On 2/11/2016 at 6:12 PM, MissBiscuit said:Hey, good for you for making the choice!And it sounds like you found a good method that works for you too.
As for your question, I can't say for sure what your doctor did, but I can tell you how my experience went. This last subcision I had done, I had several scars worked on. Some more at the apple of my cheek, some closer to my laugh lines. I had only three (I think...max four) incision marks on my face in total. Pretty amazing, considering the area covered. If it weren't for the lumps under my skin, I wouldn't have known where he worked on until the swelling went away, really... It's hard to tell when you're that puffy still. Even so, if you aren't sure, I'd consider continuing to do passes with the vac over the area because it'd be a shame if it turned out he did do it and then you didn't suction thinking otherwise
If it turns out he didn't do that spot, and you get another session done, I'd suggest asking him to mark the scars. If he doesn't, ask if you can. My doctor told me on my second round of subcision that it is really difficult sometimes to see the scars once he starts working because the swelling starts right away and then of course everything looks more level.
I know my doctor missed one that I had asked him to work on, but I wonder if he did it on purpose. He kind of pooh-poohed my request, suggesting fillers instead. Considering he was wrong about the effect of subcision on the scar on my right cheek, I can't help but feel like he would be wrong about this other one too. His reasoning was that it is a scar that has also formed with my smile line, and therefore subcision won't do anything. Meanwhile I've been reading articles detailing how subcision is used to treat some lines and wrinkles even without scarring, so...yeah. Doctors... amiright?
You look great!! You must be happy your results are astonishing!
Sorry for taking so long! My computer broke down and then a guy I live with gave me one but then we started fighting so I lost it and then another friend lent me one but it is a bit slow. Anyways! Getting my new one any day now so I can feel free again (I know how this sounds hah)
He didnt do that scar, I know it. Really annoyed. Further, I don`t know whether I suctioned too much or my face is just going through a period of `worse` but it looks worse! Like some scars are a bit bigger and just overall I don`t know. I know last time I was super bummed after 10 days or something. How much power did you use when suctioning? Do you think I used too much?
Those lumps are not gone even though he injected them. One has depressed slightly, it looked depressed last night and today it doesn`t seem as bad. Argh it is super scary doing these things you don`t really know how your skin will react.
I will most definitely mark everything next time! But we`ll see how it turns out first, those lumps make my cheek look worse and if they are permanent it might not be worth it for me. I don`t feel like he is very upfront with me. If he was like look there are risks invloved and at this point you have got lumps that are pretty hard to remove. I can offer you bla bla bla. You get it. Work with me. Don`t be like oh yeah I will inject, but didn`t you do that last time? It depressed slighlthy is there any other way? He pretty much just discards what I am trying to say. This is my face so please work with me here.
I might go looking for someone else that will do only subcision, because that dermapen kind of freaks me out since he does it on healthy skin too. TCA cross also freaks me out some areas where he did it are STILL red. Yeah. Not sure about that.
Heey I thought subcision was great for those lines they are pretty much the same as tethered scars aren`t they? Why can we find a good doc that can work alongside your own requests??? Do they even exist? At this point it might be easier to become one yourself. haha.
On 12-02-2016 at 9:43 AM, MissBiscuit said:Ah! Darling, I am so sorry! I've just seen this now - I don't know why I can't figure out how to get notifications when people write. I basically just come to this page every once in a while to see if there's anything new. Again, my sincere apologies!How are you feeling now? It can be a bit of a shock when the swelling goes down, and I know that was happening for me around week two. I know that I'm always over the moon with excitement when I see my face still swollen because I can see what it would look like without the scarring, but of course those aren't the final results and It does take time to see it. A bit of a roller coaster as it looks bad, then better, then worse, then better again over a period of a few months. Feel free to PM me if you are feeling particularly frustrated, sad, deflated or anything, and then I'll be sure to get the notification and will make sure to get back to you.
Honestly, if I didn't have baseline photos of my skin prior to subcision, I'd still be so bummed about my skin and wouldn't have noticed any difference at all. I have to actively look back on my photos once in a while to remind myself how far I've come. I think part of it is just that we are so used to seeing the scars that even when they have diminished, we still see them as huge. Like a level of body dysmorphic disorder. It's so so so important to be patient and kind to yourself, and I always suggest taking before photos. Even if you do it right now, and then you can see your progress over time still. You don't need to ever share them with anyone.
And hey, I'm no experton the matter of family or children etc, but I do know that you are absolutely permitted to take some time for yourself. <3
Hey!
It goes with ups and downs. Today i felt really good and when i drove home i got this sad feeling. It is still in my mind that the results may not be permanent when you lose weight.
I saw my scars in the worst lightning possible, they were still very much visible. But, when i look in the mirror at work, they look a lot better as they were. And my sister told me my skin look a lot better. She doesn't get it when i say i am afraid the treatment wont work. So i guess that is a good sign.
Next week i will talk with someone about this all. I don't know... i just cant be happy.
Uh oh. I see a lot of people panicking here. It's normal and I understand. I remember when I did my first round of subcision, and I went through the same waves. Going back to the beginning of this thread, you can read my panic, and even with this last round of subcision! There's something really scary about not being able to read the future to see how our present or past actions will pan out. It's a serious test of patience and faith.
I can tell you now that the worst outcome of my subcision so far has been the one lump that took forever and a day to go away because I (re)acted out of fear and made it worse. I applied heat, I applied ice, I started to massage it, and before I knew it, it was angry, big and red. Even that one went away, but it took a heck of a lot longer. After I saw how that lump reacted compared to the others that I left alone, I decided I wouldn't bother any that came up with the next session. Sure enough, the next round was a more graceful process. The lumps came, and they stayed for some time, but eventually they went down. The same for this time. There were lumps. They were perceivable to other persons, but I let it go. Come on guys, most of us who have rolling scars have already dealt with large growths on our faces! This is nothing new, except for the fact that it's building rather than destroying. I've read somewhere that lumps are actually GOOD! So try not to hurry them away. Be patient. I believe I read that it's about 3 months post-procedure that you should consider injections for the lumps if they are still persistent at that time. Otherwise, it's just part of the process. Breath. Remember it's temporary. Remember that you are not your face and you are not that lump and you are not your scars.
Lastly, I really can't stress it enough: If you haven't done it, and especially for those of you contemplating subcision but whom haven't started yet, TAKE A BEFORE PICTURE! If you don't have anything to compare to, it's far too easy to assume it's the same or worse than when you started. Everyone is their own worst critic, but I know that it's especially true for those of us with physical imperfections on our faces.
Thank you for posting and taking the time to write about your experience. It is so appreciated. I just had my first subcision yesterday and I am beside myself with depression. My Dr. put a bandage on my face which I am actually grateful for. I don't want to see what is underneath. The only problem is I will have to go to work this Monday with the bandage on, which totally sucks! My plan is to tell people I had a lesion shaved off at the dermatologist. I only had one scar treated so I only have one bandage. I guess people will just have to deal with it. I am so nervous to go back to work though. I'm taking inspiration from a memory I have of a woman who gave a presentation at work with a bandage on her face. I'm sure it bothered her but she did't show it. As they say "it is what it is." Right now I'm just scared that I will have a lump that will take months to go away as well. Right now I'm not even sure why I went through with this. I don't think a small improvement will be worth all this down time ya know?
Anyway, did you suction Miss Biscuit? I plan to start Sunday. I'm bummed because I know this will probably make any lumps I may get worse, but I guess I have to do it. I did not order the vacuum from onedoc and now it is to late. So I'm going to use either a vacuum from a micro derm device, or a regular handheld vac. My Dr. also used the infini on me so he said I don't need to suction. But I plan on suctioning anyway. He used to be a believer in suctioning but now he says he is getting better results with the infini/subcision combo. We will see
I guess. I have tried so many lasers etc. that I have no faith in the infini which is why I plan to still suction. UGGGH I HATE THIS! My fear right now as I type this is that I could have made my face worse, I'm so scared!
14 hours ago, fory0608 said:Thank you for posting and taking the time to write about your experience. It is so appreciated. I just had my first subcision yesterday and I am beside myself with depression. My Dr. put a bandage on my face which I am actually grateful for. I don't want to see what is underneath.
Firstly, it sounds like you're experiencing some anxiety. You're worrying about a future that hasn't even presented itself as a possibility yet. I want you to have a read over this (I know it looks long, but trust me, it helps):
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/student_services/document_uploads/107734.pdf
Because nothing I can say will truly help unless you are in a good place to hear it, I think you should start by practicing those exercises in there.
Secondly, most, if not all of us, have read countless papers or threads about subcision, and we all knew that these lumps were a possibility, if not a probability. We all knew this. That being said, I've read VERY few (I think maybe two at most) accounts of people who have had their lumps remain longer than three months. They go away. It's temporary. They may not even appear to begin with. Deal with it as it comes.
Thirdly,I hope this doesn't sound like I'm negating your emotional response to the recent events, but I'm unclear as to why you are depressed if you don't know what's underneath? Honestly, if you take off the bandage and see that it's just a little bruised area, how much will you have wished that you didn't panic so greatly over it? See what's under there first. And in any case, I don't think you're meant to keep the bandage on that long? I could be wrong. My Dr never put bandages on me, so I have no idea. In any case, I had to go to work 4 days after my subcision, and yes, I was mortified. I had my entire face done so my face was swelled up like a balloon. I had bruising that makeup couldn't cover. A couple of people asked what had happened - I made jokes, I gave vague answers, and that was that. Guess what? Not a single soul I worked with during that time has brought it up since. Why? And this may come as a surprise to a lot of you: Because no one gives a **** except for us! Seriously!
People might ask you if you're okay, or what happened, and then they let it go. No one will forever see you as that guy/girl with the bruise or the lump or whatever, because people just aren't as absorbed into that kind of crap like we assume they are. This is a moment in life where our true narcissism really shows. Now if you were walking around with a third arm, then they might remember THAT, but a lump or a bruise is NOT that memorable. Trust me. Your face, however significant to you, is not significant to most people UNLESS they love you, and in that case, they love your face already regardless.
And lastly, I did suction. I detail the process a few times within this thread. You can find more information if you go back and read through it. I believe strongly in suctioning, and Mr Matt (whose threads you can also find on here) has raved about subcision plus suction, as he said it gave him the best results of any subcision treatments he had. Also, I have no idea what an infini is, and therefore I cannot comment on it.
Please note that while I did panic BRIEFLY about the most recent lumps I had, they were not the usual hard lumps I have had in past. They turned out fine anyways. Chill out, homies. Your body can't heal properly if it's in constant anxiety-mode.
Hi Miss Biscui,
Thanks so much for your reply! I appreciate your help. The stress we all go through dealing with our scars and scar treatments is tremendous. I am feeling much better. I snuck a look under my bandage it is not as bad as I thought. No scar (which most likely is due to swelling but still it's nice to see that). But boy I have a nice bruise under there. My Dr also used the Infini (kind of a radio frequency with needles). This added to my bruise as well I'm sure. It will be at least another week before I can begin to even attempt to cover with makeup. But seeing what is underneath helped me greatly. I have been suctioning as best I can. I think the bandage gives me the confidence to suction,. Without the bandage I think I would be to afraid to do so.
i am going to check out the link you sent. I'm sure it is something that will help me. Tomorrow I'm going back to work with the bandage on. After I tackle that hurdle I'm sure I'll feel even better.
i will keep this site updated as to how everything turns out.
Thanks!!
On February 19, 2016 at 4:56 AM, il90 said:You look great!! You must be happy your results are astonishing!Sorry for taking so long! My computer broke down and then a guy I live with gave me one but then we started fighting so I lost it and then another friend lent me one but it is a bit slow. Anyways! Getting my new one any day now so I can feel free again (I know how this sounds hah)
He didnt do that scar, I know it. Really annoyed. Further, I don`t know whether I suctioned too much or my face is just going through a period of `worse` but it looks worse! Like some scars are a bit bigger and just overall I don`t know. I know last time I was super bummed after 10 days or something. How much power did you use when suctioning? Do you think I used too much?
Those lumps are not gone even though he injected them. One has depressed slightly, it looked depressed last night and today it doesn`t seem as bad. Argh it is super scary doing these things you don`t really know how your skin will react.
I will most definitely mark everything next time! But we`ll see how it turns out first, those lumps make my cheek look worse and if they are permanent it might not be worth it for me. I don`t feel like he is very upfront with me. If he was like look there are risks invloved and at this point you have got lumps that are pretty hard to remove. I can offer you bla bla bla. You get it. Work with me. Don`t be like oh yeah I will inject, but didn`t you do that last time? It depressed slighlthy is there any other way? He pretty much just discards what I am trying to say. This is my face so please work with me here.
I might go looking for someone else that will do only subcision, because that dermapen kind of freaks me out since he does it on healthy skin too. TCA cross also freaks me out some areas where he did it are STILL red. Yeah. Not sure about that.
Heey I thought subcision was great for those lines they are pretty much the same as tethered scars aren`t they? Why can we find a good doc that can work alongside your own requests??? Do they even exist? At this point it might be easier to become one yourself. haha.
I did the Fraxel many years ago and I got some improvement for sure, I should have done it along with subcision which is what I want to do now.
BTW sorry for the long signature with all the Fraxel information I can't figure out how to shorten and adjust it and I don't' want to remove it as it's the main way I keep track of when I actually did it lol.
Yes it is frustrating when the doctors won't listen to you absolutely!!!!
I may have lost my job this week and I'm in full on panic mode but I've always wanted to become an esthetician and am thinking of going to school but I always thought I couldn't do wel at it because of my skin issues but I've always been very interested in skin care and make up and any treatment dealing with acne and acne scarring. What do you all think about me going into that field and becoming an esthetician ?? I've always wanted to and would love doing it.working with a dermatologist or plastic surgeon. My mother thinks I should do something more traditional in the medical field like get a certificate of some sort because she thinks the esthetics field want someone with perfect skin.
I'm so torn and stressed out!!
As Miss Buscuit said try to remain calm and give the lumps sometime to go away. I know the ups and downs dealing with bad skin and it sucks!!!
Also thanks for the link for the anxiety relief as I'm a big ball of anxiety right now. Tried some breathing excercises 🙂
Hey y'all!
So I had an appointment yesterday with the 'new' doctor. My main reasoning was because he is situated closer to me, so it cut the travel from something like 8 hours of travelling by bus, ferry, boat and foot, to a quick 15 minutes by taxi. I'm still feeling out whether or not it was really worth it, though.
My consultation was with the nurse. She seemed really...fake. Like one of those girls you would see at Sephora - all done up with a lot of make-up, big hair, skirt with a slit up the backside to her unmentionables, and a Barbie-esque smile plastered on her face while she gave me a 30 minute rehearsed speech about their aesthetic goals for their clients and what she would recommend for me. I stood really firm in that I was there for subcision only, but gladly took her recommendations to research for another time. She told me that the Dr had done subcision lots of times and that the cost would be anywhere from $245 to $400 (but only gave me the quote after asking how much I paid at the last office).
At my actual appointment, I met the Dr for the first time and he had no idea what I was even in for. I'm certain that a doctor would usually at least check the chart on the door before coming in, but apparently he didn't do his homework. So that was the beginning of my worries. Secondly, he tried to tell me that subcision won't do anything, despite my saying that I've done it before and it's worked wonders. He continued to tell me matrix would be better, but I told him I'm not interested at this time. He stood firm. I stood firm. I said, "sooooo if you're not going to do it, can you just tell me already". I've run out of energy to beat around the bush in my 'old' age - my time and money is precious, so I don't like anyone to waste either. Anyways, needless to say, we got to it.
He marked some scars with a regular ballpoint pen (weird, no?). I had him focus on just my left cheek and my forehead this time, as I'm pretty happy with my right cheek for now. Scare number three, he asked me how much the other office was charging for the procedure. I'm a TERRIBLE liar, even when it's to my benefit and not harming others - I couldn't remember how much I paid but I guessed about $400 (and you'd never guess what he ended up charging 
me and my big mouth - should have said $200). Ready for scare number 4? The nurse told me that they use both topical anaesthetic and local for optimum comfort. I even showed up early so that they could apply the cream, as my last office left it on for about an hour before proceeding. This time, there was no cream - Dr went straight for the local injections in my face. Awesome. Scare number 5? I didn't have any headphones in, but I didn't hear any popping sounds at all, despite him commenting to the nurse something about how you could see how hard the scarred tissue was by the way something was happening with the needle. One side of my forehead bled like the dickens, as it ended up running down the side of my face and into my ear. At one point, they took a small break while all four of their hands were applying pressure bandages to my face to stop the bleeding...man, what are you guys even doing up there?! One of the last scares (at least that I can think of now), was that at one point I could feel way too much for my comfort in one area. I said "ow!! I can feel that one!" (not in a mild manner) and he said, "bear with me" and the nurse said "you're doing really well", as if they hadn't even heard what I had said or they weren't comprehending the fact that there was a needle jamming around in my face. Jesus almighty! What a gong show.
At the end of it, the nurse said "wow! It's made such a difference - you can see how it's filled out already". That made me want to hit her. Not for any other reason but that she had clearly lied about how much he had done the procedure, because if she knew anything about it, she would know the immediate effect is temporary and wouldn't have been so in awe. In any case, I smiled and nodded, and then went on my way. Upon getting home, I could see that despite some fairly mild swelling, most of the discolouration on my face wasn't bruising at all, but was from the pen markings. It looks as though he's missed at least one spot that I asked him to get, and ironically, it's the same area that the last doctor said he would get and missed as well. WTH?
Needless to say, I'm a little nervous that he didn't do it right. I'll keep doing the regular routine from here on out and hope for the best, but I'm not holding my breath on this one. Admittedly, I did put on an icepack this time, which I hadn't done for the first 24 hours with my previous subcisions. I remember seeing that Mr Matt had some frozen peas or something to his face, so I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I did that and controlled the bruising a little.
In any case, my lovelies, I took some before and after photos this time, but I'm rather tired (its 3am here now), so I will upload those tomorrow. Til then!
Alright! So these pictures look really backwards. The first one here is actually the before shot; the second one is of immediately after the procedure; and the last one is from today (4 days post-subcision). Apparently in the last photo, I finally found lighting that accentuates the true beast that is my scarring. It really accentuates the icepicks and boxcars that are still looming about. Part of me really wanted to retake the photo to give a better comparison (since honestly, if I didn't know better I would have thought the first photo was the final result, and the last photo was the before); however, I decided that it's more important to be honest here. Yes, in some lighting, my skin looks pretty darn good! In others...well, you can see for yourself. Some of the darker areas that look like scars are actually hyper pigmentation - will need to address that.
By the way, has anyone tried EMatrix? I keep getting pulled towards it.
Hey MB. I see some improvement. Your procedure did not yield as much bruising and swelling as I have seen in other subcision procedures. I know that suctioning over the area prolongs the swelling/bruising but is supposed to give you better results. I would recommend using a slightly longer dermastamp. I have had best results with using a 2.5 mm stamp and am considering moving up to 3 mm.
Ematrix is basically using the same concept as Infini- radio-frequency. However, the substantial difference is that Infini incorporates needles to transmit the frequency down towards the dermis. Also, with the needles been penetrated into the epidermis/dermis (depending on the length used) there are some actions of physical injury towards breaking up of the fibrous tissue.
Hey MissBiscuit, how are you doing? Any photos 15ish day post-procedure?
I haven't seen any results myself, having repeated the process, this time more thoroughly except for a crater texture improvement that now seems to be more of a rolling dent like the others. It's probably/definitely the microswellibg though. Waiting a whole month till my next adventure, but so far no downsides to it.
I think you should consider INFINI, maybe 3-4 sessions this will improve the atrophic scars and the overall skin texture. What's left could be improved by subcision and dermal fillers. Dr. Davin Lim suggested this treatment for me, I think this treatment plan will work for you also because I have the same scars as you. He said that 70% improvement is possible. I'm sure you'll think its because of temporary fillers, but what he says is INFINI address atrophic scarring and the results are permanent. He'll only use filler to the residual scars which are left after multiple sessions of INFINI. Good Luck to your journey!
Here's my realself question to Dr. Lim: https://www.realself.com/question/singapore-sg-acne-scars-improved-significantly-photo#2842180
On 23 May 2016 at 10:27 PM, JackAlfonso said:I think you should consider INFINI, maybe 3-4 sessions this will improve the atrophic scars and the overall skin texture. What's left could be improved by subcision and dermal fillers. Dr. Davin Lim suggested this treatment for me, I think this treatment plan will work for you also because I have the same scars as you. He said that 70% improvement is possible. I'm sure you'll think its because of temporary fillers, but what he says is INFINI address atrophic scarring and the results are permanent. He'll only use filler to the residual scars which are left after multiple sessions of INFINI. Good Luck to your journey!
Here's my realself question to Dr. Lim: https://www.realself.com/question/singapore-sg-acne-scars-improved-significantly-photo#2842180
Hey JackAlfonso!
Sorry for the ridiculously late reply! It's been a pretty crazy year for me, to say the least. Did you get any of the infini done since you wrote this? Yours scars don't look bad to me at all, even in the harsh lighting from your realself posting! I bet you'll heal up quite nicely 
On 27 May 2016 at 4:09 PM, jess822 said:hi miss biscuit just wanted to let you know my facials scars look the same as yours except I have a huge scar smacked ave on my cheekbone. My question is would doing an entire cheek tca peel help?
Hey Jess822 - you know, I wish I had the answer to that. I have wondered that often myself. It's funny because before getting the rolling scars worked on more, I didn't realise how many icepick and boxcar scars I have. Now that is something that I'd really like to work on too.
From what I understand, TCA Peels can help to boost collagen production, but I don't know exactly how it works. I haven't had it done. Ive been tempted to try it at home, as I read a lot of great reviews from people who have done that, but it also has the potential to make it a lot worse in inexperienced hands.
I plan to get fat grafting done by a doctor down in the USA, since I couldn't find any reputable ones nearby in Canada, and I would like to ask him about TCA peel when I go. I assume that it would be a good idea to do the TCA peel and fat grafting at the same time since the downtown would just be lumped together.
11 hours ago, MissBiscuit said:Hey JackAlfonso!Sorry for the ridiculously late reply! It's been a pretty crazy year for me, to say the least. Did you get any of the infini done since you wrote this? Yours scars don't look bad to me at all, even in the harsh lighting from your realself posting! I bet you'll heal up quite nicely
From what I understand, TCA Peels can help to boost collagen production, but I don't know exactly how it works. I haven't had it done. Ive been tempted to try it at home, as I read a lot of great reviews from people who have done that, but it also has the potential to make it a lot worse in inexperienced hands.
I plan to get fat grafting done by a doctor down in the USA, since I couldn't find any reputable ones nearby in Canada, and I would like to ask him about TCA peel when I go. I assume that it would be a good idea to do the TCA peel and fat grafting at the same time since the downtown would just be lumped together.
Hey Miss!
I've done fatgrafting like 8 years ago for my boxcarring. It didn't do anything, but the doc didn't subcise the scars. Maybe if that was done, i would have/had improvement.
Fattransfer is somerhing i won't do again. It is permanent so if it is overfilled, it's hard to get the fat out. I didnt know that in that time. My doc did not overfill, but it is something to think about before you get it done. It can look very unnatural.
Why don't you try microneedling/singleneedling?