I just got subcision with a fat transfer for acne scars three days ago and i am still swollen. Anyone have advice or can you tell me when i will be presentable again? Kind of worried. I go back to work on Thursday and it is Monday. Minor yellowish bruising and no pain. Just soft swelling that hasn't changed since the procedure. Minor bruising started today. Left a message at the surgeon's office. I have been looking online and it is difficult to find the exact procedure i had done and it's progress. Anyone else have subcision with fat transfer done? The Dr also cut some craters out and put stitches in. In need of a reply!
On 11/7/2016 at 1:16 PM, Jenny2016 said:I just got subcision with a fat transfer for acne scars three days ago and i am still swollen. Anyone have advice or can you tell me when i will be presentable again? Kind of worried. I go back to work on Thursday and it is Monday. Minor yellowish bruising and no pain. Just soft swelling that hasn't changed since the procedure. Minor bruising started today. Left a message at the surgeon's office. I have been looking online and it is difficult to find the exact procedure i had done and it's progress. Anyone else have subcision with fat transfer done? The Dr also cut some craters out and put stitches in. In need of a reply!
Hello,
I believe it was about the 7th day or so that i started to feel as though i could go back to work. Of course, I still had a yellowish tint to my skin from the bruising but the swelling had gone down significantly. I had a black eye as well so it was probably two weeks for the black eye to go down or so. Hang in there. From what i see, it looks like you have some swelling which is typical. You will definitely heal though, trust me. At times it felt like the swelling would not go down but eventually it did. I know you go in tomorrow but your skin doesn't look very bad at all. I didn't have fat transfer done but it shouldn't be too much of a difference when it comes to healing. Sounds like he also did whats known as excision (cutting out the scar and stitching the skin.
But to answer your question, its difficult to say but i did write a few posts here and there documenting my progress. wish you luck! =)
Thank you! He took the stitches out today and said to not pay attention to the swelling for a couple of weeks. He said for me to completely ignore it. So i will try to do just that. You said a couple of weeks also which gives me hope! Yes, he did excision too. Do you have experience with the scars post excision? He said they wont be red for very long but at least it will be flat and not a crater. It's only day 5 so i guess from you saying you went back to work at day 7, it seems like im on track. Thanks for the reassurance!
14 hours ago, Jenny2016 said:Thank you! He took the stitches out today and said to not pay attention to the swelling for a couple of weeks. He said for me to completely ignore it. So i will try to do just that. You said a couple of weeks also which gives me hope! Yes, he did excision too. Do you have experience with the scars post excision? He said they wont be red for very long but at least it will be flat and not a crater. It's only day 5 so i guess from you saying you went back to work at day 7, it seems like im on track. Thanks for the reassurance!
You're not looking bad at all. =)
I'm guessing those are the spots that you had excision on. Yup, i would definitely ignore it. Your skin will heal on its own. Pretty soon you'll be at the three month mark like i am. I'm ready for another subcision to combine it with suction. Get some good sleep and take vitamin c!
i don't have experience with excision. I've had microneedling treatments though and it is tpically three days or so for the redness and bruising to go down enough for me to feel comfortable enough to be seen in public.
Do you plan on having any other treatments?
Its been about two months since my second subcision treatment (this time with suction). I feel happy with the results so far. I had less swelling this time around (i think my doctor may have performed a less intense session). I suctioned for about two weeks for about two times a day. I tried to make sure i suctioned to maximize my results. Occassionally i feel my face tightening underneath the skin. I'm not sure why i get this feeling but i'm excited because its almost like its not quite healed yet which means i still have room for improvement.
Anywho, i've been eating ground flaxseed for the past two weeks and i feel that my complexion has improved which allows me to focus on the collagen production.
I'm happy with my progress so far. I will look forward to having my third subcision treatment when i give my skin reasonable amount of time to produce collagen.
I recently underwent a second subcision and am having some complications, and thought I'd piggyback on this thread.
In summary, I had my first subcision with Dr. Morganroth in Mountain View, CA in January. I healed very quickly, with a little swelling that was mostly gone after ~3 days, and you couldn't tell I had anything down - except hat my skin looked really smooth and good - after about 8-10 days.
About 6 weeks later, I had a 2nd subcision, this time with Dr. Rullan in San Diego. I told him about the prior subcision but I think he was pretty aggressive in the treatment. I had a lot more swelling this time, maybe due to the large amount of saline Dr. Rullan said he used. Over a week after the subcision I was still very swollen - it went down about 50 percent, with 3 large, very noticeable lumps (one on either cheek and one on my right jawline).
A little panicked, and getting ready to leave the country for a long trip, I emailed Dr.Rullan's office to get their advice. They told me to use heat and massage the lumps, and if that didn't help to use cortisone cream.
I had already been massaging the lumps for several days, but got a heating pack and increased the length of massages. This seemed to improve the lumps at first, but they enlarged a few days later so I bought some cortisone to take on my trip.
So, I'm now almost 3 weeks post subcision and my lumps are still really, really noticeable. The largest one, on my left cheek, seems to have gotten bigger in the past several days. It starts off smaller in the morning and seems to grow larger as the day goes by. This happened even after taking a few days off of massaging them. The first pic shows the lump on my left cheek, and the second shows one along my right jawline.
unfortunately I'm in Italy for the week so seeing a dermatologist is probably not an option. Has anyone had similar trouble healing from subcision? Any advice for self treatment? Thanks in advance for any advice.
This is a common side effect of subcision, it can take time to go down (were talking a few months up to 6). If they inject it to soon with steroid you will get atrophy (possibly - it can be a little unpredictable so they do it in timy amounts, and it can further depress spots which is corrected with filler). Theycan also fill around the bumps to make the skin look more even and soften it while you massage the bumps. Some have lasered down the area with spots if they are permanent.
My advice would be to daily take a anti inflammatory ie. Motrin type drug / ibuprofen, also you can tryBenadryl - Diphenhydramine as it reduces swelling. They have topical steroid creams but you would have to ask your doctor about getting something like this to put on the bumps. When he says to massage, you can even use a small electric massager. You can also dermastamp them with a 1.5mm microneedle (this is what they do with filler and hard nodules), owndoc.com has dermastamps.
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/264088-lumps-after-subcision/
https://www.realself.com/question/big-indian-ny-hard-lumps-after-month-subcision
5 hours ago, beautifulambition said:This is a common side effect of subcision, it can take time to go down (were talking a few months up to 6). If they inject it to soon with steroid you will get atrophy (possibly - it can be a little unpredictable so they do it in timy amounts, and it can further depress spots which is corrected with filler). Theycan also fill around the bumps to make the skin look more even and soften it while you massage the bumps. Some have lasered down the area with spots if they are permanent.
My advice would be to daily take a anti inflammatory ie. Motrin type drug / ibuprofen, also you can tryBenadryl - Diphenhydramine as it reduces swelling. They have topical steroid creams but you would have to ask your doctor about getting something like this to put on the bumps. When he says to massage, you can even use a small electric massager. You can also dermastamp them with a 1.5mm microneedle (this is what they do with filler and hard nodules), owndoc.com has dermastamps.
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/264088-lumps-after-subcision/
https://www.realself.com/question/big-indian-ny-hard-lumps-after-month-subcision
Thank you very much for the feedback. Do you think Benadryl works better than cortisone cream? Also, I assume it would be okay to take both ibuprofen and Benadryl (I don't have any allergies).
Yes, I believe the cortisone will do nothing other than thin your skin, if used more than a week. Steroid creams from doctors are much stronger. If you can take antihistamines and pain pills before, it should be fine to take you can space them out if you need to in the day. Asprin is another option if the Motrin does not work. When people swell from procedures they also ice the area, but it may be to late for that to help after the treatment now.
I think dermastamping them would help as well until you can have the derm treat them or fill around them.
You're right, I did notice the skin over the lumps getting thin after applying cortisone for 1 week+.
I iced my face for about 3-4 days post subcision per doctor's instructions, but switched to heat and massage at about day 5 after reading that was more effective for saline induced swelling.
And I want to say that after 7 dermapen treatments spread over about 3 years, followed by a round of subcision (given my setback with the second subcision my current progress is tbd), I have to say I'm happy with the improvement in my skin. My scars are definitely more shallow and my skin tone is much improved. I'd say on a bad day I put my improvement at 40%, and on a good day 50-60%.
Once I heal from this subcision I'm hoping to do one more subcision and maybe a few more rounds of dermapen. However, I'll definitely wait much longer than 6 weeks in between subcisions as I believe that played a large part in my temporary (hopefully) setback.
Thanks to all on this forum who shared their stories that gave me the information I needed to undertake my skin improvement process, and to Beautiful Ambition for the quick and invaluable feedback to my and everyone's urgent questions!
-One year follow up tomorrow (Wednesday 09.13.17)
- post 3 subcisions in one year Aug 2016/Jan 2017/June 2017
- No lasers. (taking everyones advice to go against)
- may opt for subcision again (dont know which filler and if subcision and filler is done on the same day). Does anyone know if filler and subcision is done on the same day? i've been swollen immediately after subcision so its hard to imagine even more "filling"/swelling in my skin.
Curious to see what a one year before/after picture (if pictures get taken) look like after3 subcisions withNo filler.
Because of the advice,Sometimes i feel i should have had filler. I've learned through other people though
@mr.wantsgreatskinYou fill a few days latter when the swelling goes down.
You can even do subcision, suction (first time)and then subcise on the 2nd treatment ... few days latter filler, After a year and the filler dissolves do your next subcision treatment for touch up.
I can give you a plan PM me.
11 hours ago, beautifulambition said:@mr.wantsgreatskinYou fill a few days latter when the swelling goes down. I would not do it the same day day as Nokor because as I have said in the other post the doctor will not know where to place the filler. You can even do subcision, suction (first time)and then subcise on the 2nd treatment ... few days latter filler, After a year and the filler dissolves do your next subcision treatment for touch up.I would do a sedated tca peel once your skin has leveled with filler subcision. This will work on the texture.
You could start with Infini RF microneedling or Vivance as first treatments as it is great for this type of scarring and will work on the more shallow scarring / box cars.This is better to do than laser, and protects the epidermis.
I Had my follow up today. I wasnt expecting treatment honestly but it happened. I asked about different options including what was my number one interest- fully ablative co2. My doctor advised against it because of my particular skin type. He recommended microneedling but I havent had much success after nearly 3 years of it. (I do have the Derminator) Perhaps plastic surgeons/ dermatologists have microneedling equipment that are much more effective but from my experience, the microneedling machines Ive had were nothing special for my scars. I've even had a few dermarollers including 3mm size dermarolls with very few needles on the cylinder to maximize penetration into the skin.
3 Subcisions were decent but nothing amazing. Maybe before and after pictures will show the progress.
So I had subcision+radiesse filler. I will have to see what the results bring. This is day one.
10 hours ago, mr.wantsgreatskin said:So I had subcision+radiesse filler. I will have to see what the results bring. This is day one.
Post your results in the near future with the same harsh lighting you've used in the bathroom.
If subcision + filler doesn't give you any result worth mentioning, nothing will. I have hope for you nonetheless.