Does it seem to be indented or is it just pigmentation?

Looks like pigmented rolling scars to me.. but it might just be the lighting that gives them a slight indented look.

Hmm when I look in the mirror they look rather flat, when I feel it, it feels like some of it (not all) is sticking out

Yeah, that kind of lightning can make it a little difficult to tell ahaha

If they're sticking outwards then they are known as "hypertrophic scaring" I'm not the best person to talk to about the subject, but that's definitely what they are if you can feel them raised on the skin and you're SURE they're healed. Look through some of the scarring topics and you will find plenty of advice on how to treat them! (:

Ughh it's so hard to get rid of ;-;

I lurk around these forums often and have never created an account. It's like 3am and I decided to just do it.

I don't know if it's just hyper-pigmentation or some sort of scar? That was from cystic acne (curse dairy products)

The other side of my face I can tolerate for now but this is not cool.

I'm currently dermarolling with 0.5mm w/ vitamin c

Also, I press down on it and it instantly fades before appearing again. Does this mean anything?

SmokeyB

Welcome to the community.

When you press down on your skin you push the blood out of that area causing the pinkish colour to fade and when the blood returns to the area the colour returns. Its normal. Push down on your finger nail and you will notice the same effect.

With regards to the dermaroller Ive read that using anything under 1mm is pretty pointless for scarring. 0.5mm would be used to only freshen the skin of someone who has no scarring at all. I would recommend buying anything from 1mm to 1.5mm to start seeing results.

With that said there is discussion that the roller causes trench like cuts as opposed to the collum cuts that you would like to have. Maybe look into the stamper. Also please allow ample time between rolling (4/6 weeks) for the skin to heal properly. Heres a little video to show what I mean.

Vitamin C is great for collagen production but as this is an acidic topical this may be contributing to the redness and you should look into taking this vitamin as a oral supplement of at least 1000mg vit c.

I would look into copper peptides as a new topical treatment.

Good luck!

Great post but I've been researching online and found this in the forums of acne.org:

"It is simple to tell if your red marks are erythema or pigmentation. Erythema disappears on blanching (finger pressure), while pigmentation and pupura (bleeding under the sin) do not. Also, erythema tends to be bright red or pink, while pigmentation tends to be much darker (dark red or dark brown).

In my experience erythema disappears quickly. I mean, sure, it can definitely last much longer than several days, but I think that would be uncommon. You can usually see red skin resulting from erythema noticeably lighten back to normal day-by-day. If you have had the marks for several weeks and have seen little/no improvement, then I think it is much more likely that what you have is pigmentation.

But maybe it is erythema. Watch this derm talk about erythema resulting from acne lesions and how to treat it. This video is excellent."

So that huge gash must be erythema!

looks like a huge boxcar scar to me

if you tilt your head and look at the picture sideways you can see its indented

Great post but I've been researching online and found this in the forums of acne.org:

"It is simple to tell if your red marks are erythema or pigmentation. Erythema disappears on blanching (finger pressure), while pigmentation and pupura (bleeding under the sin) do not. Also, erythema tends to be bright red or pink, while pigmentation tends to be much darker (dark red or dark brown).

In my experience erythema disappears quickly. I mean, sure, it can definitely last much longer than several days, but I think that would be uncommon. You can usually see red skin resulting from erythema noticeably lighten back to normal day-by-day. If you have had the marks for several weeks and have seen little/no improvement, then I think it is much more likely that what you have is pigmentation.

But maybe it is erythema. Watch this derm talk about erythema resulting from acne lesions and how to treat it. This video is excellent."

 

So that huge gash must be erythema!

Hmm interesting for sure. Its something to consider that the redness is obviously since you had acne and the skin has just forgot to restrict the nutrients to that area and its remained the same. That doctor is speaking about this in a short term basis and also mentions getting laser for the long term redness. However; ignore that laser advice and if you include using a longer needled dermaroller/stamp ( 1mm to 1.5mm ) this will break up the acne scar as well as the dermis and bring the blood and nutrients to the scar and red area. Because the longer needles will be disturbing the skin area this should in fact hopefully make the skin forget the previous scar and redness, heal the collums caused by the dermaroller/stamp and after 28 days (the normal cycle of skin) you will see an improvement. This will take time and please only roll once every 4/6 weeks, its a gradual improvement but much better than any steroid creams or harsh epidermal destroying from laser/chemical peel etc.

I don't think it's a box scar, it actually looks nothing like one when I look in the mirror. It's probably just the lighting like others said? There is no indentation.

Yes I will continue the dermarolling! I did try glycolic acids and a TCA peel but it did nothing for it.