Hi all!
I'm gonna have subcision with fillers for my cheeks in about 3 weeks. I'm coming here so I can learn to manage my expectations. Do any of the experienced users here think this is a good treatment for my scars and what results can I expect? Should I combine this treatment with something else or is it enough on its own? My doctor said the filler will last for about a year, but that the skin will have healed at a higher level by then.
Sorry for making a selfish post I'm just kind of nervous.
I think it might work well for your scars, but always have realistic expectations because it comes down to the doctor's technique. What I notice is that the scarring is causing volume loss in your cheek area, which gives the face a more sunken appearance. I think injecting some of the filler a little deeper to give the cheek volume and structure will help with the overall look of your face and reduce shadowing. This is something I find that a lot of doctors don't understand. They just try to inject the indentations, which don't get me wrong is very important, but they forget that deeper acne scarring can cause volume loss, which makes the overall appearance of the scars and face more pronounced.
So I'd say use some filler to add a little bit of volume to the cheek area directly beneath the area of fat loss, but don't use too much or you might look too full in the mid face. We don't want to look like a real housewife. Then you can inject the individual scars.
The other option is just to do subcision alone and add suctioning and see how much improvement you get from that. This route might take longer although the results will probably be more permanent. If you have money to burn and want to get improvement right away then subcision and filler would accomplish that. Again, it really depends on the skill of your doctor.
AND MARK YOUR SCARS YOURSELF. Bring a marker or eyeliner to mark them because doctors don't see the scars the way you do. Be sure to have them use a strong angled light to really highlight those scars. Flat office lighting makes scars look less prominent.
Lookup Mr. Matt (on this site). He has had great success with subcision and you can learn a lot from his posts. His results are AMAZING. From what I understand, he had 3 or 4 rounds of subcision. The first few rounds didn't work (or there wasn't much progress) until the final round when he had subcision + suctioning (which he did on his own).
I'm not too familiar with subcision (just started studying it) but the reason for doing it is to break up the fibers that are holding down the skin. This happens (skin is held down) when the scar is tethered. If it's not tethered, then there's no point in doing subcision (PLEASE correct me if I am wrong). Also, Mr. Matt doesn't think fillers are a good idea. I don't remember why...I think he said you can see the indents or something.
If you stretch your skin and scars disappear, then they aren't tethered. If scars are still visible when you stretch your skin, scars are tethered.
