brand of pure natural vitamin e oil then? I use it as a moisturizer (although it is heavy) after shaving and for spots. I would use it over the derma stamped areas too..if its the good stuff.
so which sizing do you go with? you do it after showering, at night? then apply tca? got a product you use that you care to share?
On 5/2/2014 at 7:23 PM, Fortune said:I apologize if you've answered this previously (I read through the whole thread, but I still may have overlooked it!) but...
What was your timing when using the TCA plus the stamping? Would you stamp first, then wait two weeks and do TCA spot, then wait two more weeks to stamp again, etc? Or what was that routine like?
I know doing too much in a short timeframe can be troublesome, so I was just curious how you spaced them out when using both methods.
I didn't have any type of strict schedule but I tried to do either stamping or tca at least once a month or sometimes every 2 weeks alternating the two. If you do a deep tca you often have to wait a couple months before you can do it again.
On 5/8/2014 at 9:44 PM, k3tchup said:On 5/2/2014 at 11:44 AM, DC-girl said:I use the ONLY pure Vitamin E I know of.
If they used a vitamin E dissolved in soy or in any other inflammatory unsaturated fatty acid I could see it causing problems. I can't use MOST of the vitamin E out there for this very reason, it's often in soybean oil.
Anyone know what vitamin E they used in the study? I'd like them to prove they used a pure one, otherwise it's a pointless study. Vitamin E dissolved in anything inflammatory negates the point of it.
Also WHO PAID for this study? Keep in mind, there's not any money to be made in vitamin E because it's cheap and no one can patent it. Sadly, there are a lot of bogus studies out there funded by the people who are using bad science for either promotion of a product or to make a natural cure look useless. They often will fund studies at colleges or universities and then only publish the results if they get the "conclusion" they desire.
i haven't read all pages, just an overview
iam interested in derma stamping as i did something similar awhile back with derma rolling, but im not sure i did it long enough. I also hated it.
TCA scares me because every damn time i use an acid like bha/aha i end up burning my skin either the first time or the following times- i do not want to do this again.. ugh.
Any tid bits of info is great.
What is a good brand of pure natural vitamin e oil then? I use it as a moisturizer (although it is heavy) after shaving and for spots. I would use it over the derma stamped areas too..if its the good stuff.
so which sizing do you go with? you do it after showering, at night? then apply tca? got a product you use that you care to share?
Don't roll, dermastamp. It hurts less and it's more accurate and you're less likely to scratch yourself.
What do you mean you burned yourself with TCA? That's what a tca peel or spot treatment is; a controlled burn. Do you mean you caused further scarring? Were you using retin-A? Or doing it too much?
I use a 30% tca and always just spot treating, I've never done my whole face with that. I use makeup artists choice TCA brand.
I just stamp the scar directly over any scar when spot stamping scars. So if it's a small scar the stamp might be bigger than the scar, no big deal, unscarred skin benefits from stamping too.
I use a 1.5 dermastamp and I don't have a time of day I do it, but it's usually in the morning. It's best to do it when you're not feeling stressed.
The vitamen E I use is called Progest-E, it's pure Vitaman E with progesterone which is one of our bodies most powerful anti-inflammatory hormones.
On 5/10/2014 at 1:23 PM, DC-girl said:On 5/2/2014 at 7:23 PM, Fortune said:I apologize if you've answered this previously (I read through the whole thread, but I still may have overlooked it!) but...
What was your timing when using the TCA plus the dermastamping? Would you stamp first, then wait two weeks and do TCA spot, then wait two more weeks to stamp again, etc? Or what was that routine like?
I know doing too much in a short timeframe can be troublesome, so I was just curious how you spaced them out when using both methods.
I didn't have any type of strict schedule but I tried to do either stamping or tca at least once a month or sometimes every 2 weeks alternating the two. If you do a deep tca you often have to wait a couple months before you can do it again.
On 5/8/2014 at 9:44 PM, k3tchup said:>
On 5/2/2014 at 11:44 AM, DC-girl said:I use the ONLY pure Vitamin E I know of.
If they used a vitamin E dissolved in soy or in any other inflammatory unsaturated fatty acid I could see it causing problems. I can't use MOST of the vitamin E out there for this very reason, it's often in soybean oil.
Anyone know what vitamin E they used in the study? I'd like them to prove they used a pure one, otherwise it's a pointless study. Vitamin E dissolved in anything inflammatory negates the point of it.
Also WHO PAID for this study? Keep in mind, there's not any money to be made in vitamin E because it's cheap and no one can patent it. Sadly, there are a lot of bogus studies out there funded by the people who are using bad science for either promotion of a product or to make a natural cure look useless. They often will fund studies at colleges or universities and then only publish the results if they get the "conclusion" they desire.
i haven't read all pages, just an overview
iam interested in derma stamping as i did something similar awhile back with derma rolling, but im not sure i did it long enough. I also hated it.
TCA scares me because every damn time i use an acid like bha/aha i end up burning my skin either the first time or the following times- i do not want to do this again.. ugh.
Any tid bits of info is great.
What is a good brand of pure natural vitamin e oil then? I use it as a moisturizer (although it is heavy) after shaving and for spots. I would use it over the derma stamped areas too..if its the good stuff.
so which sizing do you go with? you do it after showering, at night? then apply tca? got a product you use that you care to share?
Don't roll, dermastamp. It hurts less and it's more accurate and you're less likely to scratch yourself.
What do you mean you burned yourself with TCA? That's what a tca peel or spot treatment is; a controlled burn. Do you mean you caused further scarring? Were you using retin-A? Or doing it too much?
I use a 30% tca and always just spot treating, I've never done my whole face with that. I use makeup artists choice TCA brand.
I just stamp the scar directly over any scar when spot stamping scars. So if it's a small scar the stamp might be bigger than the scar, no big deal, unscarred skin benefits from stamping too.
I use a 1.5 dermastamp and I don't have a time of day I do it, but it's usually in the morning. It's best to do it when you're not feeling stressed.
The vitamen E I use is called Progest-E, it's pure Vitaman E with progesterone which is one of our bodies most powerful anti-inflammatory hormones.
I mean i have burned myself because of stupidity in the past from acid use; its hard practicing self conservation and moderation when you are such a proactive person in regards to fixing problems. This stuff worries me.
I ordered a derma roller and other supplies for after care from owndoc because it was cheap and it seems reliable. I would like to heal a long time scar on my face, but am not scare of over doing it with this thing so i will need to read and not be an idiot.
I will skip the TCA for now and use copper peptides along side my differin/retin a. I will only use the peptides on the scar im treating and the other stuff for treating old spots/pih. Thanks for your input on this.
That vitamin E makes me wonder the effects it would have for a guy because it has progesterone in it. Need to do some reading on this.
Thank you so much for sharing your post. I'm going to look into derma-stamping. In response to the last post - chemical peel alone will probably not do much for physical scars. In my experience, chemical peels help with overall texture and pigment, but not much with resurfacing. Two years is also not a long time. Many of us have had scars for the majority of our live (myself included). I also prefer slow and steady that can be gradually monitored as opposed to something quick that's irreversible. My fear of lasers is the long term effects. I've read bad reviews of fraxel where down the road you lose elasticity in your skin and the overall quality and appearance of the skin is damaged. That would simply devastate me
Question for DC Girl:
1. what do you use to sterilize the derma stamp? Example... if I use it today, then use it again a month from now, obviously I want to sterilize it for the next use since it has been punctured into my skin from the previous use... what can I use to effectively sterilize it?
2. What do you use to sterilize the derma-needle?
3. for the TCA spot-treatment, "when" do you wash the TCA off? Example... after applying 15% TCA, do you wash it off after 5 minutes?
4. Which TCA concentration was most effective for you in the reduction of the shallow scars? .... was it the 15% or the 30%?
5. In your opinion, do you think the vitamin e helped?... or is it possible I can let my skin heal naturally after the dermastamp without the use of topicals after the derma stamp? Convince me if I'm wrong, but I was thinking about trying this without using any topical creams afterwards and just let my skin heal itself.
Thanks for your help.
As a bio student, I believe needling works because of mitosis. Mitosis is the rejuvenation and repairing of cells.
On 5/27/2014 at 6:47 AM, JOHNNY11 said:Question for DC Girl:
1. what do you use to sterilize the derma stamp? Example... if I use it today, then use it again a month from now, obviously I want to sterilize it for the next use since it has been punctured into my skin from the previous use... what can I use to effectively sterilize it?
2. What do you use to sterilize the derma-needle?
3. for the TCA spot-treatment, "when" do you wash the TCA off? Example... after applying 15% TCA, do you wash it off after 5 minutes?
4. Which TCA concentration was most effective for you in the reduction of the shallow scars? .... was it the 15% or the 30%?
1. I use the sterilizing powder they sell on owndoc's website.
2. the same
3. I don't wash it off
4. 30%
5. Yes, it helps. Of course, your skin will heal but the diffrence between good results and so-so results might be the use of Vitamin E. It will help you heal better, it's your choice if you use it or not. Any occclusive ointment is a good thing, something that traps CO2 under it, for example, tape is good too.
Does anyone reading have prior experience or research about derma-rolling/stamping effects on skin that's already been treated with punch floats and punch grafts? As in, will this negatively affect the repairs made to ice pick scars treated with punch techniques?
I have had several courses of punch floats and grafts, and am looking to treat some linear and rolling scars on my left cheek, as well as some indented areas. Recently, I've been looking into derma-rolling and stamping, but I don't know if it's worth trying out due to prior scar treatments.
I feel like it would be fine to treat areas previously treated with surgical techniques. I've done excisions, and some of them did not turn out so well. I did many procedures such as fillers and resurfacing to try and correct the bad excisions. If anything, they've improved.
On 5/29/2014 at 7:37 AM, blahblah82 said:I feel like it would be fine to treat areas previously treated with surgical techniques. I've done excisions, and some of them did not turn out so well. I did many procedures such as fillers and resurfacing to try and correct the bad excisions. If anything, they've improved.
Ever tried rolling, stamping over your excisions?
And you are talking about punch excisions, right?
I have not done any punch grafts, but I have experience with very aggressive procedures like laser and dermabrasion over scars previously treated with punch and scalpel excisions. I did not notice any ill effects. I can't advise specifically about stamping over excised skin, but dermabrasion is the most aggressive thing you can do, and that did not make the excisions worse, it actually improved it.
why did you mention no grains in your diet ?
Because they are inflammatory, harmful, accelerate aging and are hard to digest. They hurt your metabolism and therefore your ability to heal well. There's a ton of info out there about why you should stop eating grains and espectially wheat. Do your research.
Here's something to help you get started.
I have not done any punch grafts, but I have experience with very aggressive procedures like laser and dermabrasion over scars previously treated with punch and scalpel excisions. I did not notice any ill effects. I can't advise specifically about stamping over excised skin, but dermabrasion is the most aggressive thing you can do, and that did not make the excisions worse, it actually improved it.
That's really helpful information. Thank you so much.
I just want to say I am so happy to find someone else that knows diet is important in healing scars. I eat lots of saturated fat (plus I put it on my skin) and I see that it is helping me a lot. I am also happy to see that you list "no grains" because that is important too.
Do you drink milk btw? how about alcohol? I've been staying away from alcohol (really bad for your skin).