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Hi DC-girl,
Would you say a Paleo type diet would be anti-inflammatory and good for healing?
I already keep away from gluten and most sugar and dairy but I have been thinking about ditching all grains and dairy and only getting sugar from a few pieces of fruit.
Most of it is good, but bean, lentils, etc are not. And the other problem with it is that fructose is very important for a high temp and metabolism. And Paleo is all about avoiding sugar.
I destroyed my hormones doing paleo and avoiding sugar for a year and a half.
Now I eat a lot of sugar (clean sources). Mainly ripe fruit and OJ are the best kind. Especially fresh squeezed orange juice that hasn't been pasteurized because it has an excellent mineral balance.
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).
Yes, sooooo important. You can't help heal from stimulated injury well without provoiding your body with the minerals, vitamins and protein it needs. Coconut oil should be in your diet daily. You can also get saturated fat from milk and butter. But never use any other oils other than a bit of olive oil every now and then.
Yep, I drink milk. Milk and very well cooked dark greens are good for calcium and vitamin K. If you eat spinach or kale, eat it with salt and grass fed butter.
I drink alcohol occasionally; socially. But it has estrogen in it, so it's not good for you.
Ok awesome I drink raw milk. I also eat grass fed butter. I will start cooking my kale and putting butter on it, I always eat it raw in smoothies but sometimes I'm not sure if my stomach digests greens that well for some reason.
I've been doing lots and lots of reading and I think acne has made me smarter (at least!) just because I love reading on how our body heals and works with different vitamins, minerals, proteins, good fats and enzymes. I would had never know what i know today if it weren't for skin problems. love researching on it 
I now am free of acne but since I'm working on my scarring I try to stay away from alcohol for the most part to help my body heal faster.
thank you for all the help! your amazing!
Hi DC-girl,
You said you got rid of new scars with TCA, is that correct? Like they completely disappeared?
How old were they?
And how many times did you have to use TCA on them?
I have heard that new scars are easier to treat because they haven't 'matured'.
I believe most of my scars are less than 4 months old, like they're still red, and they all flatten out when I stretch my skin.
I am really torn about taking action now or waiting to see what will happen to them over the next few months (still hoping the will magically go away I suppose) but I don't want to miss that window of opportunity to treat them while they're fresh.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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.
Did you do the TCA at home yourself?? My scars are so similar to yours please please please tell me what you bought and how you did this pleasee! Your skin looks AMAZING now!!
Hey DC-girl,
First off, thanks so much for posting this. I have really similar scarring to yours from overuse of benzoyl peroxide, so your story really gives me hope and I plan on doing both TCA and dermastamping or rolling in the future. That being said, I still have cystic acne, although I think its like remnants trapped in my skin and not anything new. Just out of curiosity, how'd you get rid of your acne?
On 7/3/2014 at 5:21 PM, Russel said:Hey DC-girl,
First off, thanks so much for posting this. I have really similar scarring to yours from overuse of benzoyl peroxide, so your story really gives me hope and I plan on doing both TCA and dermastamping or rolling in the future. That being said, I still have cystic acne, although I think its like remnants trapped in my skin and not anything new. Just out of curiosity, how'd you get rid of your acne?
I use Spironolactone and diet. Spiro is a Godsend for me. But it did take about 6-9 months before I totally stopped breaking out. However I DID treat scars during that period too.
But diet is still very important. If I stray and eat junk food I will get clogged pores again.
On 7/2/2014 at 9:40 PM, sierra27 said: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.
Did you do the TCA at home yourself?? My scars are so similar to yours please please please tell me what you bought and how you did this pleasee! Your skin looks AMAZING now!!
Yes, I do tca and more recently Jessners peels at home.
I used TCA from make up artists choice and skin obsession.
I bought dermastamps from Owndoc.com
I LOVE using those because they are already sanitzed (they come with a little cap) and they're so cheap.
I also have gone to see Dr Sam Lam in Texas for fillers. He's excellent at what he does. But I wouldn't be where I am today without needling and tca.
And thanks!
On 6/26/2014 at 9:08 PM, RoseOrALilly said:Hi DC-girl,
You said you got rid of new scars with TCA, is that correct? Like they completely disappeared?
How old were they?
And how many times did you have to use TCA on them?
I have heard that new scars are easier to treat because they haven't 'matured'.
I believe most of my scars are less than 4 months old, like they're still red, and they all flatten out when I stretch my skin.
I am really torn about taking action now or waiting to see what will happen to them over the next few months (still hoping the will magically go away I suppose) but I don't want to miss that window of opportunity to treat them while they're fresh.
Any advice would be appreciated.
The new ones were probably less than 6 months old.
Oh yeah, if they're still red they are very young, and might not even be a real scar. You should have success with some deep peels on those and at the least it would remove redness and then you could see where you stand.
On 6/25/2014 at 6:16 PM, animals said:btw you said that you do stamping once a month now. how often would you do it before?
Whenever I could. Sometimes every week, depending on how deep or thorough I went last time.
And sometimes I would forget to do it for a couple months at a time.
On 6/25/2014 at 11:35 AM, LeadingForce said:did you just have rolling scars ? how many treatment did you do
I had rolling, icepick and boxscar.
No idea. A LOT. It's been years.
On 6/25/2014 at 10:36 AM, animals said:Ok awesome I drink raw milk. I also eat grass fed butter. I will start cooking my kale and putting butter on it, I always eat it raw in smoothies but sometimes I'm not sure if my stomach digests greens that well for some reason.
I've been doing lots and lots of reading and I think acne has made me smarter (at least!) just because I love reading on how our body heals and works with different vitamins, minerals, proteins, good fats and enzymes. I would had never know what i know today if it weren't for skin problems. love researching on it I now am free of acne but since I'm working on my scarring I try to stay away from alcohol for the most part to help my body heal faster.
thank you for all the help! your amazing!
Believe it or not, I would recommend cooking your greens, not eating them raw. They won't digest well and can be anti thyroid. Google Ray Peat's articles on the scientific basis for this.
You're on the right track focusing on diet.
After you do needling (make sure you do it enough that you're bleeding pretty good because blood flow is the key to renewing tissues and creating more scar free skin).
It's awesome at bringing and keeping blood flow to the area!
Additionally, a lot of people keep messaging me asking the same questions which I've already addressed, so here's some recapping and general tips:
When you do TCA make sure you do a test spot, like maybe by your ear or someplace you can cover it up if need be.
My experience with TCA and other peels is that it's worth doing a heavy peel if you can manage the downtime because you will get a whole new layer of skin on your face. And it will remove or at least lighten red marks right away.
And If you do a TCA peel, say 12.5% and it doesn't seem to do much, you can slowly increase to a higher strength (very carefully) and get the results you're looking for. I use a q-tip to apply acids. But I've used toothpicks before too if I'm treating an icepick scar. I've used anywhere from 12.5% to 30% depending on what I'm treating. I would not recommend doing a peel at the same time as needling. Maybe a couple days after. Or you could alternate needling with peels every couple weeks.
The concentration you want really depends on YOUR skin, so I can't say exactly what's best for each person. The higher the concentration, the better the results, but you should still work up to it. And do your whole face if you can so you don't have spots that are darker than other parts of your face.
I haven't done a lot of lactic or glycolic peels but I've done some Jessners peels lately, which I LOVE because it doesn't make my skin dark.
If you do something like say a Jesssners peel, you won't have as much downtime and you can do it every two weeks usually. I like those ones. On my skin I figured out if I only do 1 or 2 layers, it won't frost or anything and then I'll very slowly peel around 4-7 days later.
However, if I do it heavier, until frosted, it will look MUCH WORSE at first because it will darken then skin, but then the good part is it repairs more at once and you peel sooner. On my skin if I do a deep peel, I'm actually done with it quicker because it's so deep that it peels quickly.
Some scars will not improve very much with peels because there is such deep scar tissue underneath that the TCA can only reach maybe 10-20% of the depth of the problem. So that's why you need to combine needling with peels. Rolling scars are most likely going to respond better to deep needling and fillers (go to someone very experienced if you do this! Dr Sam Lam is the only I can reccommend because I've been to him with sucess).
If it's a box scar which is usually the most difficult, it will need needling and TCA but I think needling and/fillers is the best for those because TCA won't reach it all.
And don't eat junk. If you're dieting and not getting enough calories and good protein (milk and cheese for example which have a good calcuim to phospate ratio) you're body simply CAN'T heal properly.
This is probably why some people can do the exact same scar treatment and while one person won't get anywhere, the other will have success. Your body needs to be healthy to heal well. There simply are no short-cuts.
God bless ya'll and good luck! You'll get there.
Part of the sucess is figuring it out on your own too. So enjoy that part of it. There's some common sense involved. Be careful, test and observe. Treat it like a math problem and problem solve. It CAN be fixed or at the least DRAMATICALLY improved. That I know FOR SURE.
God bless ya'll and good luck! You'll get there.
Part of the sucess is figuring it out on your own too. So enjoy that part of it. There's some common sense involved. Be careful, test and observe. Treat it like a math problem and problem solve. It CAN be fixed or at the least DRAMATICALLY improved. That I know FOR SURE.
Thank you for answering, you really do inspire me and even though it seems like i will never get there (literally) i know i can do it and reading what you wrote gives me even more hope... i bought the vitamin e with progesterone (protest-e) i have been using it for about 3 months, did you apply it on everyday? and did you get any clogged pores from it ever?
i put it on every night about 30 drops (about a huge line on my index finger) and then rub it on for like 15 min (it takes forever to absorb) but its worth it because i heard both ingredients help dissolve scar tissue... i am not sure if i should clean my face a bit after to take off any excess oil that is not absorbed since it is kinda sticky so that it won't clog my pores.
Awesome results! I know this thread is a few years old almost but I think this is still the best results I have ever seen.
Was your left cheek scarred the same as your right?
Thanks for helping us, truly appreciated.
PS: The Ray Peat diet seems to be going well but I find it's hard to take in a lot of calories per day, seeing as how it is so restricted.
God bless ya'll and good luck! You'll get there.
Part of the sucess is figuring it out on your own too. So enjoy that part of it. There's some common sense involved. Be careful, test and observe. Treat it like a math problem and problem solve. It CAN be fixed or at the least DRAMATICALLY improved. That I know FOR SURE.
Thank you for answering, you really do inspire me and even though it seems like i will never get there (literally) i know i can do it and reading what you wrote gives me even more hope... i bought the vitamin e with progesterone (protest-e) i have been using it for about 3 months, did you apply it on everyday? and did you get any clogged pores from it ever?
i put it on every night about 30 drops (about a huge line on my index finger) and then rub it on for like 15 min (it takes forever to absorb) but its worth it because i heard both ingredients help dissolve scar tissue... i am not sure if i should clean my face a bit after to take off any excess oil that is not absorbed since it is kinda sticky so that it won't clog my pores.
I use it all the time, and it doesn't clog pores for me. I think it kinda sits on the skin like a protective barrier and that's part of the benefit. It protects your skin from oxidation.
Awesome results! I know this thread is a few years old almost but I think this is still the best results I have ever seen.
Was your left cheek scarred the same as your right?
Thanks for helping us, truly appreciated.
PS: The Ray Peat diet seems to be going well but I find it's hard to take in a lot of calories per day, seeing as how it is so restricted.
There was scarring all over both cheeks.
It's really not hard to get enough calories, you can do spoonfuls of honey, coconut oil, etc that are high calories.
And cheese is very high in calories and protein too.
God bless ya'll and good luck! You'll get there.
Part of the sucess is figuring it out on your own too. So enjoy that part of it. There's some common sense involved. Be careful, test and observe. Treat it like a math problem and problem solve. It CAN be fixed or at the least DRAMATICALLY improved. That I know FOR SURE.
Thank you for answering, you really do inspire me and even though it seems like i will never get there (literally) i know i can do it and reading what you wrote gives me even more hope... i bought the vitamin e with progesterone (protest-e) i have been using it for about 3 months, did you apply it on everyday? and did you get any clogged pores from it ever?
i put it on every night about 30 drops (about a huge line on my index finger) and then rub it on for like 15 min (it takes forever to absorb) but its worth it because i heard both ingredients help dissolve scar tissue... i am not sure if i should clean my face a bit after to take off any excess oil that is not absorbed since it is kinda sticky so that it won't clog my pores.
I use it all the time, and it doesn't clog pores for me. I think it kinda sits on the skin like a protective barrier and that's part of the benefit. It protects your skin from oxidation.
>>Awesome results! I know this thread is a few years old almost but I think this is still the best results I have ever seen.
Was your left cheek scarred the same as your right?
Thanks for helping us, truly appreciated.
PS: The Ray Peat diet seems to be going well but I find it's hard to take in a lot of calories per day, seeing as how it is so restricted.
There was scarring all over both cheeks.
It's really not hard to get enough calories, you can do spoonfuls of honey, coconut oil, etc that are high calories.
And cheese is very high in calories and protein too.
Ah okay.
Yeah, I'm just trying tighten up my core, so I guess I have actually restricted the diet more so than the diet itself being restricting. I don't eat cheese, pork rinds or anything the Ray Peat'ers suggest, but I certainly do follow it in every other way. I get my fats from coconut oil and some from milk and occasional bacon. I eat eggs, beef, lots of fruit and veggies like carrots, kale, spinach, sometimes spring mix, etc.
How far apart should one do tca peel and dermastamping/single needling sessions?
Omg thanks for all the work you've put into this thread, DC-girl 
) Highly appreciated!!! If you're ever in Tokyo ping me I'll treat you to a good dinner for all the info ;-))
1) You're not using any serums/creams with vit C? Only that A&D ointment and vit E? How are you stimulating collagen after you stamp?
2) when stamping/needling are you cleansing your face with anything to get rid of the blood?
3) I'm guessing you did stamp your face pretty hard - did you go to work afterwards? how long does the redness/blood marks stay? I guess this has to depend on the intensity with which you do it?
4) You mentioned dr. Peat's diet - are you following it rigorously or are you just using it as guidelines? I'm kind of sceptical when it comes to dairy and excess sugar as I noticed it does break me out (and not only me) so I'm curious ) Also don't you have problems with excess weight loss? I'm currently trying out paleo and because I had to ditch all the grains I'm getting skinnier and skinnier 😉
5) Have you tried any other cleansers (like a combo of raw cocnut oil+hone+tree oil+some probiotics) or are you sticking to pure honey and/or pure coconut oil? Do you use anything to moisturise your skin? Any masks? Basically are you using anything besides hone/oil?
6) have you tried any other procedures like lasers/radiofrequency needling (like infini by lutronic)?
Omg thanks for all the work you've put into this thread, DC-girl ) Highly appreciated!!! If you're ever in Tokyo ping me I'll treat you to a good dinner for all the info ;-))
Okay, thanks!
1) You're not using any serums/creams with vit C? Only that A&D ointment and vit E? How are you stimulating collagen after you stamp?,
No, I am not using any other creams. There is no need to "stimulate collagen" with creams. That's what your body does when it's needed, if it's given enough calories and protein from the right sources. You can do massage though. That will bring blood flow to the area and you can also try to manually help break up scar tissue with rolling the skin together between your fingers.
2) when stamping/needling are you cleansing your face with anything to get rid of the blood?
Soap and water.
3) I'm guessing you did stamp your face pretty hard - did you go to work afterwards? how long does the redness/blood marks stay? I guess this has to depend on the intensity with which you do it?
The redness depend on how hard you go and how healthy you are. Sometimes days, sometimes many weeks.
4) You mentioned dr. Peat's diet - are you following it rigorously or are you just using it as guidelines? I'm kind of sceptical when it comes to dairy and excess sugar as I noticed it does break me out (and not only me) so I'm curious ) Also don't you have problems with excess weight loss? I'm currently trying out paleo and because I had to ditch all the grains I'm getting skinnier and skinnier 😉
I'm following it pretty rigorously because I ruined my hormones by not eating any sugar for a year or so when I was on Paleo.
I used to think dairy and sugar broke me out too, but it was all the other things I was eating it that were the cause, not those.
I eat them both daily now.
And you won't get too skinny as long as you eat. You just have to eat enough of the right foods.
You're on the right track skipping grains though.
5) Have you tried any other cleansers (like a combo of raw cocnut oil+hone+tree oil+some probiotics) or are you sticking to pure honey and/or pure coconut oil? Do you use anything to moisturise your skin? Any masks? Basically are you using anything besides hone/oil?
6) have you tried any other procedures like lasers/radiofrequency needling (like infini by lutronic)?
5) Tee tree oil is too harsh and drying for me. I also believe it's estrogenic.
Honey is perfection. And it's also the best thing to use to heal your skin after peels and needling.
The sugar in it helps generate Co2, which speeds healing. Plus it cleans and softens your skin.
I don't use moisturizers, except sometimes a rosewater/glycerin spray.
6) No.
On 1/6/2015 at 2:11 PM, poreoldme said:Has anybody by any chance had luck with scarred pores on nose? I have a dermaroller but understand this isn't a good thing for the nose?
You can microneedle it. Scar tissue is scar tissue, no matter how big or small.
Break it up and create blood flow to the area so that new tissue can be created.
On 1/6/2015 at 2:15 PM, DC-girl said:On 1/6/2015 at 2:11 PM, poreoldme said:Has anybody by any chance had luck with scarred pores on nose? I have a dermaroller but understand this isn't a good thing for the nose?
How did you manage to cover the redness from more aggressive microneedling? What percentage were you able to camouflage if it was to last week's instead of days?
Thanks for the thread and following up with everyone's questions
thanks for sharing,it's really an amazing improvement i can see from ur pics,and i wonder if TCA can treat on little pore scars,also u meant that u did derma-stamping right pointing at little pore scars and it worked a lot,right?u think the derma-stamping is the best way to treat on little pore scars?
look forward to your reply,thanks.
DC-Girl thank you for sharing this great and hopeful testimonial. I'm wondering if TC Crossing can work for a middle aged man? I know that older people do not produce as much collagen as when they were young. I don't know if you spoke of this or not, but did you do the TCA Crossing and Derma Stamping at home or with a professional?
Thanks
On 2/7/2015 at 8:21 AM, DC-girl said:On 2/6/2015 at 10:48 PM, leoy said:thanks for sharing,it's really an amazing improvement i can see from ur pics,and i wonder if TCA can treat on little pore scars,also u meant that u did derma-stamping right pointing at little pore scars and it worked a lot,right?u think the derma-stamping is the best way to treat on little pore scars?
look forward to your reply,thanks.
Yes, tca can help those, but I think single lancet microneedlingthem real well, is the safest, easiest bet for scarred pores or ice picks.
thanks a lot,but i'm sorry i havent known much about single needling,is "single needling" a technical word as a kind of treatment?u did it at clinic or home for little pores scars?
Guys, I tried to apply celandine for warts on my hypertrophic scars. I don't know what about US, but in Kazakhstan it's often used. Dammit, it was so strong. It seems I got 70% of TCA. Or something like that. When it stopped burn my scars I saw a little bleeding. Now they're orange-red. So I fucked up... =\
But they're almost flat. I apply bepanthen every hour. Just be careful if you're ever gonna do it on your hypertrophics.
Also I'm gonna do TCA 30% spot treatment tomorrow.
On 2/7/2015 at 8:21 AM, DC-girl said:On 2/6/2015 at 10:48 PM, leoy said:thanks for sharing,it's really an amazing improvement i can see from ur pics,and i wonder if TCA can treat on little pore scars,also u meant that u did derma-stamping right pointing at little pore scars and it worked a lot,right?u think the derma-stamping is the best way to treat on little pore scars?
look forward to your reply,thanks.
Yes, tca can help those, but I think single needling them real well, is the safest, easiest bet for scarred pores or ice picks.
thanks a lot,but i'm sorry i havent known much about single lancet microneedling?u did it at clinic or home for little pores scars?